Vendée Globe Update:
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Position 35 32S, 44 29W, @ 22:33 UT
Major Bummer for Nick
What a bummer for Skandia
skipper, Nick Moloney. Yesterday the keel blade of his boat keel
broke off about 30 cm from the bottom of the hull. This ends his
hopes of being the first Australian to finish the Vendee and also
the first man to complete around the world races in the three great
events: Solo (Vendee), with crew (Whitbread/Volvo) and unlimited
mulithull (speed record aboard the giant catamaran "Orange").
He is also the only person to have windsurfed the notorious Bass
Straits from Australia to Tasmania!
Thankfully, he is fine
as he managed to keep the boat upright and is headed for Brazil.
Nick is an iron sailor
that had already endured some of the worst luck and possibly the
worst weather of all the Vendee entries, but was facing the final
stretch with his usual determination. Nick and I have talked on
the Iridium satellite phone now and then during the race, and he
has given me great emotional support and encouragement whenever
I was down. The rest of the race won't be the same for me without
him. I'm hoping that he can save the boat and make it to his next
great challenge, unscathed.
Meanwhile,
back on board Ocean Planet, we are working our way east to avoid
a forming zone of high pressure coming off the South American continent.
This course is not as fast as continuing along the shore would have
been in the short term, but it will be better in a few days by giving
us a more upwind position over the high and better wind angles.
I have some work to do on board, as I need to do some stitching
on the furling line for the bowsprit furler. I would have just replaced
it, but it is a really long line and it turns out that we didn't
pack a spare of the right length....OOPS! What a blunder. I do have
another furler drum that I can mount on the sprit that has a short
loop of line in it...but one has to furl the sail from the bow (not
fun!), so that is an option but I will to try to fix the primary
one first.
It
is AMAZING how much warmer the water has become. In what seems like
just a few days, the water temp has gone from the mid 40's (F) to
nearly 70F! There have been strong currents both favorable (the
Falkland Current) and unfavorable while working north. In a few
more days we will be getting closer to the latitude of the Amazon
River. The Amazon River outflow into the ocean is HUGE and accounts
for about one fifth of the entire freshwater river outflow into
the oceans! So if you haven't already guessed, this week's subject
on www.oceanplanet.org
and www.bigelow.org/vendeeglobe
is the Amazon river outflow and ocean salinity. Check it out!
Bruce
Schwab, Skipper
USA 05/Ocean Planet
Web: www.bruceschwab.com
Education: www.oceanplanet.org
Email: bruce@bruceschwab.com
Phone: 843-670-6582
This American team for the Vendee Globe is made possible by your
donations to The Made in America Foundation (www.bruceschwab.com/support.cfm),
and our supplier sponsors:
Coast-Line International: www.coast-lineintl.com
Doyle Sailmakers: www.doylesails.com
Equiplite lightweight connectors: www.equiplite.com
Infomatrix: www.infomatrix-usa.com
MAS Epoxies: www.masepoxies.com
Nobeltec navigation software: www.nobeltec.com
Portland Yacht Services: www.portlandyacht.com
Samson rope technologies: www.samsonrope.com
Solara Energy Systems: www.solaraenergy.com
WoodenBoat Magazine: www.woodenboat.com
Join our team: www.bruceschwab.com/sponsorship.cfm
|
