Through an email sent on Saturday afternoon, Javier "Bubi" Sanso explains in details the repair he did on his ACCIONA 100% EcoPowered boat on Friday, under cover, off Tenerife coast.
"Yesterday was a very full day indeed. As you know I had to go to find some sheltered water in Tenerife to be able to go up the mast without too many waves, as this would have made it very complicated to climb to the top of the mast. The problem was that once situated behind Tenerife there was absolutely no wind at all and a real swell. So after two frustrating hours waiting and trying to get closer in to land, I made an attempt to go up the mast with quite a large swell, the boat almost drifting and without any kind of steering.
Each time I went up a metre I was like a sack of potatoes swaying from one side to the other, but lucky to be able to be more or less facing the mast and not with my back to it. When I was half-way up the mast the automatic pilot alarm went off – it had lost my heading. I’d imagined this might happen as there was hardly any wind and the Solent sail was hardly doing anything. The worst thing was the sea state which made everything more complicated.
When I got to the top, 30 metres above the boat, I have to admit that there was a really beautiful view and I found a way of not being shoved all over the place; a good thing since I was really at a limit with the strength I had left. I managed to fix the line to the track that was there happily waiting for me at the top of the mast. I rested a few minutes and disconnected the system I use to haul myself up, before starting to go down, which was much easier although also with its fair share of bumps – but nothing serious.
After getting down I started working on changing one track for another and also a slide from the last main sail batten which had broken. At 20.00 the boat was tip-top to get back into the race again 100%. The problem was that my sheltered spot in Tenerife had me trapped until 04.00 in the morning when I was finally able to move out towards the south and then gybe west.
It really was a shame because I hadn’t been forcing the boat and had been up with the second group of boats, really well placed after three pretty intensive days. But hey, now it’s time to make up for the time lost. This is a very long race.
A big hello to everyone from Acciona that is now back fully racing again and heading south!"
The skipper from Mallorca has chosen to sail to the Canary Islands seeking the shelter of the coast with gentler sea and wind conditions than he has been suffering, and to be able to go up the mast, recover the main sail halyard and get fully back into the competition.
From : Vendee Globe
Credit : J.Sanso
"Yesterday was a very full day indeed. As you know I had to go to find some sheltered water in Tenerife to be able to go up the mast without too many waves, as this would have made it very complicated to climb to the top of the mast. The problem was that once situated behind Tenerife there was absolutely no wind at all and a real swell. So after two frustrating hours waiting and trying to get closer in to land, I made an attempt to go up the mast with quite a large swell, the boat almost drifting and without any kind of steering.
Each time I went up a metre I was like a sack of potatoes swaying from one side to the other, but lucky to be able to be more or less facing the mast and not with my back to it. When I was half-way up the mast the automatic pilot alarm went off – it had lost my heading. I’d imagined this might happen as there was hardly any wind and the Solent sail was hardly doing anything. The worst thing was the sea state which made everything more complicated.
When I got to the top, 30 metres above the boat, I have to admit that there was a really beautiful view and I found a way of not being shoved all over the place; a good thing since I was really at a limit with the strength I had left. I managed to fix the line to the track that was there happily waiting for me at the top of the mast. I rested a few minutes and disconnected the system I use to haul myself up, before starting to go down, which was much easier although also with its fair share of bumps – but nothing serious.
After getting down I started working on changing one track for another and also a slide from the last main sail batten which had broken. At 20.00 the boat was tip-top to get back into the race again 100%. The problem was that my sheltered spot in Tenerife had me trapped until 04.00 in the morning when I was finally able to move out towards the south and then gybe west.
It really was a shame because I hadn’t been forcing the boat and had been up with the second group of boats, really well placed after three pretty intensive days. But hey, now it’s time to make up for the time lost. This is a very long race.
A big hello to everyone from Acciona that is now back fully racing again and heading south!"
The skipper from Mallorca has chosen to sail to the Canary Islands seeking the shelter of the coast with gentler sea and wind conditions than he has been suffering, and to be able to go up the mast, recover the main sail halyard and get fully back into the competition.
From : Vendee Globe
