Wind 11 - 20 knots, wind direction varying by up to 40 degrees. Huge left shift right now, heading in the wrong direction. Difficult to know what sail area to have. When the wind drops suddenly, the boat goes flat and slams in the waves. Difficult to type too! The boat is festooned with sargasso weed. There is the occasional thwack of unfortunate flying fish crashing into the boat at speed. I am at the latitude of Grenada, one of my favourite places. I have said goodbye to the Southern Cross. Trade winds for the next three days, and then what looks like a barrier of no wind right across the Atlantic.
Miranda/ Campagne de France
News05 February 2021
Beyou Set To Complete Vendée Globe Voyage of Self Discovery
Just before Jérémie Beyou and Romain Attanasio are expected to cross the finish line tomorrow in 13th and 14th places respectively, the Franco German skipper Isabelle Joschke has now left Salvador de Bahia Brasil today heading for Les Sables d'Olonne to complete her first solo circumnavigation hors course. Meantime in the north Atlantic a six way match promises to be particularly exciting. Even after nearly 90 days of racing on the Vendée Globe there are still many places to be decided and intense, head to head contests going on.
Isabelle Joschke starts from Salvador de Bahia, 'hors course', out of the race.
After 12 days of technical work in Salvador de Bahia (Brasil) to repair the keel rams of her IMOCA MACSF boat, the initial damage which in turn required her to abandon her Vendee Globe on January 9, Isabelle Joschke has set out to bring her boat back to Les Sables d'Olonne.
Romain Attanasio (PURE - Best Western) was on the 0900hrs UTC radio calls this morning. The skipper who should arrive tomorrow says the last few days have not been easy:
Miranda Merron 'the second night in a row i have had to ask a ship to alter course'
The Atlantic Ocean is a busy place. This is the second night in a row that I have had to ask a ship to alter course to avoid a collision. There are fishing boats too, and some AIS targets that I guess mark the end of long lines as there is nothing visible on the water, nor on radar, even at 1 mile. If that's the case, then the one I have just sailed past is 10 miles long. Not good to sail into one of those.
In the trades this time around (unlike the false alert 2 days ago, only to be swallowed up by the doldrums), variable wind direction and strength, but way left of the grib files.
Numerous back-downs to clear the rudders and keel of sargasso weed.
