Vendée: Le Cam Remains On The Trigger

Vendée: Le Cam Remains On The Trigger
Vendée: Le Cam Remains On The Trigger

Video: Vendée: Le Cam Remains On The Trigger

Video: Vendée: Le Cam Remains On The Trigger
Video: Vendée Globe : Jean Le Cam ramène Ushu à bon port 2024, March
Anonim

On the 52nd day at sea, Jean Le Cam leads the field of one-handed regattan with his "Bonduelle". After passing the last gateway, the last waypoint is Cape Horn in front of the French

With a lead of 190 nautical miles, Jean Le Cam, who is considered to be slightly crazy in skipper circles (that is to say: daring, fun, funny, party-happy - crazy), has seen something of his toughest opponents, Vincent Riou ("PRB ", 190 SM behind the leader) and Mike Golding (" Ecover ", 237 SM behind the leader). His route south of that of his competitors, which is somewhat more dangerous due to iceberg deposits, but also shorter, is currently paying off. The three leaders have been making a lot of steam in the last few days with Etmalen of around 350 to 390 nautical miles. The only skipper who sails at similar speeds in the field is the British Conrad Humphreys. After losing two days of repairs on board his "Hellomoto" in Simonstown / South Africa, he is now pushing the accelerator pedal on his Open 60 more and more. When he last reported his position, he was only a mere eight miles from Benoit Parnaudeau and his "Max Havelaar / Best Western". When Humphreys has collected him, he will be in 12th place - tonight at the latest. An impressive achievement after the bad luck south of Cape Town.

Mike Golding describes the weather situation of the top three as "bitter, bitter cold". For the trio, the wind comes from the south-south-west, i.e. directly from the eternal ice of the Antarctic. It can get even more uncomfortable for the three-pack behind Golding in the next 48 hours. Sébastien Josse ("VM)", Dominique Wavre ("Temenos") and Jean-Pierre Dick ("Virbac-Paprec"), who fell back after a collision with a growler, had to reckon with a storm that would bring them at least 45 knots of wind.

Two ships of the 16 Open 60s remaining in the race (20 had started in Les Sables d'Olonne) have meanwhile stopped for repairs. Patrice Carpentier, the oldest participant in the 25,000 nautical mile regatta, wants to go back to the racetrack tomorrow. After his big tree broke, he had steered his "VM Materiaux" in the south of Tasmania into calmer waters, and apparently a solution to his problems seems to have occurred to him. Things are not looking so good for Marc Thiercelin at the moment. He moved his "Pro-Form" to the Bay of Akaro in southern New Zealand after surviving a knock-down before Christmas when his bowsprit broke and his mast was no longer stable. In the conversation with the race management he made a very frustrated impression. "I've never given up on a race, but I really don't know if I will be able to make the necessary repairs with the resources I have on board," said Thiercelin. Precisely because the Pacific is a long stretch of lake ahead of him, where help is not available in an emergency, he has to think carefully about the best next step: repair it and continue or give up.

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