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VENDEE GLOBE NEWS (Eventful Few Days)

Wednesday December 3rd, 2008
ImageAN EVENTFUL FEW DAYS FOR VENDÉE SKIPPERS
Things are hotting up in the Vendée Globe, as the leading ten vessels remain tightly packed with only 100 miles between the first and tenth position. Within the pack there is only two miles between second and third and less than two miles between fourth and seventh. Both Seb Josse and Yann Elies have gained miles whilst Riou has moved back into third position.
With winds of 20-25 knots the skippers are having to put all their skills and knowledge to the test as they deal with sail changes, long surfs and fatigue. It would seem that several of the competitors are forsaking sleep to take advantage of the favourable conditions. Night-owls include jean Le Cam who clawed back 20miles from Mike Golding during the hours of darkness and Michel Desjoyeaux who achieved the best average overnight speed of 16.5knots.
As is always the case with this most hazardous of races there has been trouble. Jonny Malbon has hit a whale and damaged his starboard daggerboard. Meanwhile Steve White had to slow to a stop to check his mainsail and is now only three miles ahead of Malbon in 17th position. But the most bizarre incident has to be the squid attack on Sam Davies aboard Roxy
'Last night Roxy and I were attacked by just one rather large inky squid, who landed just aft of the cockpit next to the starboard tiller. That means he must have managed to cross the cockpit in mid-air? Lucky I was not out there at the time. I thought getting walloped in the face by a flying fish was bad enough, but I dread to imagine getting 'squidded'… '
And in a unfortunate turn of events Brit Dee Caffari may be forced to retire due to a knee injury that is under threat of infection.
'It's the type of thing that blood poisoning comes from and I've basically got four days and if it doesn't get better it's game over,' said an emotional Caffari yesterday. 'If it's blood poisoning I can't go on because if it spreads it's a massive risk.'

'You are constantly on your knees and bashing yourself,' she added. 'For the first couple of weeks I wore knee pads, because I knew that I'm quite sensitive. Recently, I've taken them off and this week I must have hit my knee.'
Fingers crossed she’ll be OK to enter the Southern ocean in a few days time.
VENDEE GLOBE ENTRANTS
Dee Caffari (Aviva)
Sébastien Josse (BT)
Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) (EXTENSIVE DAMAGE OUT OF RACE)
Mike Golding (Ecover 3)
Derek Hatfield Algimouss-Spirit of Canada
Loïck Peyron (Gitana Eighty)
Marc Guillemot (Safran)
Yann Eliès (Generali)
Jean Pierre Dick (Paprec-Virbac 2)
Jérémie Beyou (Deta Dore)
Raphaël Dinelli (Fondation Ocean Vital)
Marc Thiercelin (DCNS) (OUT OF RACE)
Vincent Riou (PRB)
Jean Le Cam (VM Matériaux)
Jonny Malbon (Artemis)
Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar)
Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air)
Jean Baptiste Dejeanty (Maisonneuve)
Dominique Wavre (Temenos II)
Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat)
Steve White (Toe in the water)
Unai Basurko (Pakea Bizkaia)
Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas)
Norbert Sedlacek (Nauticsport-Kapsch)
Rich Wilson (Great American III)
Samantha Davies (Roxy)
Yannick Bestaven (Aquarelle.com) (OUT OF RACE)
Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia)
Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel) (DISMASTED OUT OF RACE)
Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement)
TO FOLLOW THE VENDEE GLOBE PROGRESS CLICK THE LINK BELOW
Vendee Globe - monitor progress
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