Vendee Globe

[DeepFrz]

Mich Desjoyeaux confirmed this morning that he thinks he is already emerging into the NE’ly trades.

Foncia crossed the equator on day 71.

http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/news/8...e-equator.html

[DeepFrz]

Michel Desjoyeaux is on fire this evening, 17.5 knots is the quickest we have seen from him for a long time and he is set to keep up that pace in the building breeze.

Vendée Globe

[DeepFrz]

Michelle Desjoyeaux just shattered the Vendee Globe record. 28,303 miles at an average speed of 13.3 knots.

If you want to see something really scary, follow the link.

Vendée Globe 2008 / 2009 - Diaporama

[DeepFrz]

Hows that for scary...

Vendée Globe 2008 / 2009 - Diaporama

[Livia]

Every sailor on that roster deserves a shout out but I can't help but saying:

GO SAMANTHA! GO DEE!

[DeepFrz]

Yeah, me too...

It was sad to see Roland Jourdain retire this morning though, but I just can't imagine how he has kept Violia Environement upright for 3 or 4 days without a keel. Amazing.

Unfortunately they took the pictures of the container floating on the finish line out of the Diaporama.

[iSaint]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Unfortunately they took the pictures of the container floating on the finish line out of the Diaporama.

Thanks for clarifying. It's scary enough with the number of boaters out greeting the boat!

[DeepFrz]

I watched the live streaming of Desjoyeaux's arrival and you are right. The number of boats crammed into to small an area was exciting to watch, to say the least. Everyone wanting to get "the" picture and people jumping in and out of ribs onto Foncia. I was thinking as I watched the crew cleaning up and putting the flags up on Foncia how agile some people are.

[DeepFrz]

There is an interesting view of the keel stub on Bilou's boat. He is docked in the Azores. The shots of what's left of the keel are in the Day 86 report video.

Vendée Globe

[DeepFrz]

Armel Le Cleach finished 2nd this morning in the 6th Vendee Globe. He had a net race time of 89 days 9 hours and 39 minutes 35 seconds of racing in the Around the World Unassisted race, 5 days 6 hrs. and 30mins behind the leader.

[DeepFrz]

Safran and Roxy are now NE of the Azores with less than 1000 miles to the finish as Marc and Sam fight to see who will finish 3rd. There is only a few miles between them although Marc has about 70 hrs. lead for his role in assisting an injured competitor. Marc also reported that he has a keel problem on Safran.

Dee is doing very well in 6th considering she has been sailing with a delaminated and torn main since the south Pacific.

Vendée Globe

[DeepFrz]

Samantha Davies has less than 500 miles to the finish. It is likely she will finish 3rd, although not likely she will end up in third place due to the time credit that Marc has. Marc is still sailing well with no keel about 100 miles behind Sam this morning.

Dee Caffari is in 6th place but still surfing at 14 kts. this morning even with her disintegrating main sail.

[DeepFrz]

Sam is just blasting toward the finish with less than 400 miles left to go. She is doing about 13.5 kts and has widened the gap with Marc Guillemot to close to 200 miles. She now has a good shot at actually taking 3rd place as Marc has about 50 hrs. more redress than Sam.

Dee is also making good speed with a badly damaged main which continues to deteriorate. There is a picture of it on the Vendee Globe website. It looks like it has the pox...

News : Will Sam be 'in the chocolates' from St Valentine's Day? - Vendée Globe

[DeepFrz]

Now less than 300 miles to go Sam is still doing about 10 kts. in light winds. It looks good for 4 boats to finish in the next 4 or 5 days. Dee's speed at last report was about 17 kts.

Norbert Sedlacek has been experiencing very rough weather with huge waves in the South Atlantic.

Newswire : Hurricane force gusts - Vendée Globe

[DeepFrz]

At 23:13 UTC (16:13 CST) Sam Davies is 30 miles from the finish line making about 12 kts. She will finish 3rd but will have to wait 50 hrs. to know whether she can claim third place. If Marc Guillemot finishes within that 50 hr. period he will claim 3rd place.

Brian Thompson and Dee Caffari should also finish this weekend or possibly Monday.