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Dismasted!
Poor Yves Parlier. Out of
contention, but vowing to continue under Jury rig. Meanwhile, a blocking weather
pattern south of Australia will challenge fleet leaders
December 21, 2000
We said it could happen: Parlier is just too
strong in spirit for his own equipment. And now, deep in the Southern Indian
Ocean, near the Kerguelen Islands, the leading contender has lost the top of his mast after an accidental
gybe and broach in 35 knot winds. To be fair, Parlier says that
skipper and boat were 'one'. There was no extra-ordinary strain on his
equipment. Perhaps it was just bad luck that he took a dive on the night of
December 16. As he said in his own
words during radio contact with race headquarters: "Things
happened so quickly. The wind rose sharply under a violent squall. My boat bore
away and rolled on her side to windward. When she flipped back upright the force
was so powerful that Aquitaine Innovations went into a gybe and I was thrown
into the cockpit. The boat started surfing and the bow dug deep into the water,
which led to the mast falling down. Now I¹m okay and I don¹t need assistance.
"If I understand the mechanics and the chain of unfortunate events which
provoked the dismasting, I still can¹t work out in my head why it happened. I
was well into my race and mentally on form, totally in synch with Aquitaine
Innovations, she was performing brilliantly, achieving incredible speeds without
pushing her. The two of us were like a perfect couple who knew and loved each
other, both wanting to do this trip around the world together.
"Yes, it¹s true that I was tired, and that my foot was hurting a little
and I had a few minor troubles, but the boat was in perfect condition. So how do
you comprehend that in a split second all your hopes for this legendary race,
the Vendée Globe, which I have been working towards for 9 whole years, has now
gone up in smoke. I am now held captive by the order of work that needs to be
done and I haven¹t got time to get depressed about it. All the petrels circling
have alone heard the sound of my frustration. I cannot think of doing anything
else but to try and revive the wings of my blue bird to finish this trip around
the world, which we had started so well." While his
decision to continue under jury rig is such a Gallic gesture (Bernard
Moitessier would have been very proud), the reaction among fleet members is
mixed, with many in awe of Parlier's decision sail on. But the sober Michael Desjoyeaux had this to say: "You
have to know when to put the brakes on. Yves wanted to come back on us, and he
was taking back 50 miles per day, even when he was in touch with Bilou.
(second-placed Roland Jourdain) It¹s
obvious to me that he must have pushed his machine too hard. In any case, I had
no intention of competing against his pace, I would have let him overtake me as
I know that PRB isn¹t in this race for that kind of play." (On Yves
decision to continue the race) "I think Yves is grown up enough to know
what he must do. He must still be in a state of shock and perhaps he will listen
to reason soon. I don¹t think he¹s got enough food to finish the race with. If
it was me, I¹d head for Australia but I¹m not Yves. He¹s his own boss!"
Interestingly, Yves' demise came at a place in the Southern Ocean
near to where Thierry Dubois, Raphael Dinelli and Tony Bullimore capsized in the
1996 race. It would be a cruel heart that did not feel for Yves
Parlier. He had counted on winning this Vendee Globe. He had 'programmed'
himself for victory, and he led the fleet from Cape Finisterre deep into the
Southern Ocean - through the trickiest of Atlantic weather. Oh,
the disappointment! But we needn't worry for his well being. He
is a good seaman. Indeed, his dismasting in June's solo trans-Atlantic
race and subsequent sail back to France under jury rig proved the best
possible training for this Vendee Globe! Languishing
(!?) between systems For the first half of the week, some
of the leading pack of skippers have been languishing between two low pressure
cells. Ok, maybe languishing is a bad word. Ellen MacArthur considers 45 knots
of wind smooth sailing in these parts. (see her story below for what it's like
in the heavy squalls!) Those in the north - above about 48 degrees south - have
been dealing with the southern ocean's typical westerly flow, and that includes
squall clouds bringing gusts to 50 and 60 knots. They have certainly not been
languishing. But those in the south, keen on saving miles by
traveling as close to the great circle route as possible, have been plagued by
changeable conditions - sometimes powerful, sometimes not. As the centre of a
depression passes overhead, it brings light winds and when it passes to the
east, what follows is a zone of weak low pressure. Of course, those positioned
just to the north of the low's centre collect great deal of frigid
Antarctic air!
December 18, 0200gmt
A
typical Southern Ocean set-up: Low pressure to the west and low pressure to the
east with weak low pressure between. Anywhere else in the world this zone
of weak low pressure would be high pressure! Note the more consistent westerly
winds to the north. The yachts
in this image are passing the Kerguelen islands. What makes modern ocean racing
so exciting, is the fact that yachts can keep pace with weather systems for days
at a time. A fast southern ocean low may travel at 35 knots, when it is
not being affected by blocking patterns 'downstream' , but the Open 60s used in
the Vendee Globe can average 22 knots down here. For the past few days, leading
contenders in the Vendee Globe fleet have been riding between these two
depressions, anxious to find consistent winds. Those in the rear of the fleet
have been bombarded with cold storm-force squalls and snow. Brrr! Picture courtesy of Virtual
Spectator.
Challenging
conditions ahead Leading skippers are in for some head
scratching shortly as a complex weather pattern emerges south of Western
Australia. Looking at upper level wind charts it is clear what is going on: A
kink in the jet stream at 33,000 feet is contributing to a blocking effect at
the surface. A ridge of sub-tropical Indian Ocean high pressure is moving well
south, while to the north - below Cape Leeuwin - a low pressure cell is
developing. Boats in latitudes close to the Cape Leeuwin low can
expect easterly head winds, pushing against a westerly swell - not very nice at
all. Further south winds will be light under the balloon of high pressure.
Meanwhile, a deep low to the west is expected to deteriorate, and perhaps slide
south of the high pressure ridge. At first glance, boats in the
south should benefit - for the moment anyway. But everything depends on how long
this blockage persists. We wait with interest!
©
weather-wise.com 2000
December 20, 1300gmt
Race
leaders Michael Desjoyeux aboard PRB (indicated by the red line) and Roland
Jourdain aboard Sill (indicated by the dark blue line) are already feeling the
effects of south east winds cycling around the Cape Leeuwin low in this screen
shot taken December 20. Ellen MacArthur aboard Kingfisher (Light blue line) is
well behind and might be able to avoid the damaging easterlies by heading south.
Picture courtesy of Virtual
Spectator.
Animated infra-red satellite
image,
December 19-20, 2000 This
animation of infra-red images for 24 hours from December 19, at 1730 gmt, shows
a low developing south of Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia.
Upper level winds over Australia
and the Southern Ocean
December 21, 2000
The obvious kink in the jet steam
at flight level 330 (about 33,000 feet, or 11 km) is a dead give-away for
indicating stalled weather. In this case, the sub-tropical high over the Indian
Ocean is ridging into the Southern Ocean below Western Australia while a
low develops south of Cape Leeuwin. Models used by Virtual Spectator point to a
deep low moving in from the west (see chart below) to stall and fade, bringing
little use to fleet front-runners as they battle through fickle airs within the
ridge of high pressure. Even worse - easterly winds cycling around the Cape
Leeuwin low will push against the prevailing westerly swell, making life very
difficult for anyone caught in that region.
Pressure chart courtesy of Australian
Bureau of Meteorology
(username is bomw0007, password is aviation)
Southern Indian Ocean
December 21, 2000
This surface pressure chart shows
Australia in the top right corner, a sub-tropical high west of Perth (note how
it is ridging towards Antarctica on its south-east flank), a 999hPa low south of
Cape Leeuwin and a deep, 955 hPa low south of the Crozet Islands.
Pressure chart courtesy of Australian
Bureau of Meteorology
Explore comment from
Ellen MacArthur and Kingfisher
December 18:
"As I sit here now I feel worse than I have ever felt in my
life
before...physically I am totally exhausted, and mentally - not so far off..
My whole body aches, and I feel drained. My mind feels like it's been
frozen, and is trying to wake..yesterday was the hardest challenge of my
life.. though funnily this morning feels 10 times worse..
"It started when the tack of the staysail blew off.. The sail had been set
to
windward, as the wind was well over 40 knots.. the day had been fantastic -
surfing at over 30 knots, and really feeling we were catching the others,
and then our stupid course to the North.. I am learning so much - sailing
the boat is one of those things - and only yesterday did we seem to have got
it right in strong downwind conditions..
"As the sail flew in to the air I bore away quickly to hide it behind the
mainsail.. I dropped the halyard immediately and went on to the foredeck
to
sort out the mess, not easy in 45 knots, but we were slower without the
sail - I just had to hold my breathe as the waves ploughed over the bow.
It was then that she started to go - to gybe, and before I could make it
back to the cockpit her deck was vertical, and we were lying helplessly on
our side.. In itself this is a fairly bad situation to be in - but what was
to come was far worse.. As she lay on her side the mainsail lay crookedly on
the runners - I fought to get the other runner on to release her from this
agonising position - but it was difficult climbing up the deck.. We did it -
then gybed over - but had to go back as the runners were caught around the
top battens.. By this stage one of the battens had broken - in fact the car
it travels on too - and although annoyed I know this does happen - and is
not so bad to fix... or so I thought..
"On further inspection, and about 20 minutes to sort out the mess I
realised
that I couldn't get the mainsail down to fix the problem. In fact the batten
was pushing forward over the second spreader - and neither love, money nor
the best will in the world was going to let me lower that sail with out
going up there to remove the batten.. going up the rig is generally the solo
sailors worst nightmare - but going up in 40 knots plus - just doesn't bare
thinking about.
"I knew I had to do it.. I knew that if the wind rose further I would be
unable to get down the sail.. In my mind I had no option - I just went into
autopilot - put on my harness, rigged up a taught halyard and climbed..
"It was bitterly cold, the biting wind cutting into the bare skin on my
hands
and face, the first part to the first spreader was OK - not too much
movement, and I still had energy - but the second part to the second
spreader was 10 times harder with each inch I climbed...I was beginning to
get tired - as each wave we surfed on (which were about 10 meters high) was
trying to throw me off the mast.. As I got to the second spreader I had
just two feet to go, but it felt those were the hardest two feet of my life
"I struggled to inch my way up, and hung there a while banging away at the
mast trying to recover..I found the energy from I don't know where - and
made it onto the spreader. The batten was in front of me, and if I timed it
on the surfs I could pull it out. Relieved it would come I dropped it to
the deck.
"I was now quite cold, and shaking with the effort, you'd think getting
down
is the easy bit - but in fact it took me further to the edge than I wished
to go.
"I had to take each jumar [climbing equipment] in turn and lower it -
taking
the weight of the working one to put it on the lazy one.. Each few inches I
descended I had to take my weight with my hands - or legs - which proved
exhausting still....
"I arrived at one point with a slack jumar and an unattached one - with all
my weight on my right wrist in one of the webbing loops on the sail. I
hung
there - banging into the mast - trying desperately, and unsuccessfully to
get my foot through the gap between the sail and the mast.. I started to
hurt badly - still no joy. Goodness knows how I managed to get that other
jumar on - but I think that hospital kids had a fair lot to do with it, and
the want to get back home again..
"It took over an hour to get down - just 15 meters... a painful hour..
Once on the deck I was shaking but overjoyed - and set about fixing the
issues... The batten I changed - another I tightened and sewed a part of a
spreader patch on.
"I barely had the energy to put the sail back up again, then collapsed in
the
cockpit.. A I dashed about the deck working my vision went funny - I was
seeing stars permanently, as if I was about to black out.. Bizarre - I
didn't but wonder if it's something to do with adrenaline or having been
closed to the edge.. or then again maybe I was just frozen.
"I was so glad to have made the repair, but till this morning really didn't
realise how much it had taken out of me.
"This morning was worse.. I saw a rip in the genoa... along the foot.. I
tried to sleep last night - but was worried about it - so at first light
tried to fix it.. It was impossible - even with the sail sheeted hard behind
the main it flapped and flicked in my face, and ripped the stitching out
that I was trying to put in. [the sail is permanently up, to take it down is
very very difficult right now, so she is forced to try to repair with it in
place]. Hence this morning is one of the worst.. I cannot sail at full
potential.. the sail I need is out of action.. SO frustrating..And now - to
top it all - after putting up the gennaker in 17 knots of wind - it's now
blowing 28 and on the limit..
"After trying to fix that sail I was at my lowest point in the race.. I
cried out loud to the heavens...just sometimes you have those moments - and
that was one of them... After almost killing myself yesterday to keep going
and fix the problems whilst hanging in with the fleet, today I am losing
miles, because of a stupid tear in a sail.. So frustrating, I can't
sleep,
or switch off.
"Something else I guess I have to learn..
The good news is though the sun has come out.. Maybe I'll get a chance to
dry out that sail...
"Thanks so much for following me everyone.. The support emails are
fantastic.. They really change my days, and give me more than just a reason
to be out here.. Sharing this challenge is one of the most important things
for me. Second to, though I have to say - making it back home to France!
till tomorrow..."
"Ellen
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