Desjoyeaux triumphant in Vendee Globe.

After 84 days 3 hours and 9 minutes at sea,  fans came out to welcome home Michel Desjoyeaux in Foncia as the victor in the 2008/2009 Vendee Globe round the world sailing race. During his non-stop around the world voyage he sailed over 28,303.2 nautical miles, at an average of 13.2 knots, allowing Desjoyeaux to grab the top podium place in the Vendée Globe for the second time (he also won in 2001).

Michel Desjoyeaux’s campaign was not an easy one, even for this experienced ocean sailor. After starting the race on November 9th, Foncia sailed just 200 miles before having to return to Les Sables d’Olonne with electrical problems. Undeterred, Michel and the Foncia team quickly fixed the problem, allowing Desjoyeaux to rejoin the race on November 11th. Unfortunately, this put Desjoyeaux 360 miles behind the race leaders. At one point in the race he was 670 miles behind the race leader, but this did not discourage him. Keeping his cool, Desjoyeaux took his set-back in stride, sailing with the calm and intelligent tactics for which he is known.

One after another, he overtook his competitors to the thrill of the international sailing community and fans new and old.  He managed to pass them all, and eventually took the lead off the coast of Australia. Once he was out in front with the lead, he would not let it go, and kept ahead of the fleet for the remainder of this around the world race.

Desjoyeaux’s long time friend,  Roland Jourdain should arrive in Sao Miguel in the Azores later today, three days after losing his keel bulb.

Armel Le Cléac’h in Brit Air has therefore been able to claim second position and is now only 1,250 miles from the finish at salonne d’Or and is making good speed.

Samantha Davies in Roxy has therefore claimed third place and is a further 1,000 miles behind Le Cleach.

We will keep you posted as to the final rankings but immediately want to add our voice to the thousands to congratulate Michel Desjoyeaux and his team Foncia.

The video below from yachtpals clearly shows the grace of these wonderful yachts but of the 30 who started the race nearly 3 months ago there are only 11 left in this toughest and most extreme of yacht races.

Vendee Globe leaders round Cape Horn and head for home

We have not reported on the Vendee Globe sine December 21st, a long time in the world of round the world ocean racing but now with little more than 6,000 miles to the winning tape the leaders can feel they are on the final leg.

Michel Desjoyeaux on board Foncia has slightly increased his lead over Roland Jourdain in Veolia Environment to approximately 100 miles and they have both now sailed into the Atlantic and are heading north east of Argentina before crossing the Atlantic from the Brazilian coast to the African coast, passing Cape Verde, the Canaries and finally north to France and the finishing line at Les Sables d’Olonne.

But behind them there has been drama – when we last reported Jean Le Cam in VM Materiaux was in third place but on Tuesday his boat capsized as he approached Cape Horn and Le Cam was stuck in the hull. Vincent Riou on board PRB turned to help and in a dramatic and daring rescue was able to throw a rope to Le Cam who on the fourth pass was able to grab hold.

The two skippers carried on round Cape Horn but in a cruel twist of fate PRB was dismasted having passed Cape Horn and is now under tow of a Chilean vessel on its way to port.

This has enabled Armel le Cleac’h in Brit Ait to take third position as he rounded Cape Horn quaffing champagne and he now lies approximately 750 miles behind the race leader.

In the video below from acvor you can watch some of the action from the 2006/07 Vendee Globe which has some frames from rounding Cape Horn – this has to be an extreme past time demanding extreme respect to those individuals who challenge themselves against such extreme elements.

Full speed ahead for Cape Horn

The leading boats in the 2008 Vendee Globe are now passing to the south of New Zealand and heading out into the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

The next land to be seen will no doubt be the sothern tip of South America where the Pacific and Atlantic oceans meet at Cape Horn which has a fearsome reputation.

And there is still about 12,000 miles to race so there is plenty of time – another 30 to 40 days at sea – for events to unfold. Heading toward the New Zealand gate Michel Desjoyeaux in Foncia has a 60 mile lead over Roland Jourdain in Veolia Environment with Sebastian Josse – BT – a further 100 miles (approximately) behind Veolia Environment and Jean le Cam in VM Materiaux in fourth place.

Of the 30 boats that started the race 12 have now had to retire leaving only eighteen still in the race. For those that don’t know the Vendee Globe is a solo trans global race for open 60s – and what is an open 60? Read on:

Open 60s are one of the fastest boats in sailing — built in carbon fibre using the latest hi-tech structures, they are designed to be as light as possible (for speed) but strong enough to withstand the worst the seas can throw at them.

They are designed from the outset to be sailed by just one person. There are very few comforts aboard, and the skipper will spend most of the time in the ‘crash’ seats in a cuddy that separates the open cockpit and deck from the navigation work station. This is the nerve system, packed with electronics and computer equipment to help navigate, check performance, and communicate.

The boat has a number of different sails to suit various conditions — not as many sails as a boat designed to be sailed by a 12 strong crew, but enough to keep the solo skipper working hard all the time matching sailplan to wind and sea conditions. There are three types of sails — a mainsail, headsails on furlers (rolled up around the stays) and a spinnaker — although alone, the spinnaker is only used in very stable conditions (to be caught in a squall with this huge balloon of sail could mean disaster — end of race).

The boats also have to prove their ability to turn themselves the right way up if they become knocked down or turn upside down. This is part of the latest IMOCA safety rules which require the boat to right without the assistance of waves by the skipper taking some action to turn the boat over.

The video below from yachtpals will give you an idea of what can be expected in the southern oceans – kind of tough.

Vendee – Golding’s catastrophe

Last night we confidently predicted that Mike Golding in Ecover 3 would over haul Jean-Pierre Dick  in Paprec-Virbrac whose rudder had been badly damaged when he had hit some unseen object. Golding was making great headway and did indeed take the lead and establish headway of some 30 nautical miles.

Bang –  if the mother of a squall, Golding says was 55 knots, suddenly blasted his boat and blew his mast clean off – shattered at the stump. Golding is about 1000 miles south west of Perth and 1500 miles from Adelaide and would therefore appear to be in a spot of bother.

He takes up the story: ‘I was just out on deck when a squall came through with winds of 55knots. I had the main with two reefs and a reacher and had been like that for two hours. Overnight we had winds of up to 45k so I had two reefs and a staysail and then changed to the new configuration in the early morning,I was just getting into my jacket when the boat rounded up and then heeled right over. I heard a bang and immediately went back below deck and waited until the noise had stopped.”

‘The whole rig is down, there is not even a stump left. Once everything had settled down a bit I went back out and the mast was lying across the deck and was acting as an anchor. When things stopped moving about dramatically I set about cutting off the rig. There is some superficial damage to the boat, but nothing major.’

‘My options now are controlled by what I can set up as a jury and unfortunately I don’t have much left. I am about 1500nm south of Perth and Adelaide, so whatever the deal will be to try and cover 1500 miles somehow. I managed to save the boom but have lost all my sails, other than storm staysail but this will probably fit and then I will work out how to fly something off the back of that.”

‘But whatever I do, I will only be able to reach and will not be able to go up or downwind. I am gutted. But there is not much I can do about it.’

One tough race, one extreme sport and the funny things is we can’t find any relevant video action – strange how noone is floating around in the southern oceans, 1000 miles from anywhere, with their camcorder at the ready! Anyway we put out this one from chriscool8  – a teaser for the Vendee Globe 2008 – and it gives you a taste of the action, presentation of the skippers and the conditions and challenge they face – AWESOME.