Our Mate Alex Thomson’s Races
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“It got light at 3am this morning and it was great to see some blue sky and the see the sun rising. Right now I have 15 knots of wind from the SW, due to go round to the west and increase this afternoon. The sea is pretty bumpy and little confused but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. With the bumps and the heel yesterday it was very difficult to type a tweet let alone write an update, but I tried my best!
At the moment, the rich are getting richer, the guys ahead are extending as I am from the guys behind. Once we all get into the same weather we will go the same speed until the 7th when the leaders and I will run into a high pressure, slow up and the fleet will compress again. It is like we are attached by a piece of bungy!
All good onboard apart from my hydro again. I got the damaged one working in the end and now it is the port hydro that is giving me grief. I am getting pretty annoyed with it now and will take the opportunity of a slight slow down today to get it working again properly. Last night I had to charge using the main engine and used up more of precious fuel onboard, there was a benefit in that the cabin was warm all night!
You can follow me on twitter @alexthomson99 for regular updates throughout the day.”
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Captains Log.
"I was surrounded by black clouds for much of the night with wind from 10 knots to 30 and varying in direction by up to 50 degrees. I thought i would have lost some miles but it seems that I had better wind still than those to the north and those to the east of me. Wind is back up to 25-30 knots and the boat is moving around violently in big uneven waves.
Last night the wind direction indicator on the anemometer at the top of the mast broke and the boat Chinese gybed, fortunately I was not in a 30 knot gust and I was awake so I was able to sort the situation quickly and without breaking anything.
I would like to start working again on the hydro generator but it is impossible to stand up at present let alone wield a screw driver
It is a very stressful environment onboard and although I am happy the speed is up I will be happy when things will calm down a little.
You can follow me on twitter @alexthomson99 for regular updates throughout the day.”
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Captains Log:
The conditions are much better on board this morning than yesterday, I’m really relieved to be clear of the ice zone which I have been in for the past couple of days, it’s very stressful knowing there are icebergs in the vicinity. After gybing North yesterday and passing the areas of ice I was able to get a couple hours sleep last night, which was good.
After a hairy couple of days with really big gusts and strong winds, it has calmed down a lot now and the breeze is down considerably this morning. I just hope that it holds out long enough for me to get to the Eastern end of the ice gate. The calmer weather will allow me to get back to work on my hydro generator which is still causing me problems. It’s starting to feel as though they are going to plague me all the way around the world, so I hope this lull in the weather today will give me a chance to get it sorted once and for all!
Being this far south it’s definitely starting to get cold on-board, for the first time last night I had to get out the heavy duty sleeping bag.
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Captains Log…
It's day 28 and I can hardly believe it’s been 4 weeks at sea already! I passed the Crozet ice gate in the early hours of this morning so I am on my way south again, it’s much warmer now, really quite pleasant. I had a good night, with the wind up and down between about 7 and 14 knots for most of it. I’m hoping the wind doesn’t get too much lighter and that we can start to pick up our speeds again, I’ll be gybing again soon to pick up a more easterly route towards the next ice gate.
After all of my hydro issues recently I’m really pleased to report that it worked for most of yesterday after finding a possible loose connection which we think may have been the cause of all the recent problems. This is really great news and a relief to me and the team back home as it was becoming very tiresome looking for solutions. This problem was separate to the breakage earlier in the race so keep your fingers crossed that I’m done with my hydro issues now!
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Hugo Boss hits object, Thomson makes rudder repair
Thomson holds fifth place, 160 miles behind the leader Francois Gabart this morning, and is back making 18-19 kts after 24 hours of enforced slow down whilst he effected the rudder repairs. He reports that he is now down to one working hydrogenrator – a primary source for generating electrical power.
Racing an older generation design Thomson has earned enormous respect for his ability to stay in the leading pack of newer IMOCA Open 60’s throughout the first month of racing. On Saturday he was lying in third place
Thomson reported this morning:
"Night before last (December 9th) at 2220 GMT I hit something in the water while travelling at 22 knots. I was at the navigation table at the time and was sailing on port gybe with solent/J2 and 2 reefs in the mainsail in 28 knots of wind. I heard a loud bang forward of where I was which i think must have been something hitting either the keel or the daggerboard. I heard a series of softer bangs as whatever I hit bumped along under the hull and a final big bang as it hit the rudder and hydro generator.By the time I got to the companionway hatch the rudder was in the air and the hydro generator was dragging in the water. The boat broached and went head to wind. I immediately rolled the J2 away and stopped the boat in a big sea.
On inspection the starboard rudder fuse had broken and the rudder had lifted with minor damage. The hydro generator blade was damaged and one of brackets was in pieces and eventually lost overboard. The rudder tie bar (the previously unbroken one) was also smashed in 3 pieces.
I set to work swapping tie bars to get the leeward rudder operational so I could steer safely in the right direction. The waves were very big and were coming up and over the transom and mainsheet traveller and were hitting the rudder blade while lifted. Both rudder cassettes sustained some damage while doing this and it was pretty dangerous hanging off the transom while being completely submerged by the waves.
Eventually I got the working rudder connected and started sailing again with the port rudder in the air. I contacted the team and started affecting a repair to the tie bar. I have been unable to sail at 100% while managing this repair. The repair has been done in a similar way to the previous tie bar but it has been more difficult and time consuming as the breaks were not clean and the conditions to affect a repair less forgiving. I will not be able to repair the cassette damage until it is dry on deck but the team feel that these repairs are not critical right now
I expect to have both rudders working bythis morning.
I lifted the starboard daggerboard as far as possible and can see no damage. The keel fin on this boat is made from solid steel so any damagethere should be cosmetic. It is impossible to inspect the outside of the hull between the daggerboard and the rudder but the inner skin looks fine.
I am gutted to have lost so many miles but fortunate that the known damage is repairable and that i am able to continue on my way.
Longer term I am now down to only one hydro generator which means in the current conditions I will have to shuteverything down into power saving mode and work hard to save power to be able to make the finish. This literally means everything off, computer, phone, GPS, etc otherwise I have no chance of making the finish.
Last night at 2030 GMT I was asleep when the pilot alarm went off. The boat was completely flat and I rushed on deck as the boat tacked. I rolled the J2 immediately and then found the working rudder had lifted and was in the air. I checked the blade for damage and all looks ok this time so I replaced the fuse and set it back down again, tacked the boat back again and got back on my way. More miles lost but again not terminal. I have had the working rudder kick up three times all year so It seems a little harsh to hit something twice in almost 1 day but I am thankful that the fuse is doing its job and the rudder is staying in one piece.
I really hope I don’t get dropped off the back of this lead group with these setbacks,"
His team comment: “ The hydro generators are the primary power supply on board and with only one of them working Alex now has to conserve his power by limiting the use of electronics on board. This will unfortunately mean a reduction in his communications, including communication with family back at home. The remaining hydro is working but only usable on one tack and will charge the batteries when the conditions allow, but it will restrict the amount of power available.”
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Crazy to read all that. I mean it must take a lot of experience and ingenuity to provide maintenance and repairs for all that equipment and just keep on truckin.
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Glad to hear that Alex is back in the game. A smashed rudder could have put him out of contention, or the race.
As for repairs, he's a complete amateur. Yves Parlier is the man when it comes to patching things up…
http://articles.cnn.com/2002-03-13/world/parlier.ppl_1_mast-vendee-globe-survival-story
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Sitting in 4th position here is this morning's update from Alex onboard HUGO BOSS :
"The wind is light this morning and will go lighter as i sail into what is left of the ex cyclone Claudia and line up for the next system which will arrive quickly. The route back to the south looks good and although complicated with a few manoeuvres the weather models agree and that gives me some confidence. Currently I am on starboard but will go back onto port in a few hours and eventually i will be on starboard for a few days. I have hardly spent any time on starboard in the whole race and I will be happy as that is the side that my hydro is working and I could do with saving some fuel. Starboard will mean a drop in temperature but I guess I am due that having had a fairly warm Indian Ocean crossing.
The lighter conditions have given me another chance to cast an eye over the boat and try to find any potential problems. Happy to report that there does not seem to be any.
Its good for me to have another boat close by, it would feel a bit lonely up here on my own! Also to match speeds although Bernard’s boat is a little faster than mine it gives me a good benchmark to try and achieve."
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t's been a pretty rough 24 hours for Alex onboard HUGO BOSS:
"I was in my bunk this morning when the pilot accidently gybed the boat in about 25 knots of wind. It was not an enjoyable moment in an instant having your whole world turn on its side. I felt the boat start to go and jumped out of my bunk to try and get to the helm to stop it but I only got as far as the companion way before she went and then she was on her side. It took me a while to get the boat upright again and then gybe back. I did a check around the boat and it seems that I got away with no serious damage. It is really rough out here. Very bumpy and really confused waves. I am trying not to go to fast at the moment as she starts to slam a bit.
The conditions are way too rough to attempt to use my last hydro the risk is too high . It means my power is still all shut down as I try to conserve enough to be able to finish this race in case I am not able to use the working hydro. We are still looking at options to repair the broken one. But again, conditions at the moment mean that is currently on hold.
This means both my phone and computer are off for most of the day so my contact with my family and my friends and team is still really limited. It makes it a lot tougher, but it’s all part of the race. I am however still on twitter whenever my computer is switched on to still keep that contact with everyone following me as much as I can." Follow me on twitter @AlexThomson99
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I am firmly back in the south after my excursion to the north and my meeting with cyclone Claudia which turned out to be a little disappointing. Anyhow my worry was getting back to the south and now I am here so mission accomplished. I have had a few mishaps on the way, nothing that is a major problem but they have made life difficult and uncomfortable.
It is bitterly cold down here now and I have several layers on even when in my sleeping bag I have a heater onboard but it burns diesel so whilst I am in power saving mode and conserving fuel, using the heater is a no go therefore it is like some sort of torture having all the capabilities of making heat but not being able to use it.
It is not to bad with lots of layers on until I have to work hard and then I am dripping wet with sweat, like the sails it’s hard to find the middle ground!
The road ahead is quite clear and I should be well past New Zealand by Xmas day. Then it’s to Cape Horn and I hope and pray it is a quick, warm and painless crossing. Having been dismasted halfway across the Pacific before I know how dangerous and isolated this stretch of water is. The trick is to survive down here and get to Cape Horn in one piece, you never win the race in the Southern Ocean but it’s all too easy to lose it down here!
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With Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) seeking shelter on the west side of the Auckland Islands to fix his hydrogenerators, Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) is on his own in the Pacific suddenly pulling away fast in 25-27 knot northwesterlies and closing on the leaders who only have 14 knot westerslies.
Thomson is 818 miles behind, with Stamm 913 miles back and bound suffer major losses now.
The leader Francois Gabart (MACIF) is 22.5 miles ahead of Armel Le Cléac’h (Banque Populaire) but they are both struggling in 14 knots weterlies and have gybed almost together while waiting for the low pressure system to arrive overnight (their day).
Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) in third is catching too. He has been the quickest in the fleet on Saturday and was averaging 20.2 knots in the last four hours. He has won back 120 miles from Le Clèac’h in the last 24 hours and is 476.7 miles behind the leader.
Jean Le Cam (SynerCiel) in sixth began his escape from Mike Golding (Gamesa), Dominique Wavre (Mirabaud) and Javier Sansó (Acciona 100% EcoPowered). He is 233 miles ahead of Golding now, but the real gains are yet to be made and will be counted over the next 24 hours as Le Cam catches the North wind and the others hit a high pressure ridge south of Tasmania.
