Vendée Globe, non un peschereccio ma un cargo

[singlepic=737,170,250,,left]Vendée Globe – Les Sables d’Olonne – Alle 15.00 di oggi pomeriggio Marc Guillemot su Safran guidava il gruppo lungo la discesa verso il Sudafrica, seguito da Loick Peyron su Gitana 80 a 10.1 miglia e Roland Jourdain su Veolia Environnment a 12.2 miglia.

Si è intanto scoperto che a collidere con Cheminées Poujoulant non è stato un peschereccio ma bensì un cargo maltese lungo ottanta metri. La scoperta è stata fatta consultando il tracker dell’IMOCA 60 di Bernard Stamm.

Penalizzato invece dalla Giuria Alex Thomson. Lo skipper di Hugo Boss dovrà aggiungere quattro ore al suo tempo complessivo perchè all’inizio del conto alla rovescia aveva a bordo un membro dello shore team.

VENDEE GLOBE, POSITIONS, CARGO AND PENALTY
[Vendée Globe Press Release] The 15.00 GMT positions show Marc Guillemot on Safran making a small increase in his lead to 10.1nm with second and third places changed again as Loick Peyron on Gitana 80 swaps once more with Roland Jourdain on Veolia Environnment who is now 12.2 miles behind the leader. Peyron’s tack to the south from the main pack, now following the same line as Safran, has been a small gain, while that slightly southerly path also continues to pay for Mike Golding on Ecover 3 who is now up to ninth from 13th this morning, with Dee Caffari on sistership Aviva in eighth. Caffari is to his north west on the same line as Veolia Environnment, Kito de Pavant’s Groupe Bel.
Sam Davies on Roxy has gained four to lie thirteenth. Alex Thomson on Hugo Boss is out to the north and west of  the middle group, Veolia, Groupe Bel and BT, working for position and is 14th, while a noticeable drop of four places is that of Brian Thompson on Bahrain Team Pindar.

Thanks to the AIS tracker on the onboard computer, Cheminées Poujoulat‘s support team appear to have identified the boat with which Bernard Stamm collided. In fact, Stamm’s team report that is not to be a fishing boat, but an eighty metre long maltese cargo vessel which is believed to be a freight carrier. According to reports the paint from the ship’s hull side matches that left on the Open 60’s hull side.

As Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) still had some of his team on board during the final Vendée Globe start countdown (four minutes before the gun was fired), the International Jury has given him a penalty of four hours.

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