Vendée Globe 2012-2013 - Day 11

Thomson into third but the Doldrums are still alive

At the back of the fleet, Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski (ENERGA) partially revealed the reason for his strange heading – he is testing a new solution to his autopilot nightmare. Since releasing his gennaker, the 39-year-old Polish skipper, has been heading due east and is 1607.9 miles from the top of the fleet.

Last night he told his team that he is heading in the direction of the Canary Islands (280 miles away) but not to stop and only because this is the "best option regarding the weather situation."

His team have sent a solution to the software problem with his autopilots.

"I got out from the no-wind zone (last night) sailing 15-17 knots with a south-west breeze," Gutek said. "In the morning (Tuesday) we'll get cold front with rain and squalls up to 30 knots. And after that on this front a new low will be born, giving more wind.

"So, now I am driving east to be able to sail south-east afterwards without a fight with strong wind straight on my nose."

Fleet news

Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) has been the big winner from the Doldrums so far, making up 80 miles on those in front since yesterday afternoon and moving into third place. But if the top six all looked to be through the Doldrums this morning then there was a small reminder of the lottery of the wind in this feared equatorial zone at the 0900hrs (French time) ranking.

Vincent Riou (PRB), who had moved up two places into third overnight, was totally becalmed, making 0.0 knots in the last hour. Riou had turned and was heading north-west, almost in the opposite direction to the race course, in a desperate attempt to get out of the hole.

Armel Le Cléac'h, (Banque Populaire), does look to be through and has an opportunity now to open a gap. He has been averaging more than nine knots since last night and appears to have left behind the shifty six knots easterlies for 12 knot south-easterlies, but it is still unstable. The race to catch the first low-pressure weather system south into the Roaring 40s.

Le Cléac'h seems to have had a calmer night than those behind him, carving directly south-south-west, while other five have bobbed and weaved.

The Doldrums have compressed and shuffled the deck behind him. Just 10 miles separates the five chasing him.

Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec 3) had moved into second place last night, past Francois Gabart (Macif). But the 29-year-old Gabart, the youngest skipper left in the fleet, re-took second but has made just 1.7knots in the last hour. Dick had slipped back to sixth behind Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat).

Vincent Riou (PRB), the 2004 winnner, has been another winner in the Doldrums, as he clawied back miles but now he will need all his skill. Having caught up, the 'accordion effect' of the Doldrums should not affect them now, but bad or unlucky routing will.

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Update from Mike Golding, Gamesa:

Mike Golding is hoping for a smooth passage through the Doldrums today in order to try and bank some of the miles that he has pulled back on the leaders of the Vendée Globe in recent days. From a deficit of 349 miles to leader Armel Le Cléac'h two days ago, Gamesa was 158 miles behind Banque Populaire this morning and making steady speeds in decent breezes.

Speaking by satellite phone this morning, Golding said, "I'm upwind in quite a lot of wind right now. I came in with quite lot of wind on the Code Zero [masthead, light weather gennaker] last night and had to get rid of that [due to excess wind], so really now I am just waiting to see if I stop. At the moment there is a lot of lightning and rain and some big nasty clouds around. But so far, so good. It would be nice if we can keep some of these miles we have gained. It would be nice if we could keep all of them!

"The weather info you get here is a pretty good representation of what it's like. The files tend to overestimate the strength of the breeze, and the angles tend to be a little rotated. But this is the acid test of how to model this area. The changes are small and subtle and if you can zoom in and see the subtle differences between wind and no wind then that is great. But it is a very dynamic area. The model I am looking at now is probably old now but then I have committed to my strategy and if I suddenly need to be sideways 50 miles I cannot just do that! But I am not too worried.

"Yesterday on the approach there was a lot of cloud. There are such a variety of different sizes and types of cloud, some very high level and some low and you learn their characteristics. You track them on the radar. The big ones can bring wind ahead of them and then nothing in their wake, and that calm can last for hours. They track with the gradient wind and so you generally try to avoid the biggest ones, but if one is coming at you and has your name on it you cannot avoid it.

"Last night we had a big cloud and I had the Code Zero up but had to get rid of it because the cloud brought with it a lot of wind, and there was a lot of lightning and heavy rain, lightning everywhere. It is hot and humid, though in fact I have just put some warm clothes on because there is a wind chill as we are going upwind and it's wet.

"So now I am looking for some steady upwind in a SE'ly wind which would signify we are starting to get out, but you don't hold your breath. The Doldrums move north and south and at the moment they are static in the north but first they will expand a bit, so I am hoping we get south before that happens."

Gamesa Boat Captain, Graham Tourell, has been tracking the racing and had this to say about the current situation in the Vendée Globe:

"Today has seen some compression at the head of the fleet, with the chasing pack (Mike, Jean Le Cam and Dominique Wavre) catching up over 100 miles in a short space of time as the leaders have been negotiating their way through the mystical doldrums... It looks like Mike, Jean & Dom are all drag racing towards the same small corridor of breeze, which they will be praying doesn't shut on them and allow them to punch through into the SE trade winds without the leaders extending away too much... This will be a tense time for the chasing pack, as it will set the tone for the next stage of the race and how hard they will have to push. This should be in relatively steady trade winds, sailing in 15-20knot SE breeze which will take them down towards the Saint Helena High, where the skippers will be looking for the best sling-shot entry into the grey murky depths of the Southern Ocean."