Pip Hare makes Australia as Destremau considers his options (Vendée Globe update 22Dec20)

Race organisers say that this Vendée Globe is set to deliver a South Pacific Ocean cliffhanger worthy of Christmas holiday week fireside viewing as the front running group try to negotiate a large, tricky high pressure system which is blocking their route east.

Yesterday everyone was speeding along in excellent weather conditions allowing them to lap up the miles, except for Sébastien Destremau, who continues to suffer from problems with his steering and autopilot, causing his boat to broach without warning and stepping up the stress levels for the skipper from Toulon.

“You could say that the end is nigh and I don’t have many other options than to sail Merci to the nearest port. But having said that, you never know when you’re in for a pleasant surprise,” he says.

The skipper is not clear about whether he wants to continue, or whether he could carry out repairs under shelter in Australia.

“The boat is swerving and I have to find a way to improve its course holding, otherwise I won’t be able to continue on without stopping in a port to pick up equipment and make repairs. The situation is clear. Between my keel hydraulic problem, that has plagued me since the Doldrums, my steering system that is no longer operational and the emergency steering system that I have set up, all of this will not hold up in the long term and my autopilot is working very badly,” Destremau says.

“Once the boat is close to Perth, I’m going to have to undo what I did the other day in a hurry and reassemble everything differently. I need to make a support to install the rudder angle sensor. I will have to reposition it completely and this will eliminate what is causing the error in the angle measurements. If the sensor is correctly positioned and working properly, it must send the right measurements to the computer which in turn sends the correct commands to the autopilot to operate. This is how the command chain must work.

“So, the basis is the quality of the rudder angle measurement …. and at the moment we must admit that it is not very good. This does mean that in the meantime we are falling behind the rest of the fleet.”

Hear from skippers around the fleet

(and watch Louis Burton at the top of his mast)

Pip Hare makes it to Australia

“My second cape, BOOM! I’ve reached Australia.”

Hare is pictured above celebrating her second cape.

Watch the moment that she makes it a reality. (09.32 22Dec20)

Miranda Merron is looking for some downtime

“The days are sharpening and seem shorter. The sea’s flattened into a very pleasant long swell, which pushes the boat in a good way. There are always albatrosses, who are very difficult to film as they quickly slip from side to side of the boat.

“I spent the bulk of the night on deck tuning the sails and the pilot, with micro naps sheltered from the rain.

“I find I really haven’t had any time for myself these last few days so I’d like to take some time today if possible to reply to messages, clean up, shower (well, heat water) to put in a bucket.” (09.06 22Dec20)

Catch-up with all yesterday’s news from race organisers

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