Vendée Globe: getting through the Southern Ocean in one piece

Sam Goodchild (VULNERABLE) in seventh place is currently sailing in 15-20 knots of breeze ahead of a ridge of high pressure that will slow his progress, while allowing the leading group to get ahead. “The ridge is going to slow us down,” he says. “It's one of those things and will compact the fleet a bit. I'll catch the guys in front of me a bit and the guys behind will come back into me. We will have a little bit of a restart, but we're a long, long way from the finish, so there's nothing to get too excited about just yet.

“The low pressure that we're going to have to go through south of New Zealand is more important. It will be chasing us down and some weather files have very strong winds and quite big waves, so it's going to be a case of trying to outrun it and if you don't outrun it then you get run over by it. So how to manage that is what's required of me mostly at the moment.

A chance for repairs

Goodchild has also been making use of the lighter winds to make sure the boat is in the best possible shape for the next leg to Cape Horn. “I’m really in a get through the Southern Ocean in one piece sort of mode, sail tidily and keep the boat one piece, then see where we are at Cape Horn.

“Life's pretty good on board at the moment. It's not light, light wind conditions, but I managed to get on top of a few little issues. I got the hydraulic ram repaired yesterday – we have three on board and one of them had broken, so I've got the third one working again. There was a little bit of a light patch and I managed to go have a crawl around the boat, went all the way to the bow and there's no structural issues, so that's reassuring. Went and checked out the rudders, which I've had a couple of repairs on in the Indian Ocean and they're in good shape. So it was a reassuring day yesterday.”

Pip Hare (Medallia) in 15th place has also been enjoying easier conditions and will pass Cape Leeuwin today. “It puts this race into perspective, she says, “it’s the end of week five and we've sailed from Les Sables d'Olonne to Australia. The whole thing is just immense and I love this racetrack. I love that our racetrack is the whole world and it is pretty cool coming along the top of the search and rescue limit.

The tightest of battles

“I’ve had a really good battle with Romain Attanasio (Fortinet - Best Western) and when I spoke to Andi Robertson yesterday, I'd just overtaken him,” Hare continues. “But then when I went out on deck to do an inspection, discovered that I had a broken tack line, so I had to go downwind for a bit and he overtook me. And so we are doing a bit of cat and mouse.” This is a battle that looks set to continue, and at 0600UTC this morning she had overtaken the French skipper again, but was only 0.1 miles – 200m – ahead.

“It's a beautiful day today, the sun is really, really warm,” says Hare. “I put all my mid layers on about five days ago and now I'm baking in them during the day because it's so warm. But obviously that's going to change when we head south when we get to the corner of the search and rescue limit. But it's all good. It's great sailing, it's great competition and as ever, we are pretty happy on Medallia.”

At the same time, other skippers have been battling strong winds in low pressure systems, including Damien Seguin (Apicil) who sustained damage in a broach last night. In addition, the boats behind the group that will be slowed by the high pressure, which goes from Thomas Ruyant (VULNERABLE, 3rd) to Clarisse Crémer (L’Occitane en Provence, 13th), will be sailing just ahead of a weather front that will allow them to sail “towards the east, in rather tense conditions, but with good averages”, according to Pierre Hays of the race management team.

Meanwhile Antoine Cornic (Human Immobilier, 32nd) is making progress with repairs to his mainsail luff track and is waiting for the right moment to climb the mast about 10m above the deck. Equally, Guirec Soudée (Freelance.com, 30th) seems to have set off again after repairs, initially heading north from the Kerguelen Islands.

Charlie Dalin (MACIF Santé Prévoyance) retains a 200 mile lead for the moment, but Yoann Richomme (PAPREC ARKÉA) has moved up to second place, ahead of Sébastien Simon (Groupe Dubreuil, 3rd) who is making slower progress with a broken foil. At 0600UTC today these two boats were only nine miles apart.