From the morning radio calls, James Harayda, Kito de Pavant, Ollie Heer, Ian Lipinski
James Harayda GBR Gentoo, “It is going well, it is hot here, even this early in the morning. It getting a bit more challenging as I swap to a more defensive style of sailing but it is hard to defend when your boat is slower than some of the boats around you. So I have been trying to push hard. But it is one of these days constantly downloading the position reports to see where everyone is and where people are going and what the weather is they will get into, so I have an idea who I am really looking out for. It has been good, interesting sailing which has kept me busy. It is nice to be on the final stretch albeit the last day will be very challenging, so I feel like I can push through.
The weather looks good for me all the way in to the back side of the island when it is not so good. But who knows? This is going to be my first time going around there. I have no idea what to expect in terms of it lining up like forecast or not.
I have a plan in mind. I know where I am going to position the boat. I was hoping that I would have closed the gap with the boats in front of me a little bit just so I was a little bit in sight of them and use them as a reference for wind holes. But that wont be an option..
The thing at the back of my mind is I have two hours of redress now I really I hope it does not come down to using that but I have it just in case it does go tits up on the back of the island.”
Ollie Heer SUI Oliver Heer Racing, “It is hard for me not having benchmarks other than your own routings that you run. It is quite difficult to stay focused when you don’t have competitors around you and giving you a good reference. But it is all good other than the forecast does not so good for the second half. It is getting quite light and I am having to get quite far south. I am on a long leg south then. We are expecting to hear from the International Jury. We have protested DMG MORI officially and have asked for redress. We have not asked for a specific amount of time but we are in contact with the jury. Depending on what they say I might still be able to use this as a Vendée Globe qualifier.”
Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com): “For two or three days now I have had a lots of little problems. Two days ago, the boat bore away under spinnaker. The boat went right over with the mast touching the water and the mainsail stuck. I managed to right her but it was tough and my Code 0 went into the water. I got it back and then the spinnaker exploded. It took me four hours to sort all that out and get back on track. Yesterday, I heard a big bang and thought I’d lost my mast, but it was still there. The small gennaker was flying like a flag 30 metres up and in 25 knots of wind. I had no choice but to let it fall into the water.”
Simon Koster SUI (Banque du Léman): “Last night was a bit messy in terms of manoeuvres, so I had a few DIY jobs to do. 600 miles from the finish. At our current speed it should not take us too long. Its trade wind sailing as in the manuals with strong winds, waves and sunshine. Add in a few squalls for fun and the sailor is being kept busy. The gaps have widened slightly, but I’m still on the attack. You never know.”
Kito de Pavant (HBF Rainforest Action) “Yesterday, I wrote that I was just getting a squall. It was the first in a long series, which kept me busy all night. Rain, gusts and nasty seas. I wasn’t sure about keeping up the big spinnaker, as theaverage wind is around twenty knots. But when I picked up some weed, I decided it was time to lower it. Weed kept getting caught in the leeward rudder, creating cavitation and making it pretty useless. The boat broached with the 200 sq.m spinnaker flapping about violently. It was pitch black, as there isn’t much of a moon up. After replacing with the other spinnaker, I must say that we were just as fast, but much more stable.”