Saturday, 2 March 2013

Summary of the VendeeGlobe2012-2012 - last part

Can it get any bluer?

Week 8
Even when the leaders were somehow slowed down while approaching Cape Horn, their nearest competitor, Jean-Pierre Dick, remained 400 miles away when they rounded the legendary rock on January 1st, 2013. Gabart rounded it first and was only 1:15h ahead of Le Cléac'h. But skippers would have to wait some more for some relief as the way down towards the extreme south of the Chilean archipelago was made under the threat of icebergs believed to have drifted all the way up to Staten Island. At the same time, Di Benedetto entered the Pacific Ocean. A little less than two days later, Dick rounded the last cape of the race, 250 miles before Thomson. We then had to wait for six and a half days to see Le Cam coming back into the Atlantic. He opened the way to a squad that had grown in the Southern Seas. Stamm, Boissières and Sanso had joined the "senior sailors" crew and the newly-formed group was then sailing within 500 miles of each other. The skipper of Cheminées Poujoulat, victim of another crash that had badly damaged his hydrogenerators, while the other one was no longer working, was forced to make diesel refuel after Cape Horn. It meant he was out of the race just before the jury confirmed his disqualification.

Week 9 – Week 11
Even if Cape Horn was now behind them, the route was still long and if the leaders had then left the Southern Seas, they quickly faced winds of 45 knots and 6-metre swell. For the leading trio, the way up the Atlantic began abruptly and cruelly for Dick, who – after a great comeback on the leading duo – had to slow down in order to repair his main stay. For Le Cléac'h, the problems were less dramatic but equally disastrous in terms of consequences. A problem with his gennaker in the Le Maire Strait made him lose ground again when he managed to return on Gabart, only 10 miles behind him. On January 6th, a shift in the west he thought beneficial became a real nightmare, as the crossing became more complicated than expected. 100 miles away, on January 8th, the gap extended over 260 miles six days later. This would be the largest gap in the race. Through less easy doldrums crossing for the young leader, Le Cléac'h managed to come back a little, but it wasn’t enough.

Finish
On January 27th, 2013, at 15h18 (French Time), François Gabart crossed the finish line and entered the Sables d’Olonne channel as a hero, after an incredible duel that lasted 78d02h16’ or 28,646 miles travelled at an amazing average speed of 15.3 knots. Only 3:17h later, Armel Le Cléac'h completed his world circumnavigation, just in time to enter the channel, still warmed by the enthusiasm of a great public. It was definitely a historic day, which saw the finishes of two exceptionally gifted young sailors, the first to single-handedly sail around the world on a monohull in less than 80 days. Two days later, Alex Thomson takes the third place of the podium thanks to an amazing performance on a second-generation boat built in 2007. The British was indeed helped by Dick’s technical issues, as the Virbac Paprec skipper finished 4th after sailing 2,650 miles without the keel he had lost 600 miles south of the Azores archipelago. The Atlantic proved to be very rough to the « senior sailors » and the first of them, Jean Le Cam, did not enter the Sables d’Olonne channel before February 6, followed by Mike Golding and Dominique Wavre. Then came Arnaud Boissières and Bertrand De Broc as well as, a little later, Tanguy de Lamotte (Initiatives-cœur). The last skipper to finish the race was Alessandro Di Benedetto, 11th but still celebrated as if he had won the race. Even though he was in 9th position when he crossed the Equator, Javier Sanso was not that lucky. On February 3, he lost his keel 400 miles south of the Azores, which capsised his boat. The Spaniard was eventually rescued by the Portuguese navy.

2 skippers pulled out of the race
January 9: Bernard Stamm: After hitting an UFO and damaging his hydrogenerators, he received extra fuel. He was also disqualified by the jury on January 2 for receiving outside assistance from Russian boat Professor Kkoromov. The case was re-opened but the initial decision was confirmed on January 12.
February 3: Javier Sansó capsised off the Azores after losing his keel.

Picture: Arnaud Boissière's hand
Blessures aux mains d'Arnaud Boissières© ARNAUD BOISSIERES / AKENA VERANDAS









Important facts:
January 1: François Gabart and Armel Le Cléac'h rounded Cape Horn 1h15 away from each other.
January 2: Bernard Stamm was disqualified by the international jury for failing to comply to article 3.2.
January 3: Bernard Stamm asked for the re-opening of his case.
January 5: Bernard Stamm’s case was re-opened as the Swiss skipper had provided new elements.  
January 6: Cheminées Poujoulat hit an unidentified floating abject, ripping off his first hydrogenerator while the second one was also out of order. Because of previous energy-related issues, there was no fuel left on board, forcing Bernard Stamm to stop using all his energy-consuming devices - including his communication equipment – to save the little energy he has for his autopilot.
January 9: After Cape Horn, Cheminées Poujoulat received extra fuel from Basque skipper Unaï Basurko, a friend of Stamm’s who was sailing in the area. Once the energy came back on board, the Swiss notified the Race Management he was pulling out of the Vendée Globe and resumed his journey, determined to reach Les Sables d'Olonne anyway.  
January 12: After ruling on the case re-opening request by Bernard Stamm, the jury confirmedCheminées Poujoulat was disqualified.
January 15: François Gabart crossed the Equator after 66d 1h 39 mn and set a new Sables d’Olonne – Equator record, beating Michel Desjoyeaux’s 71d 17h 12mn.
January 21: Alessandro Di Benedetto broke his rib when Team Plastique gybed unexpectedly. The French-Italian skipper also lost his small spinnaker.
January 22: Virbac-Paprec 3 lost her keel.
Janaury 27:
François Gabart won the Vendée Globe at 15h 18mn 40s. The MACIF skipper became the youngest winner in the history of the race and set a new race record in 78d 5h 33mn 52s (- 6d 0h 53mn)
Armel Le Cléac’h crossed the finish line 3h 17mn 12s later, finishing second with the smallest gap between the first two skippers in the race history.
January 30: 
Alex Thomson finished the race at 08h 25mn 43, taking the third place and finishing the race for the first time.
Jean-Pierre Dick decided to seek shelter in the San Ciprián bay, anticipating strong wind in the Bay of Biscay. He resumed the race on the morning of February 3.
Fenruary 3: 
Initiatives-cœur hit a UFO and broke the already-damaged starboard rudder blade, causing a major water ingress.
Alessandro Di Benedetto lost his last downwind sails.
ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered capsised west of Madeira, 360 miles off  Sao Miguel (Azores). Javier Sansó waited for the rescue team in his life boat. He was eventually winched up into a helicopter and taken to the Terceira Island at night.
February 4: Jean-Pierre Dick finished 4th of the 2012-2013 Vendée Globe, reaching Les Sables d’Olonne after 86d 3h 3mn 40s at sea. He sailed 2,650 miles without a keel.
February 6: Jean Le Cam took the 5th place in 88d 00h 12mn 58s, followed by Mike Golding (6th) 6h 23mn later. Bernard Stamm finished at 22h 30mn 50s and was not officially ranked.
February 8: Dominique Wavre crossed the finish line in 7th position with a race time of 90d 03h 14mn 42s.
February 9: Arnaud Boissières finished 8th at 15h 11mn 02s, completing his second consecutive Vendée Globe in 91d 02h 09mn 02s.
February 10: Bertrand de Broc completed the Vendée Globe in 9th position after 92d 05h 10mn 14s at sea.
February 17: Tanguy de Lamotte crossed the finish line at 10h58, finishing 10th in 98d 21h 56mn 10s
February 22: Alessandro Di Benedetto, the last skipper in the race, arrived Les Sables d’Olonne with a total race time of 104d 02h 34mn, 26d 00h 17’ after the race winner, which is the smallest gap between the first and last skipper in the history of the race.

Rankings:

  1. MACIF
  2. Banque Populaire
  3. Virbac-Paprec 3
  4. HUGO BOSS
  5. SynerCiel
  6. Gamesa
  7. Mirabaud
  8. AKENA Vérandas
  9. Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets
  10. Initiatives-cœur
  11. Team Plastique

Key quotes:
Tanguy de Lamotte (FRA, Initiatives-cœur), January 4
(On Vendée Globe enthusiasm) It’s hard to realise from here but it’s great to see people getting excited about the Vendée Globe and to know that, through us, people have positive things to get interested in. I’m sure it makes some of them want to travel and maybe they’ll get to carry out some of their projects.
 
Jean Le Cam (FRA, SynerCiel), January 28
Rounding the Horn? An amazing moment. The Pacific is behind us and I’m pretty optimistic about the possibility to close the gap, the sea is quite normal. But it’s always the same thing. You finally get out of the Indian Ocean and enter the Pacific thinking it’s going to be much calmer, maybe because of the name, but it’s never the case.
I sailed a mile away from Cape Horn (he laughs) at the sun was rising, it was the perfect moment, I’ve been so lucky. I had a great time, I shot videos, it was great. There’s something special about Cape Horn for me. Last time, I rounded it with Vincent Riou, which is not what you usually do in a single-handed race. In 2004, I was leading the race on Bonduelle when I rounded it and in 1982, I was doing my military service on Euromarché. I think this year, the Horn will be one of the best memories in the race.
 
Dominique Wavre (SUI, Mirabaud), January 9

Cape Horn is always part of the greatest moments in a race. I’m rounding it for the 9th time and it’s still extraordinary. There’s a rich historic background, it’s like a boat cemetery and sailors rounding the Horn used to do so in terrible conditions. There were so many shipwrecks. I have so much respect for all the sailors who have been here before, you think about all that when sailing off The Rock.
 
Bernard Stamm (SUI, Cheminées Poujoulat), January 10
(On his future in the race) Right now I’m not at 100% of my potential. The conditions are very unstable and you need to be extremely careful because of the ice we have been warned about. It’s been complicated because of the wind and I was only able to get a few hours of sleep. I will sail up the Atlantic as if I was still competing in the race even though for me, it’s been over for a while now. I’m going to try to sail the boat properly, as I would normally do. I’ll try to enjoy it. Lately, what I’ve mostly been focusing on is keeping the boat safe.
 
Bertrand de Broc (FRA, Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets), January 14
After thirty days in very difficult conditions (humidity, agitated sea) and in such a rough and demanding sea, it’s great to finally get out. But these are also the reasons why you come to the Pacific, you need to deserve it. It’s tough and you’re happy when it’s over.
 
Javier Sanso (ESP, ACCIONA 100%EcoPowered), January 16
When we designed the batteries of the boat, our goal was to prove we could finish this race using only renewable types of energy. And we’ve proved it is possible. In the Southern Ocean, I used my hydrogenerator a bit off the coast of New Zealand and that’s it. That technology is our future.
 
Alex Thomson (BRI, HUGO BOSS), January 26
Here’s what made me decide to stay close to Jean-Pierre Dick. The weather forecast was mentioning strong wind, I was 90 miles from him and I just couldn’t imagine leaving him alone in such conditions on a keel-less boat. And to be honest, it wasn’t such a big effort for me. I’ve been rescued in the past so I know how important it is to know you have someone watching your back just in case.

Video: Jean-Pierre Dick climbs up the mast for the 5th time
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Summary of the VendeeGlobe2012-2013 - 3rd part

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
Initiatives-coeur, gennaker dans l'eau© 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

  1. MACIF
  2. Banque Populaire
  3. Virbac-Paprec 3
  4. HUGO BOSS
  5. SynerCiel
  6. Gamesa
  7. Mirabaud
  8. AKENA Vérandas
  9. ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered
  10. Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets
  11. Initiatives-cœur
  12. 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
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Summary of the VendeeGlobe2012-2013 - 2nd part

the Dual for the lead has  started  between the 2 Leaders. 

Week 4

The different options chosen by the skippers started showing results on November 30, when the leader himself admitted the southerly route may have been the best. Dick briefly took the lead of the race on December 1, just before entering the « Great South » from Armel Le Cléac'h, who had led since November 16. In the process, the Virbac-Paprec skipper set a new 24-hour record, covering more than 500 miles – 502! – in a day. But François Gabart was the one crossing the first of the eight ice gates first. The leaders - Le Cléac'h, Gabart, Dick and Stamm – regrouped with Thomson 100 miles behind them while the pendant que les « senior sailors » tried to keep up with the rhythm 400 miles behind the front runners. On December 2, Jean Le Cam noticed a net was caught up in his keel and decided to dive to release it. The complex operation was a success and became one of the unforgettable moments in the race. On Monday, December 3, Armel Le Cléac'h was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope after 22d23h46’ of race, beating the previous record, set by Vincent Riou in 2004, by more than 24 hours. Finally, it was Indian Ocean time!
The leaders’ speed in such strong wind widened the gap between the frontrunners and the chasing skippers, with 2,200 miles (4,000 kilometres) between the leaders and the last skipper. The former tried to sail as fast as they possibly can to avoid the anticyclone threatening to catch up with them, which turned out to be difficult because of a tricky cross sea. While Armel Le Cléac'h was heading north to cross the ice gates, his opponents chose a curvier southerly route, despite the risk of coming across ice. Behind them, the « senior sailors » were in a close fight - Dominique Wavre and Jean Le Cam even sailed at sight for a few hours on December 7. Armel Le Cléac'h might have been the first to cross the Crozet gate, the anticyclone ended up catching up with him and the Banque Populaire skipper gave up his leadership position to Gabart and then to Stamm, before taking it back a few days later while the other skippers were forced to head north to cross the mandatory gate.

Week 5
Armel Le Cléac'h took the lead on December 8th. Once the second ice gate was passed, the weather conditions were suitable for speed records with a strong northwesterly wind that pushed leaders on a little formed sea. François Gabart was the fastest in that speed game and shattered the 24 hours record with 534.48 miles... Incredible! He took the opportunity to take over the lead, and two days later, he set a new record: the best time ever achieved between Les Sables d'Olonne and Cape Leeuwin (34d10h23'). The duel with Le Cléac'h looked like a match-race as the distance between the two leaders was reduced to its minimum compared the entire Vendée Globe journey... Therefore, it was increasingly difficult for their rivals to follow them, particularly for Bernard Stamm, who faced several problems with his mainsail boards, and a very unlucky Alex Thomson, who hit two UFOs in less than 24 hours, which destroyed his hydrogenerator, damaged his rudder and broke another rudder tie bar. Only Jean-Pierre Dick managed to stay in the leaders’ wake. While crossing the Amsterdam gate, the MACIF skipper was only 20 minutes ahead, after 24,000km of sailing! At the end of the fifth week, Gabart, Le Cléac'h and Dick managed to stay in the same weather conditions while, behind them, Thomson and Stamm stalled. Then the gap with the leaders grew quickly; respectively 500 and 600 miles. While the first skippers arrived at the Cape Leeuwin, Alessandro Di Benedetto (Team Plastique) crossed the Cape of Good Hope on December 12, 2012...

THE picture:  Tanguy de Lamotte's "Smoke on the Water"

Tanguy_smokeonthewater© Tanguy de Lamotte / Initiatives-Coeur

 







Important facts:
December 7: Jean Le Cam and Dominique Wavre see each other in the middle of the Indian Ocean, sailing a few hundred metres away from each other.
December 9: Sam Davies is back in Les Sables d’Olonne, so is Jérémie Beyou.
During the night, as he was sailing at fast speed, Alex Thomson hits a UFO, seriously damaging HUGO BOSS’ rudder blade and breaking his hydrogenerator. The British skipper works all night long in order to fix the problems which will later cause many energy issues.
December 10: François Gabart shatters the 24-hour record, covering 532 miles.
December 12: Bubi breaks part of his starboard rudder blade.
December 14: François Gabart stes a new record between Les Sables d’Olonne and Cape Leeuwin in 34d10h23'

Rankings:
  1. Banque Populaire
  2. MACIF
  3. Virbac Paprec 3
  4. Cheminées Poujoulat
  5. HUGO BOSS
  6. SynerCiel
  7. Gamesa
  8. Mirabaud
  9. ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered
  10. AKENA Vérandas
  11. Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets
  12. Initiatives-cœur
  13. Team Plastique


Key quotes:

Alessandro Di Benedetto (ITA, Team Plastique), December 4
« It’s so much fun to sail on this boat, I can run on the deck and stand up, which I wasn’t used to. And she also goes much faster than a 6.50-metre boat, it’s amazing. This is a beautiful race, I have no words to describe it. And the boat is doing ok. »
 
Bernard Stamm (SUI, Cheminées Poujoulat), December 7
« It’s just awesome! The boat is great, even though she still needs improved protection, but apart from that, it’s fun. Conditions are good but tough, especially when the boat is going full speed. We’re close to each other, it feels like a regatta, it’s cool. Last night, I saw François on the AIS. »
 
Mike Golding (GBR, Gamesa), December 9

« The ice gates have changed the race a lot, and even more so now they have been moved. As I’ve said before, as a result, we haven’t made the right sail choices. If I had known we’d sail that much north, I would have taken different sails with me. But it’s the same for every one of us and to be honest, it’s still better than to have to play Russian roulette with icebergs at night! »

François Gabart (FRA, MACIF), December 13
«I have a hard time keeping track of records and race time since we don’t have the same routes. And the ice gates are making things different, too. That’s why I think it’s useless to compare race times, I’m not interested, I don’t care. It’s pointless. »

Dominique Wavre (SUI, Mirabaud), February 8
« I could see the boat of my buddy, Jean, getting closer, it was amazing. Mike Golding wasn’t far away either, it was a real fight. Jean got closer and closer, I tried to call him on the VHF but he didn’t answer. Finally I saw him get on the deck, shooting a video of me… just when I was filming him too! »

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Summary of the VendeeGlobe2012-2013 - 1st Part


The Start of VendeeGlobe2012, some made a Good and some a Bad Start.

Week 1

Saturday, November 10. More than 300,000 people were out early in the morning to give the twenty skippers a warm sendoff despite the rainy and cold weather. Just like in any of the previous editions, the channel moment was an emotional one for the sailors embodying the public’s dreams of adventure. French actor François Cluzet gave the start signal at 1.02PM. Five overeager competitors (Gabart, De Pavant, Gutowski, Le Cléac'h and Riou) crossed the start line early while Bertrand de Broc (Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets), who had damaged his boat 25 minutes before the official start, was already back on the pontoons. He eventually left thirteen hours after the others and sailed across poor Marc Guillemot (Safran) who lost his keel after only 4h43 in the race. The Breton skipper was the first to pull out of the race. Young and spirited François Gabart (Macif) immediately took the lead of the fleet and sailed aggressively in a rough sea. Then, after three days of race, came the second abandon. Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) hit a fishing boat, ripping off his boomsprit and roof, while he was in the cabin for a ten-minute nap. The French sailor changed his route and sailed to Cascais, Portugal. Meanwhile, behind Gabart, Le Cléac'h (Banque Populaire) and Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) kept up with the leader’s intense rhythm, followed by Riou  (PRB), who chose a more westerly route. This was the time for the very first tactical choices. That is when the youngest skipper in the fleet, Louis Burton, 27, also hit a fishing boat and decided to sail back to Les Sables d’Olonne to try to fix his damaged shroud. But Burton will eventually have to resign and pull out of the race. On the evening of Thursday, November 15, Samantha Davies (Savéol) dismasted in very rough weather conditions. She was the fourth sailor to pull out of the race and, after only one week, the Vendée Globe had already lost 20% of its fleet. Le Cléac'h became the new race leader off the Canary Islands, ahead of Gabart and Stamm. There are only 25 miles between the first three skippers and 100 miles between the first six.
Week 2

The remaining skippers were back in much nicer sailing conditions when, on November 17, Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) broke his keel jack while sailing northwest of Cape Verde and eventually pulled out of the race two days later. On the same weekend, Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) broke his rudder tie bar but managed to repair it without losing ground. Meanwhile, Javier Sanso (ACCIONA 100%EcoPowered) had to climb up his mast to fix his main sail traveller. The fleet was made up of three separate groups : the favourites (Le Cléac'h, Gabart, Dick, Stamm, Riou, Thomson), the senior outsiders (Golding, Wavre, Le Cam), and the « latecomers» (Boissières, De Lamotte, De Broc, Di Benedetto). On day 9, Le Cléac'h entered the infamous Doldrums, which gave the chasing skippers an opportunity to come back. That area of extremely unstable winds proved to be particularly tough on the leaders and their race became so close some skippers could actually see each other for a few hours! On November 21, after days of surprising route choices, Poland’s Zbigniew « Gutek » Gutkowski (Energa), abandons the race because of recurring autopilot issues. On the same day, Armel Le Cléac'h left the Doldrums behind and was the first skipper to cross the Equator. The chasing skippers followed him a few hours behind and closed the gap on him in the South Atlantic. Behind them, Mike Golding (Gamesa) crossed the Equator for the 22nd time and, after 12 days at sea, eight of the Vendée Globe skippers were in the south hemisphere, with Armel Le Cléac'h leading them for an entire week. Because of particularly southerly St Helena’s Highs, the first skippers had to choose a westerly route.
Week 3

On Saturday, November 24, Vincent Riou hit an Unidentified Floating Object - a massive drifting buoy – tearing the front part of PRB’s hull and seriously damaging the ourigger. After a first repair attempt, the former Vendée Globe winner eventually had to put an end to his race on the next day. Skippers’ strategies were exposed as Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) moved away from the direct route and sailed south, soon followed by François Gabart, while Armel Le Cléac'h continued on the initial route. Skippers at the back of the fleet, led by Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) with Mike Golding and Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud), started closing the gap. 250 miles behind the Swiss, Javier Sanso found himself 150 miles ahead of Arnaud Boissières (AKENA Vérandas).
Week 4

The different options chosen by the skippers started showing results on November 30, when the leader himself admitted the southerly route may have been the best. Dick briefly took the lead of the race on December 1, just before entering the « Great South » from Armel Le Cléac'h, who had led since November 16. In the process, the Virbac-Paprec skipper set a new 24-hour record, covering more than 500 miles – 502! – in a day. But François Gabart was the one crossing the first of the eight ice gates first. The leaders - Le Cléac'h, Gabart, Dick and Stamm – regrouped with Thomson 100 miles behind them while the pendant que les « senior sailors » tried to keep up with the rhythm 400 miles behind the front runners. On December 2, Jean Le Cam noticed a net was caught up in his keel and decided to dive to release it. The complex operation was a success and became one of the unforgettable moments in the race. On Monday, December 3, Armel Le Cléac'h was the first to round the Cape of Good Hope after 22d23h46’ of race, beating the previous record, set by Vincent Riou in 2004, by more than 24 hours. Finally, it was Indian Ocean time!
The leaders’ speed in such strong wind widened the gap between the frontrunners and the chasing skippers, with 2,200 miles (4,000 kilometres) between the leaders and the last skipper. The former tried to sail as fast as they possibly can to avoid the anticyclone threatening to catch up with them, which turned out to be difficult because of a tricky cross sea. While Armel Le Cléac'h was heading north to cross the ice gates, his opponents chose a curvier southerly route, despite the risk of coming across ice. Behind them, the « senior sailors » were in a close fight - Dominique Wavre and Jean Le Cam even sailed at sight for a few hours on December 7. Armel Le Cléac'h might have been the first to cross the Crozet gate, the anticyclone ended up catching up with him and the Banque Populaire skipper gave up his leadership position to Gabart and then to Stamm, before taking it back a few days later while the other skippers were forced to head north to cross the mandatory gate.

7 abandons
November 10: Marc Guillemot (5.45PM): lost keel
November 12: Kito de Pavant: hit a fishing boat
November 16: Samantha Davies: Dismasting on the evening of the 15th + Louis Burton: Hit a fishing boat on the 14th
November 19: Jérémie Beyou: keel jack issue discovered on the 17th
November 25: Vincent Riou: hit a UFO on the 24th
November 21: Zbigniew « Gutek » Gutkowski: Autopilot issue


Highlights
November 10: Bertrand de Broc comes back to Les Sables d'Olonne 20 minutes before the start of the race to fix a hole in the bow.
November 12: Bernard Stamm faces his first hydrogenerators tie issues, the very first of a long list of problems for Cheminées Poujoulat.
November 15: Javier Sanso seeks shelter after a technical incident. He sails without his main sail for 32 hours before heading to the Canarias Islands. He is back in the race on November 17 with his boat at 100% of her potential.
November 16: Alex Thomson’s first repairs (Rudder tie bar)
November 21: 7 skippers are given a penalty for sailing across a cargo traffic lane (2 hours for Le Cam, Wavre, Sanso, De Lamotte and Gutek; 30minutes for Golding and 20 minutes for Dick)
December 1: Jean-Pierre Dick sets a new 24-hour record with 502 miles covered at an average speed of 20,9 knots.
December 2: Jean Le Cam has to dive under the SynerCiel hull to remove a fishing net caught in the keel. After a 30-minute operation, Le Cam is back in the race.
MACIF  is the first to cross the Aiguilles ice gate at 19h01mn41s (UTC).

THE picture
Kito de Pavant's sadness and disappoitment after pulling out of the race

Kito de Pavant Cascais© Ricardo Pinto / Windreport' / Groupe Bel


Rankings:
  1. Banque Populaire
  2. Virbac-Paprec 3
  3. MACIF
  4. Cheminées Poujoulat
  5. HUGO BOSS
  6. Gamesa
  7. SynerCiel
  8. Mirabaud
  9. AKENA Vérandas
  10. ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered
  11. Votre Nom autour du Monde avec EDM Projets
  12. Initiatives-cœur
  13. Team Plastique
     
Key quotes:
Marc Guillemot (FRA, Safran), November 11
« I am extremely disappointed and I really hope we can find out what happened. It’s tough, but it would take more than that to stop me. I know the disappointment will disappear eventually and we’ll try to move on and, most of all, to understand why this happened. The race goes on, I’ll keep thinking about all the skippers who are still in the race. »

Kito de Pavant (FRA, Groupe Bel), November 16
« The disappointment just won’t go away, it’s going to be a very long winter for Marc, Sam, Louis and myself. We’ll have difficult times. »

Jérémie Beyou (FRA, Maître CoQ), November 19
« The race is over and it makes me so angry. It shouldn’t have happened. When it did, I was so nervous it made me laugh because I just couldn’t believe this was happening. And then I was just mad and I stayed focused on the repairs. Yesterday, I haven’t been able to sleep at all. I ate a lot – there’s plenty of food – and eventually, I crashed in bed. I’m feeling a little better this morning, my mind is clearer. »

Armel Le Cléac’h (FRA, Banque Populaire), November 21
« We entered the southern hemisphere at around 8 AM. I’m doing fine, the champagne didn’t hit me too hard because I didn’t drink too much of it. I’m glad the part between Les Sables and the Equator is now over, the gaps aren’t too big and my fellow Vendée Globe skippers are close. The favourites are in good positions and we’ll have a nice fight over the next few weeks. »

Vincent Riou (FRA, PRB), November 25
« I took my time before making the decision because I wanted to make sure there was not the slightest possibility to stay in the race. But at one point, you have to be realistic and see there is no way I’ll be able to finish the race. That’s one of the most difficult things about being a skipper. Sometimes things are just not fair and you need to learn to accept that. If you don’t, it’s impossible to go on. But it’s hard, because we worked so hard before the race… »

Jean Le Cam (FRA, SynerCiel), December 3
« When you’re at sea, you just can’t go back any more but before the race starts, you ask yourself many questions. You have to think hard about everything before the beginning of the race and ponder every decision before going out there. If someone had told me I’d dive under my boat in the roaring forties, I would have thought that person is crazy… »

Video Sam Davies pulles out of the Race
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