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| Bernhard Stamm on the anchor for repairs |
Week 6
In the cold weather conditions, the entire Vendée Globe fleet was then sailing in the Southern Ocean. Seeing the pace at the forefront, it was difficult to imagine the leading men were in any kind of discomfort. Yet they kept their pace up, trapped in a duel where the tiniest slowdown was immediately punished. Le Cléac'h was the first to make his entry into the Pacific Ocean. Maximizing their weather systems, with a slightly higher speed and perfect navigation, the two leaders continued to increase their lead.
Week 7
As Christmas was approaching, the pace didn’t falter and the two leaders continued their global duel under New Zealand. As he entered the Pacific Ocean, Le Cléac'h managed to take over the lead before seeing Gabart regained control before the rankings changed with each of the skippers’ jibes. A little more than 500 miles behind, Dick became a bit stalled and stayed between the head of the fleet and the Anglo-Swiss duo Thomson-Stamm, about 900 miles behind the front runners. For Christmas, Le Cléac'h got to the first West Pacific gate first and temporarily took over the lead. For Stamm, Christmas was much tougher since he had to divert to New Zealand in order to find a shelter and make some repair on his hydrogenerators. He was almost out of energy and couldn’t consider crossing the Pacific, the largest ocean in the world, in these conditions. The deterioration of the weather conditions forced him to moor to a Russian ship, which resulted in a complaint procedure against the sailor, who had received assistance in the operation. When the Swiss skipper resumed his journey towards Cape Horn, he was in 10th position, just behind Arnaud Boissières who, after a difficult start, had managed to come back in the Southern ocean. Meanwhile, the two leaders were slowed down and saw Dick and Thomson come back in their wake. On December 28th, only Di Benedetto had not yet entered the Pacific, sailing about 4,000 miles away from the head of the fleet.
The picture
Tanguy de Lamotte's gennaker in the water
Tanguy de Lamotte's gennaker in the water
© Tanguy de Lamotte / Initiatives-Coeur
Important facts:
December 18: Armel Le Cléac'h was the first to reach the 146°55' E longitude, marking the limit between the Indian and Pacific oceans at 7.08AM (UTC).
December 19: François Gabart leads the fleet, halfway through the race.
December 22: Bernard Stamm headed to the Auckland island to take shelter and repair his hydrogenerators.
December 24: After having found a shelter north of the Auckland Island on the 23rd, Bernard Stamm found out in the evening (local time) that another boat, the Professor Khromov, moored in the same bay. As Cheminées Poujoulat started drifting, the Swiss skipper is forced to moore his monohull to the Russian boat in order to save his IMOCA. Bernard Stamm refused the extra fuel offered by Professor Khromov, but one of their crewmembers came on board to help with the mooring operation. The Race Committee filed a complaint. On the same day, because of tough weather conditions, Bernard Stamm had to go back at sea to find another shelter in Dunedin.
December 28: Bernard Stamm resumed the race and headed to Cape Horn.
Rankings
- MACIF
- Banque Populaire
- Virbac-Paprec 3
- HUGO BOSS
- SynerCiel
- Gamesa
- Mirabaud
- AKENA Vérandas
- ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered
- Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets
- Initiatives-cœur
- Team Plastique
Key quotes:
François Gabart (FRA, MACIF), December 18
(After being told he has entered the Pacific Ocean) Woooow ! I’m in the Pacific, that’s great news. I’m thrilled even though I have to say I haven’t noticed any major difference between the two oceans. It’s perfect, I only have one ocean to sail through, then Cape Horn and I’ll be heading home. It feels great!
Bertrand de Broc (FRA, Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets), December 24
Christmas is something we unfortunately had to forget about. I don’t have that many Christmas ornaments, and not many gifts either, but I do have a few. From the size of the gift boxes, I’d say I’ll have quite a lot to read. I’ll learn many new things, I guess. What I do have in my plans is a nice meal, though, with preserved meat and a bottle of Saint-Emilion wine. But I won’t drink too much because I’m sailing at 30 knots so it’s going to shake. So I’ll have to stay watchful.
Jean Le Cam (FRA, SynerCiel), December 25
I was watching as the depression was developing, it was so weird, kind of like a Hitchcock movie, pretty seedy. Tactically speaking, what I’ve just done is like a holdup^, it’s crazy!
Mike Golding (GBR, Gamesa), December 27
When you stay at sea for such a long time, you end up losing track of time, you just don’t have the same habits as those you have on dry land when it comes to time. I’m usually a quite even-tempered guy. Of course, sometimes, some things can drive me mad, like when I see the speed difference between my boat and some others. It’s hard to take, especially when you’ve worked so hard on a project without much information on the other skippers’ boats. But mine is doing fine. Even though, like everybody else, we’ve had little issues, we managed to deal with them. And as long as things are under control, I’m not worried.
Tanguy de Lamotte (Fra, Initiatives-cœur), December 31
(On 2013) I’ve been in 2013 for a few minutes already, so I wish you a happy new year! Because of the antemeridian, I’ll celebrate the New Year twice, which is quite unusual, it’s one of the specificities of this race.
Bernard Stamm (SUI, Cheminées Poujoulat), January 2
As you can probably imagine, things could be better. I’m allowed to ask for the case to ber e-opened and that’s what I’m going to do. To me, everything I did was done in the spirit of the race. I think the jury hasn’t taken the context into account because all I did was try to save my boat.
Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA, Banque Populaire), December 31
(On Cape Horn) It’s a legendary place, I felt very emotional last time I rounded it. This years, the conditions are a little trickier, with the icebergs that have been spotted in the area, so let’s see what happens. It’s an important moment, something special in a sailor’s life, so I’ll try to enjoy it the way it should be enjoyed. Four years ago, we were in the process of rescuing Jean Le Cam, maybe you remember…
THE Video
Banque Populaire seen from MACIF
Banque Populaire seen from MACIF
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