St. Lucia’s Gros and Petit Piton
St. Lucia’s Gros and Petit Piton are perhaps the island nation’s most notorious features. The gorgeous, lush mountains shoot over 700 meters into the sky on either side of Soufriere Bay, where you can visit the lovely Anse Chastenet Beach or the town of Soufriere. Sailboats can anchor or moor in this bay to enjoy an up-close view of the Pitons. Read More
Basically, I’m doing fine, enjoying myself more and more. I think I’m more comfortable now, more reactive when it comes to choosing sails. And if I had known my boat that well from the start, I could have sailed faster at the beginning of the race. But that’s how things are… I’ve been at sea for a month and it’s a special moment. You can feel the rhythm changing and you have to be extremely careful because whether you realise it or not, you are getting tired. And the temperatures have changed, too, they’re getting much colder so you drink less, which makes recovery more difficult. That’s why I eat soup several times a day, as well as energy supplements. And I try to sleep as much as possible. Micro-naps can be very efficient!
Conditions have improved. We now have more stable and stronger winds and it should last for four or five days. The sea is weird, though, the waves just don’t carry you as much as when you’re in the Great South. We’re sailing north to avoid iceberg and as a result, we miss some of the adventure. It’s become such a serious race…
The two leaders have extremely good boats that can truly make a difference in winds like this, that not that strong. Behind, the skippers who were chasing them got stuck near the gates, where there was basically no breeze. You can’t really use the weather when you have geographical constraints and areas you are required to sail in. But the leaders are also very well-prepared and with my boat and my preparation level, there’s no way I can compete with them. So I think it’s better to currently focus on skippers I can actually catch up with, Cali and Javier, while keeping an eye on Tanguy.
The last 24 hours have been fairly pleasant sailing VMG downwind in 15-20 knots of wind with a few gybes thrown in. I have still got a fairly big swell from the west so we still get up on a good surf every now and again.
All concentration is on the ex Cyclone Claudia and where I need to meet her to get the maximum gain. I am studying two weather models, the GFS model from the US and the ECMWF model from Europe. They pretty much agree on what is going to happen in the next 36 hours but after that, some details are different. My biggest worry is not being able to get to the south again but that is a little far ahead for the models to be accurate. For the moment I have to play the weather ahead and concentrate on my placement for Claudia.
I have not managed to get any repair work done on the rudder cassette yet but tomorrow morning the wind will go light and I hope to get some boatbuilding done. I hope it won't be raining. My energy saving is going to plan and the team are working out a way for me to build a new bracket for the hydro generator. This will be a long-term project and I probably wont be able to fix anything to the boat until after Cape Horn but the building of it I can do slowly over time.
I’m behind a depression, facing very unstable wind going from 15-18 knots to 35-40 and it’s therefore quite tricky to find the right sail combination and setting. It all changes every 15 minutes! The sea is pretty chaotic, the boat and myself are getting seriously shaken. But I’m very careful, and I’ve even managed to relax a bit. I don’t mind the noise, it’s part of the environment I’m used to. It’s also an interesting source of information when it comes to understanding what’s going on with the boat.
He sky is dark, with a few even darker clouds, and it’s raining a lot. When I woke up this morning, the olive oil was frozen so I’m assuming the temperature is about 5°C inside.
For someone like me, who’s really into sailing fast, it’s great to have an average speed of 25 knots for several consecutive hours, especially when you feel the balance of the boat is perfect and it’s moving effortlessly. Such a harmony is great to enjoy. On the other hand, there’s also quite a lot of tension, you get very suspicious about different things. But you have to trust your instinct, really, and mine was telling me I was enjoying the situation, MACIF was exactly the way she was supposed to be and there was no reason to change anything.
Because of the time difference – 30 minutes a day – my body is having a hard time adapting and I feel like I’m jet-lagged. I guess I sleep a total of four to seven hours a day, which is good enough, I’m not tired. I insist on eating my meals very regularly, following the rhythm of the sun: Breakfast when the sun comes up, lunch at mid-day and dinner in the evening.
I’m done with the Indian Ocean, marking the end of an important part of the race and I can say it went well as MACIF and I are still in a good position. I’ll soon be sailing south of Australia – an area with completely different weather conditions – with the Pacific Ocean open in front of me.
I’m finally back on track, with a 15-knot wind that pushed me ahead of the anticyclone even though I now the ridge is going to cause some more problems tonight. Claudia is going to have an impact here and in the south, too.
I really had no choice but to put up with this situation over the past few days, but I kept telling myself I needed to stay positive because that’s how things are anyway and you need to make the best out of it. I spent a lot of time at the helm, I got some rest and did a little maintenance, too. So I’m now feeling great, and so is the boat. We’re ready to face tougher conditions in the next few days.
The shape of the race has changed a lot lately. The leaders are more spread out and in the back, Javier Sansó is coming back. But this is a long race and I think the leaders will slow down soon and hopefully I can gain some miles. I should also be able to extend my lead over Javier in the next few days.
Here is what François Gabart, Jean Le Cam, Alessandro Di Benedetto, Tanguy de Lamotte, Charles Caudrelier and Raphaël Dinelli said during the Friday, December 14 live TV show on Vendée Globe TV.
I have very mixed feelings about that transition, I was even mad yesterday. You miss the train by a few miles only and it's really unfait because so far, you had been doing fine. There was no strategical mistake, it's just bad weather I have to deal with. I'm feeling better today, it's still frustrating but that's life, too. It's like another race is starting now.
There's less pressure because the close fight is over so you can focus back on yourself and on your boat. And get some rest to recover, too!
The good news is, after riding at 20 knots for so long, I now get to check the boat all over. Evil can be found in the tiniest details! I'm working on boat maintenance and little things that need fixing before the second half of the race. I'm back with the big natural sponge I use to keep the back of the boat relatively dry. I have no idea where I put my tin dish, though…
Hi all,
The picture shows what I discovered this morning in the cockpit, there were actually 7 or 8 of them on board.
Yesterday was quite calm but the wind came back today at the beginning of the night, around 6PM French time.
Everything's fine on board, I was able to get some well-deserved rest. The boat is going fast this morning with a nice breeze and waves going the right direction, making for good surfing sessions, but pretty wet ones too: Boots and oilskins are mandatory on the deck…
The outside temperature is very pleasant: 19°C, hard to believe! Last night was chillier, though – 8°C – but it was still bearable.
My hands hurt, they're so dry… I applied Neutrogena hand cream on them (It was an excellent idea, thanks for putting some on bard!) and I can definitely feel the difference this morning!
Have a good Friday all, and godspeed!
Arnaud.
Weather bulletin of the 14th Décember 2012.
Armel Le Cléac’h passed the Australia West gate last night at around 1944hrs UTC on its most westerly mark 21 minutes ahead of François Gabart, who was 18 miles to the east, but it is Gabart who has made the overnight gain as the Vendée Globe heads under Australia. At 21 miles between leader Gabart’s Macif and Banque Populaire of Le Cléac’h the gap is negligible, but the top two are always gaining miles on the fleet.