Page 18. MAINE COASTAL NEWS February 2017 Le Cleach Wins Vendee Globe


Armel Le Cleach's BANQUE POPILAIRE VIII. Continued from Page 5.


Dates and times to Cape Leeuwin Armel Le Cléac’h - 05/12/2016 08h14


UTC 28d 20h 12min; Alex Thomson - 05/12/2016 13h30 UTC 29d 01h 28min; Paul Meilhat - 08/12/2016 09h40 UTC 31d 21h 38min; Jérémie Beyou - 08/12/2016 17h47 UTC 32d 05h 45min; Yann Eliès - 09/12/2016 16h54 UTC 33d 04h 52min; Sébastien Josse - 09/12/2016 23h32 UTC 33d 11h 30min; Jean-Pierre Dick - 10/12/2016 03h55 UTC 33d 15h 53min; Jean Le Cam - 10/12/2016 19h30 UTC 34d 07h 28min; Thomas Ruyant - 12/12/2016 18h09 UTC 36d 06h 07min; Louis Burton - 15/12/2016 02h19 UTC 38d 14h 17min; Stéphane Le Diraison - 16/12/2016 08h55 UTC 39d 20h 53min; Nándor Fa - 16/12/2016 19h10 UTC 40d 07h 08min; Conrad Colman - 18/12/2016 04h32 UTC 41d 16h 30min; Arnaud Boissières - 18/12/2016 22h37 UTC 42d 10h 35min; Fabrice Amedeo - 20/12/2016 07h51 UTC 43d 19h 49min; Alan Roura - 20/12/2016 12h11 UTC 44d 00h 09min; Enda O’Coineen - 20/12/2016 16h57 UTC 44d 04h 55min; Rich Wilson - 20/12/2016 20h43 UTC 44d 08h 41min; and


Eric Bellion - 20/12/2016 22h58 UTC 44d 10h 56min. 22 December (Day 47): Race leader


Le Cléac’h was now just 500 miles from Cape Horn and his lead over second place Thomson had grown to 560 miles. Thomson was slowed in a low and was continuing to lose ground to Le Cléac’h. Thomson set the record from the start at Les Sables d’Olonne to the Cape of Good Hope, breaking the record by more than fi ve days. Le Cléac’h should be the leader at Cape Horn and smash the current record by about 5 days. The group of fi ve (places 13 to 17)


within 145 miles of each other will be facing a low, which will have some challenging weather for the racers. They think they have a solution for the


keel ram issue on Paul Meilhat racer (SMA). They hope to send a team out and switch the damaged ram and run the rest of the race unrecorded. 23 December (Day 48):Le Cléac’h


continued to increase his lead over second place Thomson, which was now over 750 miles as he neared Cape Horn. Thomson was in a low and this was slowing his progress. At 1234 UTC Le Cléac’h rounded the


HUGO BOSS crossing the fi nish line. Photograph: Oliver Blanchet/DPPI/Vendee Globe


Horn with a time of 47 days and 32 minutes breaking the record by 5 days, 5 hours and 38 minutes. He has traveled 17,480 miles at an average speed of 15.5 knots. The Internaitonal Jury penalitzed


Jérémie Beyou (Maître CoQ) for breaking the seal on his engine. The penalty was to sail back and forth in a 10 miles segment for two hours and not have a net gain. Stephane Le Diraison offi cially retired


from the race. 24 December (Day 49): After rounding


the Horn Le Cléac’h stayed close to the islands around Tierra del Fuego, but his speed is way down in light air. Thomson was on starboard tack and in better air and was gaining back some of the miles he had lost to the leader. 25 December (Day 50): Thomson was


nearing the Horn and with Le Cléac’h going slow he has gained back half of the miles he was behind the leader. At 1142 UTC Thom- son rounds the Horn with a time of 48 days, 23 hours and 40 minutes, which is just under two days behind the leader. Le Cléac’h has chosen to go east of the


Falkland Islands and is making just 10.4 knots.


Paul Meilhat has offi cial abandoned the


race and was heading north and away from the worst of a low pressure system. Rich Wilson was now in 14th


position


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and just 59 behind his next competitor and there was a storm bearing down on him. He said, “The storm is moving east pretty quick- ly. We are not lined up in its sights when it is fully developed. That is lucky for all of us. There are fi ve boats in front of me now all together. We are not quite with that trio (Bellion, O’Coineen, Roura) but it is really nice to see them grouped together and to see the solidarity. We have been in touch with some of the other skippers, with Fabrice and with Stéphane Le Diraison who is on his way to Melbourne. I have a sailing friend from Boston who lives there who has off ered to help him. We have made that connection. There is a real brotherhood out here.” 26 December (Day 51):Le Cléac’h’s


lead was still dwindling and now second place Thomson was under 400 miles back of the leader. Unfortunately for Thomson, he was back on port tack, which means he was not foiling. The climb back up the Atlantic to the fi nish is going to be challenging for everyone, but the pressure is really on the two leaders. In third place Jérémie Beyou is expect-


ed to round the Horn today. He is behind Thomson by 750 miles. He has suff ered some issue with the satellite communica- tions, mast tack and mainsail hook. 27 December (Day 52): Thomson


has gained another 100 miles on leader Le Cléac’h, who is suff ering in light air. Thom-


son is in 20-25 knots of wind and has a 7 knot advantage on the leader. Later in the day Le Cléac’h passed through the high pressure ridge and thus should be picking up speed. Beyou was the third competitor to round


the Horn at 1344 UTC with a time of 51 days, 1 hour and 42 minutes. The storm south of New Zealand has


winds over 50 and gusts over 60 and maybe much more and is being closely monitored by those east of the storm. Rich Wilsonsaid today: “We are coming


back into the tail end of the depression. It is not moving away quite as fast as we thought and so we got a little into the seaway which is quite chaotic. The others up ahead are get- ting it worse than I am. We are really lucky in that when this was forecast to develop, our group of six were back far enough. When it started out we would have been in the middle of it. I was quite surprised at how big the seas got for the amount of wind we did have. And then in fact as the wind diminished how the sea state maintained itself. It is just totally chaotic. I went up on the foredeck this morn- ing to get the fractional gennaker ready to go and I could not stand up. I had to crawl. It was chaos. I was thinking about the bull riders who have it easy by comparison as they only have to stay on the bull for eight seconds. We have to stay on all the time. 28 December (Day 53): Leader Le


Cléac’h was still suff ering from light winds off the coast of Uraquay and second place Thomson would soon when he hits the high pressure system. Beyou is 912 miles back just east of Staten Island and he has also been slowed.


The storm off New Zealand should not


really catch any of the competitors directly, but some will have some pretty substantial winds with very high seas. Wilson has cleared New Zealand and has about 5,000 miles to go to reach Cape Horn. Pieter Heerema (NO WAY BACK) has


autopilot issues and is trying to fi nd a solu- tion. He has slipped into last place, 19th 29 December (Day 54): Thomson


.


is now 101 miles back of race leader Le Cléac’h, who is still in light air. However, this evening Thomson is expected to slow as the winds will be lighter. Beyou has been learning where the wind is ahead by watching the two in front of him, but he is also going to get a diff erent system, one with more air. Those nearing Cape Horn have another diff erent weather system, one with light air and confused seas. Heerema seems to have solved his


autopilot issue, as losing these could force you out of the race. Others with issue were: Didac Costa who had to repair a link arm in his steering system; Destremau will make a stop off New Zealand to make repairs; and Romain Attanasio’s rescue beacon was


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