The bad news this morning is that Sam Davies is heading towards Cape Town. She describes a very serious collision with something unknown that brought the boat to an immediate stop from 20 knots to Zero, (She describes it as like hitting a rock) flinging everything forward, including herself, from which she has suffered bruised ribs. An investigation yesterday showed that her bulkheads and keel were fine, but the longitudinal stiffeners around her keep box are cracked and she is taking in a small quantity of water although it is not clear where this is coming from although possibly the bellows around her keel rams. Her pumps are working and she is safe, which is the main thing.
She now joins Hugo Boss (Alex Thomson) and Arkea Pabrec (Sebastian Simon) heading towards “The Tavern of the Seas” as Cape Town is known. It may seem like a bit of a demolition Derby but all three boats have struck objects in the sea which is outside their control.
Alex should arrive in Cape Town to-day.
Back on the race track, where the latest Depression has now moved East of the fleet, Apivia (Charlie Dalin) has its lead cut back to just 149 miles which indicates a speed difference between him and second placed Bureau Vallee (Louis Burton) of some 4 knots over the past day. Burton has taken a more southerly route. Linked Out (Thomas Ruyant) has also closed on the leader to 202 miles but not on Bureau Vallee. The non foiling Yes we Cam (Jean le Cam), has dropped to 6th place, but of course he will get redress in due course for the time and distance he lost during his rescue of Kevin Escoffier. The next depression is forming up south of the Cape but looks as if it will fade by Monday
The rescue took place at night. Jean Le Cam decided that he would go on deck and see whether he could spot the light in Kevin Escoffier’s liferaft in the dark and did. The rest is history. Full Marks to Jean le Cam for the initiative as well as the recovery.
So the leading group now have a period of fresh to strong South Westerly winds which will give them good speeds eastwards. At he back of the fleet, Charal, (Jeremie Beyou) , a favourite at the start but had to return to Les Sables, continues to close in on the 5 tail enders after losing nearly a week at the start, and this group, which includes Miranda Merron and Kojiro Shiraishi, the latter being my old sparring partner in the 2006/7 Velux5Oceans race although, in fairness, I never really threatened him in his Samurai mood, are all there to complete the challenge. Hy may seem well behind, but in this race, staying in the race always means you are still in contention.
In Vendee there are those who enter and are out to win, and those who enter because they want to complete a solo non-stop navigation and join a very small group of some 180 people who have completed such a voyage since 1969 and want to put the trophy of having sailed solo and non stop around the world on their mantlepiece. As Dick Giordano, Chairman of the BOC Group, which owned Airco in the USA, said in 1983 at the end of the first BOC Challenge, anyone who can complete this voyage is a winner. He put his finger on it.