Calais Round Britain Race - Day 8

"Men (and women) at some time are masters of their fate" (Julius Caesar, Act i, Sc.2)

• Victory for Vincent Riou’s crew on PRB 'almost' assured tomorrow, whilst second place is wide open
• The head of the fleet will experience light winds tonight but the chasing pack are likely to suffer them even more
• Records for slowness possible in this the 3rd edition of the Calais Round Britain Race.

With a 40 mile lead ahead of the ten other monohulls this Monday evening, Vincent Riou, the winner of the last Vendée Globe and the 2003 edition of the Calais Round Britain Race must surely have victory within his grasp after 8 days of racing. The final hurdle, a zone of light wind at the entry to the Channel, is just about the only thing that can stop him now as he wisely positions himself between the chasing pack and the elusive port of Calais in NE France.

Though victory for PRB tomorrow would appear to be fairly certain tomorrow, crew Hugues Destremau, tactician during the last Louis Vuitton Cup, is not terribly optimistic about the end of the race. "The conditions have become very variable: sometimes it works and sometimes it's a real hassle. There’s not much we can do on deck to change the situation. It's not over for us yet though. The wind is very light and very shifty, with 90° wind shifts. We're currently in a calm zone again which wasn't really forecast and we’re having to react to the wind when we have it. There are no radical explanations we are simply remaining humble, but if it stays like this we won’t make Calais tomorrow as planned!"

40 miles astern with Delta Dore breathing down his neck just 3 miles behind, Jean Le Cam (VM Materiaux) was in practical mood today. "Temenos and Delta Dore have come back and PRB has made his escape. We’re not in an easy situation here. It’s not logical. Unless we see a ‘Coup de Trafalgar’ things aren’t going to change. We’re going to try to do our best to perform well against Delta Dore and Temenos but they certainly have more wind as we’re at the edge of a light patch. It’s going to be very interesting ahead that's for sure.”

Closing on second with every ranking, Jeremie Beyou (Delta Dore) was still in hope prior to crossing the finish line. “Second position has never been so close…and 4th neither! We're concentrating on placing our gybes so we end up in the right place at the right time. Right now we're slipping along in a N’ly wind, making good headway in 12 knots of breeze. It would be nice to have some sun. I think 1st place is out of our grasp but we have purposely chosen a different option to PRB just in case…"

Reduced to 56 miles from the head of the fleet on a more inshore option north of a another family of oil rigs, a nonetheless cheerful Dominic Wavre (Temenos) was helming when we called today. "It's very, very calm and foggy" he laughed. "We can see the front of the boat but not much for than that. Conditions are pretty much as expected. We've tried a few strategies but there's nothing very pertinent we can do in reality. PRB have really pulled off a blinder and they're in a great position. Still anything can happen as it's very tortuous ahead. Until the line is crossed it's not over.”

Labouring in the light winds just over 75 miles from the leader, Artemis Ocean Racing could not be contacted at today's radio session. We can but imagine that they had better things to do on deck and at the chart table, with the frontrunners still achingly within grasp ahead and the Roxy girls hot on their heels 14 miles astern. “I‘ve just been on deck in the fog” said Miranda Merron (Roxy). “It’s grey and we’ve got 12/13 kts of wind. We were up all night trying to battle with an area of light winds and even did a bit of praying. Our goal is to catch up with Artemis and it's certainly not too late. Everyone's a bit tired but ahead is a N/ NE'ly wind and our game plan is to avoid the light patches if we can."

For the very latest updates visit www.calaisroundbritainrace.com

Update from Aviva:

Aviva on the home straight chasing down the pack

After some tough sailing to the Shetland Islands, Dee Caffari and Aviva are on the final straight of the Calais Round Britain Race. Aviva is now sailing in much more suitable breezy, downwind conditions and the crew are slowly recovering from the tactical error that cost them ground on the rest of the fleet. The crew are hoping that some of the boats ahead will be caught up in the patches of light wind forecast for the North Sea, so they can close the gap before the finish. Morale onboard has improved as the stronger winds accelerate Aviva towards the finish in Calais and the crew have their fingers crossed conditions will work in their favour at last.

Dee Caffari’s latest diary:

“We’re now finally heading south and in the same direction as the rest of the fleet. It is psychologically much easier now, as we are heading towards the finish line and the other competitors.

“The weather will be delivering some interesting parking zones along the North Sea and, if some of the other boats get caught in the light wind patches, that will allow us to catch up a little and reduce the distance between us. This race is definitely not over yet and we have set our spinnaker and are giving it everything to sail as fast as possible to rejoin the gang.

“As we rounded Muckle Flugga in the early hours this morning, the night sky remained the colours of twilight and we watched the sun set and then rise almost immediately. The rugged coastline of the Shetland Islands is very reminiscent of Cape Horn and Tierra del Fuego in Chile. In fact, rounding this most northern part of this course is further north in latitude than we generally go south in the Southern Ocean on the Vendée Globe, no wonder we have been so cold for the last few days!

The good thing about sailing downwind now is not only is it faster and more fun but it is warmer too.”

Dee, Chook, Frog, Pants and Hugo

Update from Artemis:

Artemis Ocean Racing still in the fog

Australian Paul Larsen’s log

“Well it started off foggy…and it is still foggy. But at least there is wind and the good ship Artemis continues to roll down hill towards Calais. Jonny lost a bet about our position three scheds ago so, as a penalty, he has been forced to sail Artemis single handed for the last twelve hours whilst we watch on amused… mostly from our bunks down below. He’s starting to look pretty tired but he still has twelve hours to go!!! Only joking… but he is looking tired after constant scanning over weather charts and boat performance as we ‘re-mode’ the boat for each shift. This race refuses to turn into a simple procession. We are trying to sail the shortest possible course whilst at the same time protecting our position over the Roxy girls. The route prediction programs aren’t very accurate as they underestimate the ability of these wonderful craft to keep moving on the lightest of breeze.

We managed to skirt one potential parking slot last night and in the process punched out a pretty high average. We knew that those to the west would be doing similar speeds but then we also wanted to stay on our side of the course. Currently we feel that this is now playing to our advantage. The leaders give us confidence that there is wind up ahead for the next 80 miles at least.

Today has been consistently grey with nothing at all to be seen. Grey as far as the eye can see with the only change being the thickness and associated damp. I’m sure that any one of the boats in this edition of the Calais Round Britain race could write an extremely short and dull book on the matter. At least it would be well informed!

Come to think of it, we really haven’t had a very scenic trip at all. We missed the spectacle of St Kilda (and those that made the fateful tack in towards it probably now wish that they had too) and managed to round Muckle Flugga in the one hour of darkness that the day offers at such latitudes. Fortunately the racing has been brilliant and the topics of discussion onboard of sufficient diversity and longevity… well, longevity anyway.

In our minds at the start of the race we all felt that considering the quality of the fleet that a fifth place would be a good position and anything above that would be a bonus. We are happy with how we have sailed and the decisions we have made. We have 300 odd miles to go and are very aware that everything could change. Thankfully the Roxy chicks are also being hunted down by those just behind so they can’t get too brave.

In a way it would be a shame if it all turned into a lottery at the end as it would sort of negate the work done to date but then that is the name of the game. The wind has just dropped to below five knots, sails are being dragged about and winches are spinning. Time to go and to try to recapture the fragile balance that is light, downwind sailing.

Looking out the back I can see that the fog has thickened up nicely as if to sum up the certainty of the nature of the miles that still remain.

Hi-ho, hi-ho….

Cheers, Paul.”

Update from Temenos:

What hour the conclusion?

The zone of light winds lying across the course of the frontrunners, has proven to be less punishing than forecast. Without doubt it has considerably slowed the progress of the boats as the day’s first ranking bears witness, TEMENOS positioned making 2 knots of boat-speed, if ‘only’ for a few hours. Given the complexity of the current weather situation, self-congratulation is not yet colouring the atmosphere on any of the boats. With less than 200 miles to go to Calais, the pattern of light winds is well established and the situation remains random for both the chasing pack and the leader, the latter still suffering from calm conditions at midday.

Solid fog, a constant feature of the Calais Round Britain Race along with the light winds, has once again been accompanying the fleet since this morning.

"It’s very, very calm, we can’t see much further than the front of the boat” explained Dominique at the midday radio session. "The files from last night and this morning have been continually contradicting each other. We’re opportunists though so we’re making do with the wind we’ve got. We haven’t manoeuvred very much but we have been trimming the boat a great deal. We had to take a particular tack so we have been working on the speed. Of course we’d have liked it to have gone a bit quicker, but it's still a fine and very tactical race."

With a 40 mile lead and 194 miles left to go, it's hard to see how PRB can fail to cross the line as leader, a finish forecast for around the end of tomorrow. However, within the trio of VM Matériaux, Delta Dore and TEMENOS, the battle continues to rage for the runner-up spots. Difficult to venture forth with any predictions, even if for the time being it’s VM Matériaux who has established control of this particular grouping. Positioned to the West, TEMENOS, was visibly being punished by a lighter wind at the 1600 hour ranking and had conceded some ground. Despite this, the dice have not yet been cast, and “in these twisted conditions anything is possible" recalled Dominique. This is particularly the case now as since 1600 hours, each of them seem to have adopted a different strategy. A heading of 205 for VM Matériaux,126 for Delta Dore and 150 for TEMENOS at the same time.

Though we can expect a bunched finish for these three in a little over 24 hours from the finish, we can see that the die is still not yet cast!