The team of the Swiss Bernard Stamm has announced that it intends to deliver diesel fuel from a second boat today or tomorrow. If this happens, it would be an external assistance and would result in final disqualification.
On Stamm's "Cheminées Poujoulat" are Both hydrogenerators failed. The fuel reserve to operate the diesel generator was said to be only five per cent. This would allow it to communicate once a day, but without electronic navigation and a reliable engine, it would not be able to call at a harbour. For this reason, a fuel transfer is to take place at sea. At the position report at 7.00 a.m., Stamm was still around 80 nautical miles away from the cape. Stamm's friend and former rival Unai Bazurko, who is currently on an environmental expedition to Ushuaia, is to carry out the fuel transfer.
While Stamm himself described the failure of both hydrogenerators as bad luck, one Spanish blogger accused Stamm of having caused the failures himself - and does not appear to be entirely wrong. According to them, Stamm's team had modified the generator suspensions to such an extent that even the manufacturer, Watt & Sea refused the guarantee.
The plan is to mount the generators in such a way that they can be folded upwards in a kind of head over an axle, like a folding steering gear. This would at least give them a chance of being folded up without damage in the event of a collision with an underwater obstacle. On the "Cheminées Poujoulat", however, the generators are mounted on rails and can be pulled up and down like a lift, but can no longer be folded up. This means that there are only two options in the event of a collision: The generator holds up, or it breaks off. The latter happened to Stamm. Allegedly, this problem was already known long before the Vendée Globe was launched.
But then it is inexplicable why Stamm relied almost exclusively on the generators and did not take more fuel with him as a reserve.
The positions:
With a lead of almost 100 nautical miles, "Macif" continues to lead ahead of "Banque Populaire", Jean Le Cam has rounded Cape Horn in fifth place.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
