Pip Hare Putting on her 'big girl pants' and dealing with her wind instrument issues
I've been working my brain way too hard onboard Medallia today, trying to think my way out of a performance hindering problem with my wind data.
Mid morning I was rudely awakened from a snooze by the pilot crash gybing the boat which is never a good way to wake up. Once I'd clambered on deck and got us back on our feet again, checking for damage I engaged the pilot again only for it to dive off towards another gybe. A quick check revealed that the wind data was absolute rubbish so I set us up to steer to the compass and wandered to the mast to look at my wand. I'm still not really sure what has happened. From deck level with the binoculars it looks like a cup is missing of the speed sensor but neither the cups or the wand are rotating at all, they are both stuck solid. Very strange and definetly not the conditions to go aloft and check it out.
As Cape Horn looms not too far over the horizon for the two leaders winds are building as forecast in the Drake Passage and the sea state grows correspondingly, leader Yannick Bestaven should pass the Cape later this afternoon with Charlie Dalin about 10-12 hours later but this depends on how much the leading duo slow in the conditions.
Muscular Conditions for Dalin, Bestaven, Pack take off again, Ruyant in 3rd , Hare up to 15th
The passage of Cape Horn, expected during Saturday night or Sunday morning, is forecast to be the toughest endured by a Vendée Globe leader or leading pair for many editions of the four yearly solo non stop round the world race.
Jean Le Cam 'You Don't Want To Hang Around Here For Long'
For his fifth Vendée Globe and before rounding Cape Horn for the seventh time, Jean Le Cam is keeping in good spirits despite the unusual conditions there have been in the Pacific. The skipper of Yes We Cam! should be should reach Cape Horn in a similar time to that of his first one which he did (in the lead) during the 2004 solo round the world race (56 days 17 hours and 13 seconds).
