Equator has been passed by VG2012 leaders

The leading Boats in the VendeeGlobe have already passed the Equator and for their good benefit , no doubt, cheers some navigational liquid with Neptune :) 

a simulation of the VG2012; not the Virtual Sailors but the Real Boats

Banque Populaire, skippered by Armel Le Cleac'h, is leading a pack of 5 boats some 40-60 Nm behind. For all of these skippers the big question will be how to sail around the St. Helene High; which is at the moment rather far South and even East. 

Most likely is to sail West around it, but how far South to go? 

Above image is a simulation of the Real Boats (a short motion impression can be seen here) ; not to be confused with the Virtual Boats.

There are now 14 Boats sailing only as Gutik, with his   electronic problems on the autopilot, could not fix it and  has     retired from the race. 

The VG2012 is improving, to the extend that 4 boats  retired in 1st  week and only 2 in the 2nd week. 

Another Day in the VendeeGlobe - Another casualty.

Jérémie Beyou o/b Maitre CoQ has given up and started the engine to bring his crippling safely into a harbor in Cape Verde Islands. The broken arm on the hydraulic jack to move the canting keel, was no possible to repair safely to sail on , forcing him to abandon the VendeeGlobe. 

Alex Thompson o/b Hugo Boss has to repair a broken pushing bar on his ruder that broke when his hydrogenerator broke loose due to some vibration. 

L'incroyable réparation d'Alex Thomson by VendeeGlobeTV


Some better news is that the leaders have sailed into the Doldrums, and making a reasonable progress to pass it today. Once that is passed, the route  around the standard St. Helene High has to be chosen for the fastest way to sail to South Africa. 

VendeeGlobe leaders approaching the Dolldrums

The leaders of the VG2012 fleet are pretty much staying together with little variation in classification. Enjoying fast sailing in the NE Trade winds brings the Doldrums within some days. A good place to cross, can make or break your progress, so it is important to find the best spot to pass; be it that the Doldrums are very difficult to forecast! 

Mike Golding on Gamesa making good progress

Sanso is sailing fast again, after he repaired the hallyard for the mainsail at the mast-top at the Canary island.
Gutskowski on Energa, has been successful in un-tying his Spinnaker from the mast but is still suffering the problems with his  auto-pilot and some wind-calm. 
Another Boat in problems is Maitre CoQ, she suffered a broken hydraulic jack to move the tilting keel. Jeremie is now  sailing to Cape Verde islands for calmer waters and hope to be able to fix his keel properly and continue, taken lower boat-speeds as penalty. 

On the virtual front, I read some posts in FB-VirtualRegatta that  the servers were out for some time but restarted. It all happened in my sleep, so I did not feel any pain. My boat is now sailing happily in between Canary and Cape Verde islands. 

Liveskipper, Sail the Globe virtual sailing race is still going strong. My boat has  passed the Cape Verde Islands and heading South to the Doldrums about 1 degree latitude ahead of Banque Populaire. :) 

VendeeGlobe 1st Week of Sailing

The Boats in the lead are sailing close to the Cape Verde Islands. The 1st week has seen some heroic sailing events but also some desperate ones.  

First week’s highlights by VendeeGlobeTV

Banque Populair has just gained the lead from MACIF, who had the lead for almost 6 days. The lead is however only some 20 Nm. 

The VG2012 fleet  has lost 20% of all Boats in this 1st week already. Hopefully it gets better. 

• Kito de Pavant, suffered a broken keel, 
• Marc Guillemot, collided while sleeping with a fishing boat, that damaged his boat severely,
• Sam Davies, demasted in stormy winds and rough seas, 
• Louis Burton, collided while  sleeping with a fishing boat, he had damage on Port side shroud and tried to return to base for repairs and possible a re-start just within the closing time. However  adverse wind conditions prevented him from sailing back.  

The fleet is now approaching the Doldrums and this could shake-up the order with the un-expected winds and squalls. 

The virtual sailors in VR have grown to over 300,000 registered boats; some overload problems have been suffered as well.