The fifth week of racing came to an end today. We've made up a lot of miles on places four to nine. We are virtually within shouting distance of the group. "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was the second fastest ship from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Leeuwin. That's great! It does me the world of good, puts me in a good mood and absolutely lifts my spirits.
Farewell to the Indian Ocean
To be honest, it says less about the boat than about the luck of the weather. Overall, the weather determined the progress more than the boats themselves. Just like Sam Davies and Justine Mettraux, I simply had brilliant reaching conditions.
The Indian Ocean let us through. That was great, thank you, Indian Ocean!" Boris Herrmann
The others had to cross before the wind. And we could just sail straight ahead. That's pretty unusual. That's where the fast time comes from in this case. And not necessarily because we have a fast Southern Ocean boat. I had conditions that were ideal for "Macif", for a flat reaching machine. I had reaching conditions and medium winds the whole time, so no conditions for our boat.
The last few hours that we are still here in the Indian Ocean are today at midday. Up to longitude 147 east. Which is the official border to the Pacific. Here too: flat seas, reaching. Plus a grey sky and unfortunately few albatrosses. Except at the Crozet Islands. That was of course a feast!
Already a battle for third place?
We came close to the group of boats in fourth to ninth place. That's already good. The gap is melting. Looking at the top three, I find it amazing how well Sébastien Simon is still holding his own. Naturally, he won't be able to make it onto the podium without his broken foil, even though I would like him to. If we take Seb out of the equation, it means that someone from the middle group will finish third here.
Apart from that, I hope that Yoann Richomme gets past Charlie, because it would be cool to see a change in leadership. Here in our group, it wouldn't be bad if everything got a bit mixed up. I'm trying to get in and keep up. (Editorial team: On the morning of the third Advent, Boris Herrmann was only 13 nautical miles behind "Biotherm" skipper Paul Meilhat in ninth place and around 44 nautical miles behind defending champion Yannick Bestaven on "Maître Coq V").
I've never sailed in the conditions we're facing over the next few days." Boris Herrmann
In the meantime, many eyes are on the storm we are expecting on Monday and Tuesday. Keep your fingers crossed! That's when things really get going. It won't be easy. But we're there together with this big fleet. The wind is gradually increasing. The depression is moving towards us and over us at 30 knots.
Dramatically rapid increase in wind
The wind will increase by the hour. Up to the corner of the ice gate it is still possible. Then it gets really dramatically faster. That's when the second reef goes in at the latest. And then it hammers from then until around 18 December. Then the boat rumbles for a few days. Until the end of the period, we'll still be travelling downwind in strong winds. The wind will become lighter again from around 19 December.
Until Wednesday or so, we'll just be reaching: 90 to 110 degrees (editor: this refers to the true wind angles/TWAs). 110 is already quite nice. But 90 degrees and 100 degrees in 30 to 40 knots of wind - I have no experience of that at all. To be honest, I've rarely done that on any boat.
In preparation, I prepared my storm jib and mentally prepared myself for a third reef. But: Where do I have to tack? How do I set the boat? How fast can I make progress? What swell will we have? How long will we stay off the front? We're all pretty much swimming and unsure.
The storm preparations have been made
I also don't know how it will be relative to the others. I think it could look like this again: 50 nautical miles further ahead could already mean a relatively big advantage. It's possible that the further ahead you are, the longer you can stay ahead of the front. And perhaps avoid the worst of the strong winds, possibly even stay completely ahead of the front.
Of course, this would again lead to huge differences in distance if some stay ahead of the front and some are overtaken by the front. We'll have to wait and see. I'm not making any promises and will take it as it comes. Safety first!
I am well prepared. I have installed the furler of my storm sail, the J4. It's usually in my bag down here on the boat most of the time. To do this, I have to pull in the tack line with the mouse line (editor's note: the tack line is pulled through the fittings and guide with the so-called mouse/pilot line) and attach the furler line. The thing is ready. Now I can set the J4. I'll do that in good time - before I need it. It can then be left furled behind the J3.
Pacific storm with a constant speed of over 40 knots
I haven't used the J4 storm headsail for a long time. Since the first days of the Ocean Race, when we had so much wind off Gibraltar. But that was warm air and not comparable to what's happening here now. I'm expecting constant winds of over 40 knots. With gusts well into the 50s. 90 degrees from the side. I'm not used to that. I'm also curious to see what kind of swell it will produce.
The forecast is for a fairly short period of around five metres. But it is also possible that the models will calm down a little. The trend over the last few days has been a decreasing maximum wind force in this low. If it's a few knots less, that makes a big difference.
I couldn't be safer than with this boat." Boris Herrmann
I feel safe. The main danger is damaging the sails. The J3 or the mainsail. The J3 is perhaps easier to drop and repair. But the mainsail - if there's something there, you lose a lot of miles. A repair here - perhaps a batten or a torn leech - requires a lot of energy.
Respect for the third reef
I mainly have respect for putting in the third reef. What do you do when there are already gusts of up to 50 knots? You can't really drop because the battens of the square top will get caught under the shrouds. You then have to stay about 70 degrees to the wind so that it passes smoothly up there. But then the leach flutters like crazy. The leach flew apart on my last Vendée Globe. I think even with a good 50 knots of wind.
That means I'll be quite prudent, quite cautious and put in a first reef relatively early when I see the first things over 40. Of course, you go by your gut feeling: if the boat is already sailing "fully powered up" and jumping around, then maybe even earlier.
Herrmann and Mettraux put to the test?
I don't have enough experience because we simply haven't had any strong winds in recent years. In the last Ocean Race we didn't have strong winds in the Southern Ocean. We did have relatively strong reaching winds like we're having now. But not a storm. That's something to learn again.
I think it will affect Justine and me the most." Boris Herrmann
Will everyone weather the storm? I can't say for Dalin. But our group here, they can. From the routings I did, it looked to me like they might be able to stay ahead of the low. So that they don't get the storm quite so much, that they stay in 30 knots of wind. I think Justine and I are the ones who will be hit the hardest. But we'll see.
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