Mich Desj Day

Today is Mich Desj day. He should be finishing in a couple of hours, and to indicate what a big deal this is, and how big sailing is in France, I have been told that his finish is going to be live on 3 terrestrial TV channels – for 2 hours..
 
What an incredible impression Mich has made on this Vendee. After having won 8 years ago, the only way to top that was to give everyone a head start and still win, and that’s exactly what happened! He was relentless in catching up and then consolidating his lead. He is a great champion, and in the world of sailing his talents in single handed racing are just as exceptional as those of Russell Coutts in the America’s Cup and Ben Ainslie in the Olympic arena. It’s been amazing to watch and also exciting and challenging to see how much more achievable work there is to be done to get to his level in both personal performance and boat performance.
 
The only person who was able to keep up the pace for a long period was Bilou, and in an older, though very fast and well tested boat, his performance was exceptional as well. I really hope that after his keel failure the weather allows him to finish this Vendee, though it won’t be easy for him in his 60 foot dinghy with a lot of Northerly winds coming over his route. Certainly Armel should sail calmly into 2nd place before the finish, but no one can doubt Bilou’s achievements and abilities, whatever the outcome.
 
Out here on Bahrain Team Pindar I am now beating in the NE Trades and very happy to be out of the doldrums. They continued for far too long as they moved North with me and provided constant squalls combined with a rough sea state. Progress north required lots of tacking, trimming and steering. I thought that for every hour I could get out of the doldrums sooner, I would be 3 hours earlier in Les Sables, as my boatspeed once I had left would be 3 times as high. That was good motivation, and I decided to put the tool box away, sail with the equipment I had and get out of there as quickly as possible. I have crossed the doldrums at least a dozen times and that was only one of the two times that it was really difficult.
 
Although I was still in the doldrums, crossing the equator was a good moment, to be entering the final ocean of the trip, my home ocean, and to be almost seeing the finish line just over the curve of the horizon. I had a little toast of Mumm Champagne with King Neptune, who has been very good to me to let me carry on this far, through all the challenges that have been thrown down.
 
Now I am in rough seas and the boat is slamming over the waves. I am limiting the keel cant to ½ of the maximum at present, as having only one functioning ram doubles the load on the remaining ram and the structure that attaches it to the boat. I don’t want to have keel failure this close to the finish. So I am not quite keeping up with Sam and Marc, but hanging in there and hoping that in the Azores High and the depressions towards the finish, there will be some opportunities to close up. I am monitoring the good port ram constantly and have polished it and its carbon structure to F1 levels of cleanliness, so that I can spot any leaks before they lose precious oil. It does have a very slight leak out of the same electrical cable gland that had a big leak on the starboard ram. I have my fingers crossed, the leak does not increase, and I have a container underneath to catch every drip.
 
Wildlife wise, it seems like the domain of the storm petrel. I read once that they were the most numerous bird in the world, even though hardly anyone ever sees them. Will have to ask Nat from Earthwatch whether that is correct. More flying fish, and I increased the population by one last night by rescuing one that had landed flapping in the cockpit. Fortunately with the new cockpit roof its hard for them to fly directly into the cabin, which is always a very smelly surprise.
 
Water temp at 6N 3440W is 26.6degrees so starting to drop away after the 30 degrees off Brasil. The nights are getting longer too, as I move slowly back towards winter.
 
Brian