Icebergs detected on Vendée Globe skippers’ route (VG update 4Dec20)

As if unidentified floating objects weren’t enough to contend with, the Vendée Globe skippers could have to deal with icebergs too. 

CLS, the official supplier of ice data for the Vendée Globe, has detected around 20 questionable icebergs in about 50 radar and satellite images. Following consultation with the CLS team, the Vendée Globe race management has raised the Antarctic Exclusion Zone by 5 degrees north, increasing the safety cordon by more than 400km. Skippers are now forbidden to enter this virtual zone; doing so could endanger them and cost them penalties.

After both Sam Davies and Sébastien Simon hit UFOs and sustained damage to their vessels it shows how even the most prepared and experienced skippers can be dealt a cruel hand by fate.

Both are now heading north towards South Africa out of the worst of the strong winds and big seas, sailing slowly north to shelter and assess their possibilities of repair. “I want to be able to continue my Vendée Globe”, says Simon.  He has constant water ingress from around his foil box, while Davies damaged the longitudinal framing which supports the keel of Initiatives Coeur

She reports: “I was sailing at speeds between 15 and 22kts and it was just starting to get dark. I hit something. I did not know what it was. The boat speed went from 20kts to zero. The boat nosedived on the impact with the keel. The bulkhead, the main bearing bulkheads are intact as far as I can see. The keel bearings are intact. The longitudinal structure around the keel box is all cracked. That has taken the shock of the impact of when the boat moved, that is cracked on both sides.”

Pip Hare is chasing her competitors hard

Although chasing hard, Hare is starting to fall back.

“I feel like somebody’s little sister who wants to be in the gang and is running after them,” says Hare. But there’s sunshine in the Southern Ocean and she is revelling in the beautiful isolation of this infamous stretch of water. (19.47 3Dec20)

Miranda Merron has discovered a leak in the keel’s hydraulic oil tank

“During my boat inspection I discovered the very bad surprise that the keel hydraulic oil tank had emptied entirely into the engine compartment, fortunately mostly confined in a single part of the compartment. Hydraulics isn’t my strong suit since I never really got my hands in it, even though I had a Hydroem team class before the race started (thanks to them for that).

“I ended up finding the leak from a broken joint of one of the cylinder hoses, not very accessible too. I replaced it and put the oil back in the tank, and it works. This would have been easy for someone who knows about it, but it was a little more complicated for me. Took me quite a while but I learned a lot.” (07.57 4Dec20)

Watch as Merron investigates and makes repairs.

Alex Thomson approaches the South African coast

Thomson has been spotted approaching the South African coast, just off Cape Town .  (04Dec20)

Watch yesterday’s round-up of events