Samantha Davies waited for daybreak to complete her first solo transatlantic race on a 60 foot Imoca and makes the most of it to validate her qualification for the next Vendée Globe. The young British sailor is one of the only competitors not to have experienced any technical problems aboard the boat, which has twice won the single-handed round the world race without stopovers! However, though this return transatlantic is an example of the management of material and trajectory, it is of note that the monohull built in 2000 doesn't have the potential of the latest generation of prototype, particularly those upwind. In addition, after the Doldrums, the pursuers of the leaders weren't able to benefit from the same climatic situation and the end of the course was considerably harder and longer. Roxy was thus forced to beat from the tip of Brittany to the Beg Meil signal station against light headwinds, which took Sam nearly a day to complete not surprisingly... Sam also opted to round to the South of the Glénan islands in order to finish at first light doing over 12 knots across the line!

Later this morning Yannick Bestaven (Cervin EnR) will he too cross the finish line in similar conditions to those of Roxy.

 

 

 

Night Messages:

Derek Hatfield (Spirit of Canada): “More downwind sailing with full mainsail and Code O. There is between 12 and 15 knots of wind and we are almost making a direct course for the finish line. My prediction is for my finish sometime late Wednesday. I’m a little tired and de-motivated today from all the hand steering effort over the last few days but the hard work has paid off as I have gained some miles on Dee and Rich.  Whenever I feel like this I just think of all the support for Spirit of Canada and those 5000 Spirit of Canada Team Members that have supported us and have their names on the side of the hull. Thank you each and every one of you; without your support, Spirit of Canada would not exist. Also, I have received many emails that offer support and they help me through these down times as well. Sorry I cannot answer each one, if I did, I wouldn’t get any sailing done. I truly appreciate your support, thoughts and prayers.”  

 

 

 

Dee Caffari (Aviva): “The wind arrived, the waves picked up and we were off. Surfing at speeds of up to 20 knots it was a relief. From going from no wind for so long to now lots of wind has been a big contrast with no time to adapt. Below decks it all sounded horrendous, yet when I went on deck Aviva was sailing along quite happily, the wind on her quarter and no restrictions. The best seat in the house was the driver’s seat, yet I have to admit the pilot got a better boat speed than me, probably something to do with the concentration levels.”    

 

 

 

Rich Wilson (Great American III): “Finally out of the Azores doldrums, we have been rocketing across toward the coast with a position report average speed of 13.75 knots for the last time segment, and periodic sprints to 19 knots. Went through the inventory from reacher and full main to solent to 1st reef to staysail to 2nd reef, nearly into 3rd reef in order to gain options on heading higher as the low comes across. A primary reason for our at sea efforts through the years (records on clipper runs from San Francisco - Boston, New York - Melbourne, Hong Kong - New York) has been our sitesALIVE! school programs. So as we passed south of Santa Maria island in the Azores, I sent holiday greetings to our favorite teacher there Helena Baptista, a high school English teacher. Our plan to sail the Vendee Globe is to create a global school program off that global ocean event. As a sailor, it is the biggest sailing challenge that exists. As an educator, it offers a truly unique opportunity to connect a live ocean adventure to schools and students globally.

Already, we have inroads for a Vendee Globe program into over 50 countries, via Newspaper in Education programs and sitesalive.com . We can publish a weekly series in newspapers in nearly 40 countries that also reaches the general public. Purely and simply, this is what drives me. Geography, science, math, history, it's all wrapped up in ocean sailing, and particularly today, with climate change, and the ocean's role in that, we can bring a real world situation to schoolkids globally. What could possibly be better than to race around the world and to connect to schoolkids around the world? So, a lot of wind to come, and time to slow down and ease the loads as much as possible on the equipment. Although I'll miss being home for the holidays, what could be better than Christmas and New Year's in France?”

 

 

 

Translation KJ

Translation KJ