Vendee Globe Parlier's ETA Friday afternoon

by Philippe Jeantot on 13 Mar 2001 Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) has finally sailed under the 1000 mile barrier, the thirteenth skipper in the Vendée Globe fleet expected to finish his particularly adventurous solo,
non-stop circumnavigation just over a month after the leading boats reached home port in Les Sables d¹Olonne.

Aquitaine Innovations has been reaching average speeds of 13 knots in the steady 30 knot Westerlies sweeping across the North Atlantic over the last 24 hours. During the night,
however, the third reefing pendant broke, which forced Parlier to take a fourth reef in his main sail this morning. He has since repaired and put in the third reef again to find his boat
speed at 10 knots again. 'I am behind a depression and should arrive with the next one. According to the weather files, I think I¹ll arrive on Friday afternoon. Now the sun¹s out, the
clouds are scudding across the sky, it¹s still blowing steadily, but he temperature has fallen significantly, as I¹m now wearing two layers of thermals, under my oilskins and boots.
Smells of home are coming back too' Parlier joked that as he had planned his rations to last him until Friday this week, if he is yet again delayed for any reason, 'I¹ll be eating 100%
seaweed!'

Didier Munduteguy (DDP ­ 60ème Sud) should sail under the 2,000 mile barrier today himself, still being pushed homewards by the 25 ­ 30 knot North Easterly Trade winds. 'I¹m making
good progress to the North in this steady breeze. The sea¹s quite rough though and the boat gets a fair bashing, so I¹m sailing under 2 reefs and the staysail.'

Finally, the last skipper in the Vendée Globe fleet, Italian Pasquale de Gregorio (Wind), has not sent any news today of his conditions, however, he will be sailing under the 4,000 mile
barrier today as he approaches the Equator on his 50 footer under jury rig at an average speed of 6-­ 7 knots.

ETA

Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations) ­ 16th March

Latest Ranking* polled at 1000hrs (UT):

Psn Boat Skipper Lat Long Headg Av. Speed** DTF***
1 PRB Michel Desjoyeaux Finish: 10 February 2008hrs 32 sec
2 Kingfisher Ellen MacArthur Finish: 11 February 2036hrs 40 sec
3 Sill Matines & La Potagère Roland Jourdain Finish: 13 February 1713hrs 33 sec
4 Active Wear Marc Thiercelin Finish: 20 February 1248hrs 49sec
5 Union Bancaire Privée Dominique Wavre Finish: 22 February 1858hrs 12sec
6 Sodebo Savourons la Vie Thomas Coville Finish: 22 February 2335hrs 0sec
7 Team Group 4 Mike Golding Finish: 28 February 0833hrs 0sec
8 Voilà.fr Bernard Gallay Finish: 1 March 0818hrs 11sec
9 EBP - Défi PME - Gartmore Josh Hall Finish: 1 March 1159hrs 2 sec
10 Nord Pas de Calais - Chocolats du Monde Joe Seeten Finish: 5 March 0857hrs 50 sec
11 VM Matériaux Patrice Carpentier Finish: 5 March 1643hrs 48 sec
12 Aquarelle.com Simone Bianchetti Finish: 10 March 1739hrs 0sec
13 Aquitaine Innovations Yves Parlier 38°15'N 17°28'W 61 8.12 843
14 DDP - 60ème Sud Didier Munduteguy 21°49'N 33°42'W 356 7.94 2132
15 Wind Pasquale de Gregorio 11°59'S 35°35'W 134 6.41 4035

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