Vendée Globe, sette giorni a Capo Horn
OceanoVelaVendée Globe 28 Dicembre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=1227,250,170,,left]Vendée Globe – Oceano Pacifico – Nonostante le condizioni si mantengano difficli, il duello teso alla conquista della leadership non accenna a diminuire il proprio carico di emozioni. Né Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia), né Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) paiono disposto a mollare. Anzi, il loro testa a testa è di quelli davvero serrati: dopo essersi avvicinato all’avversario durante la giornata di giovedì, lo skipper di Veolia Environnement è stato preso in contropiede dall’improvviso allungo di Foncia, ora al comando con un margine superiore alle settantacinque miglia.
Mentre i due IMOCA 60 si spingono verso l’Ice Gate, incuranti del fatto che rotture e cedimenti sono sempre in agguato in una regata come questa (già nel 2000-2001 i due erano in lotta per il successo quando Jourdain dovette fare i conti con la rottura della rotaia della randa), alle loro spalle il gruppo pare aver rallentato vistosamente. Nel corso delle ultime ventiquattro ore Jean Le Cam, terzo su VM Materiaux, ha lasciato a Foncia altre cinquanta miglia. Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air), quarto davanti a Vincent Riou (PRB) in virtù del momentaneo ritiro di Sebastien Josse, spintosi verso nord per tentare di riparare i danni di BT, è invece scivolato a 355.7 miglia dalla vetta.
Day 48, 20.00 GMT, ranking
1 – Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) DTF 9841.8 nm
2 – Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) +74.9 nm
3 – Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux) +171.6 nm
4 – Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) +355.7 nm
5 – Vincent Riou (PRB) +390.8 nm
Per seguire la regata sul web clicca qui.
[flashvideo filename=video/oceano/Vendee_271208.flv /]
Video courtesy Vendée Globe.
VENDEE GLOBE, GOING ROUND AGAIN
[Vendée Globe Press Release] Yes, there are constant themes to this Vendée Globe. Some are regular, day to day, déjà vu. Been here before. Saturday night, the leader board has changed little. Tonight’ simple premise is the consistency to Michel Desjoyeaux, working relentlessly to pull a few miles on Roland Jourdain in tough, difficult conditions. Desjoyeaux has gained steadily since the pair lined up on the same tack early yesterday and now leads tonight by the best part of 75 miles from Bilou on Veolia Environnement, making over two knots quicker this evening.
But sometimes this race stops you short, delivering jarring themes which seem fated in their timing and their cruelty. For some the pursuit of the Vendee Globe must seem like a personal haunting: Bernard Stamm out of the race again, Mike Golding in Fremantle with a broken mast to name but two skippers who have suffered more than most. Golding, of course, had only lead for a few short hours before his mast came down. Stamm had worked so hard to get back into contention before his rudder bearings failed, and has never yet completed even two of the Great Capes in a Vendee Globe.
Now four years on and it is Seb Josse who tonight has been in the wars, a strange synchronicity with the same week in 2004. Josse hit a growler on 23rd December 2004 and three days later had just repaired his misaligned rudders. Four years on tonight it is Josse – who had sailed a masterful race to date – who is nursing the hobbled BT north in the knowledge that he, again, has to find way to make his rudders line up, as well as fixing his deck if he is to carry on. How cruel is it that he is the skipper who has been most vocal about how he has been pacing himself and sailing prudently.
For all his renowned cerebral intensity Michel Desjoyeaux knows two things as well as any other skipper: no lead is untenable until the finish line is crossed, and you are only ever seconds from failure in this race. Mich Desj nearly lost on the way back up the Atlantic. His 2000-1 victory was jeopardised twice – once by mechanical failure when the starter motor on his generator failed. He lead by over 500 miles at Cape Horn in 2000, when his nearest rival was – as it is now – Roland Jourdain, who went on to be struck by mast track problems.
Desjoyeaux fixed his generator issue by cleverly running the mainsheet down below, wrapping it round a drum on a hand crank to fire it to life. His lead of over 640 miles was swallowed in the South Atlantic and the Doldrums when Ellen MacArthur became the first woman ever to lead a single-handed round the world race.
So if there were an unspoken vow of consolidation and preservation between these two leaders over the next seven days until they round Cape Horn it would be entirely understandable, not least because Vendée Globe history is among the cruellest in any sport, and has a habit of repeating itself.
Day 48, 20.00 GMT, ranking
1 – Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) DTF 9841.8 nm
2 – Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) +74.9 nm
3 – Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux) +171.6 nm
4 – Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) +355.7 nm
5 – Vincent Riou (PRB) +390.8 nm
To follow the race on web click here.
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