Double record for Dee Caffari
by Vendée Globe media 16 Feb 2009 13:41 GMT
Dee Caffari finishes in 6th position
Dee Caffari made history today when she became the first woman to sail around twice around the world in different directions, both against and now with the prevailing winds and currents.
While her achievement of 2005 was impressive in itself, finishing sixth in this epic Vendee Globe race today, crossing the finish line at 13h12min57sec dwarves that feat, considering her first solo race in an Open 60 was only in November 2007.
Just three years ago, Dee Caffari sailed around the world against the prevailing winds and currents taking 178 days 03 hours 05 minutes and now on 16th February 2009, the British sailor has done it again, but this time from west to east in a race… A remarkable performance as only fifteen solo sailors have accomplished this feat in less than 100 days aboard a monohull.
It is a fairytale finish for Dee Caffari, considering that at the start on 9th November, she did nothing to hide her lack of racing experience. In two years of preparation with one aboard her new monohull, she clearly made a lot of progress. Her Owen Clarke designed boat, the sistership to Mike Golding’s, from the same mould and learning from some of the problems Golding had, proved to be very powerful, but Dee managed to adapt and stay with the twelve frontrunners until the Canaries.
A slight tactical mistake, the same as Marc Guillemot made, stopped her in her tracks in the lee of the islands, but the solo sailor was not going to give up: sixteenth at the Equator, she kept up the pace all the way down the Atlantic and she was in the same place at the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope. With boats retiring in the Kerguelens, Dee Caffari chose a cautious approach and sailed north of the islands along with Brian Thompson. Eleventh at Cape Leeuwin, the two Brits would stay on the same route almost up to the New Zealand gate, where she discovered that her mainsail was disintegrating… Arnaud Boissières was close by, but Brian Thompson made his getaway.
A huge storm
It was at the rounding of the Horn that the three got together, as a very short, but violent storm hit Tierra del Fuego, forcing the three solo sailors to shelter or run free. Dee Caffari was in seventh place, when she passed the les Estados island. There were 7000 miles to cover and the condition of her mainsail continued to decline… The Horn Trio continued up the coast of Brazil, but separated when Arnaud Boissières got left behind at the latitude of Uruguay, while Brian Thompson made the most of the power of his machine. However, Dee made it back to within 200 miles of Marc Guillemot when he crossed the Equator. The Doldrums were very difficult for Dee Caffari and cost her dearly: she lost more than 200 miles in a few hours.
Nothing could affect the determination of the British sailor and the climb back up the North Atlantic was to offer her the opportunity to make an impressive recovery: she clawed back mile after mile and was just sixty miles behind Brian as they entered the Bay of Biscay. Dee Caffari completed the race sailing 27 907 miles on the water at an average speed of 11.74 knots.
Dee Caffari Quotes:
There were people there waving and saying hello and I thought that was pretty cool and then a random motor cruiser came up and shouted Go Dee! And I thought wow I’m close to the finish now. Then when everybody came out towards me… I knew there would be some Ribs and stuff, but this sight was brilliant and it’s such a gorgeous day. The sunset was beautiful and a lovely sunrise and I had dolphins, so I knew it was going to be a good day.
On finishing sixth: If you’d said that in the beginning, I’d have laughed in your face. I had an awesome start, then I made a few mistakes tactically in the Atlantic and the intensity of the race in the South Atlantic was just phenomenal. I sort of said, I’m not sure if I can do this. I was OK in the south, then I lost a bit of confidence in my first storm. Everybody was having lots of problems and that was when all the damage was happening and there was Yann’s injury and I lost all my confidence then.
Cape Horn was interesting. It was quite nice to hang out and know that the other two were with me. And I had an awesome Atlantic – I suddenly turned the corner and I’d grown into my boat. I did the repair on the main to keep it going a little bit longer. We just decided as a team to go for it and if it fell apart we’d deal with that later. I was really pleased to close the gap and then the Doldrums were a nightmare. A horrible two days, the worst two days of the race. I lost 300 miles to Brian in two days. Then I spent the North Atlantic closing the gap, but I just ran out of runway today. So I didn’t quite get him, but I’m happy to have pushed him all the way to the line.
Literally I started sailing in an Open 60 eighteen months ago. In my first solo race I hated it and cried all the way and got dismasted right before the end. I thought, Oh my God! What have I let myself in for? But I loved this and have grown into the boat all the time.
And your team? The reason why I’m here is that they did such a good job preparing the boat. I owe them lots of booze and I know I did them proud. They’re really chuffed with their project and we did it together. They did the boat and I just had to go and sail it and they’ve been there whenever I needed them.
Dee Caffari’s times:
Crossing the Equator: 13d 21h 53’
Crossing the longitude of the Cape of Good Hope: 28d 19h 43’
Crossing the longitude of Cape Leeuwin : 42d 07h 28’
Crossing the International Date Line: 50d 14h 58’
Rounding Cape Horn: 67d 22h 13’
Crossing the Eqautor: 83d 23h 08’
Finish in Les Sables d’Olonne: 99d 1h10min57sec
Final rankings:
1-Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) 84d 03h 09’ 08’’
2-Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air) 89d 09h 39’ 35’’ (including 11h redress)
3-Marc Guillemot (Safran) 95d 03h 19’ 36’’ (including 82h redress)
4-Samantha Davies (Roxy) 95d 04h 39’ 01’’ (including 32h redress)
5-Brian Thompson (Bahrain Team Pindar) 98d 20h 29’ 55’’
6-Dee Caffari (Aviva) 99d 1h10min57sec
Dee’s timeline of the race:
10th Nov 48 knots of wind in storm in Bay of Biscay. Damaged staysail
12th Nov Crossed paths with Sam Davies
14th Nov Struggling to find right sail combination
17th Nov Feeling grey just like the weather…
19th Nov iPod found, so music to cheer her up
21st Nov Dee enters the Doldrums
23rd Nov Foncia slipped by, Crossed the Equator – champagne for Neptune
25th Nov Chat with Jonny and Brian
26th Nov Electrical problems. Checked generator. Needed to resolder connections
27th Nov Computer problem. More soldering
29th Nov tack fitting ripped on staysail and jammer ripped off deck
5th Dec 28 knots past the first Ice Gate
8th Dec Crossed longitude of Cape of Good Hope
10th Dec Spooky day with news of Loïck’s dismasting
13th Dec Aviva’s first birthday
16th Dec Sad news of Mike Golding’s dismasting and Jean Baptiste Dejeanty forced out
17th Dec Mountainous seas and 58 knot winds and scared after previous day’s news
20th Dec Tears of joy hearing about Yann’s rescue
25th Dec Clean knickers for Christmas!
26th December Patches needed for mainsail as outer layer starts peeling
29th December Flyover from a Rescue Dave Greenberg’s plane south of New Zealand
30th Nov Discoverd swollen knee
1st January Weed caught around rudder
2nd January Pudding for New Year
6th Jan Jean Le Cam news reaches Dee
7th Jan Sikaflex and epoxy for sail
10th January Reverse side of sail disintegrating now
13th January 24 hours of winds in excess of 50 knots
16th January Rounds Cape Horn upwind after sheltering along with Brian Thompson and Arnaud Boissières
21st January Desperate repairs to mainsail as fibres being destroyed
23rd Jan Dee’s birthday Diet Coke celebration
30th Jan Taken prisoner in the Doldrums
1st Feb Back in the Northern Hemisphere
5th Feb Hostile welcome back in North as some of worst seas of the voyage
12th Feb 30-40 knots of wind and conditions similar to south
Dee Caffari first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world (from Kelly Russell)
Dee Caffari onboard her yacht Aviva completed a double world first at 13:13 (GMT) on 16 February 2009 by crossing the official finish line of the round the world Vendée Globe yacht race.
British yachtswoman Dee Caffari, 36, has succeeded in the face of adversity to achieve her ultimate goal of becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world. The former PE teacher from Hertfordshire crossed the finish line in sixth place with a heavily damaged mainsail having spent 99 days at sea.
The British skipper, supported by Aviva, the world’s fifth largest insurance group, burst into the record books in May 2006 by becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop the ‘wrong’ way around the world (against the prevailing winds and currents). That solo circumnavigation took her 178 days in a 72 foot steel yacht battling into the wind. Now less than three years later Caffari, who only started solo sailing in 2005, has taken less than 100 days to complete her solo circumnavigation the ‘right’ way around the world.
Caffari was surrounded by a flotilla of supporter boats as she crossed the line, holding bright white flares above her head. The solo sailor said:
“This is just incredible! To see all these people here to watch me cross the line and make history is just awesome. The support and recognition has been unbelievable. I’m quite exhausted but I’ll be buzzing for the next few days. My goal was to set the double world first and Aviva and I have done it. It’s an amazing feeling to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world. You just can’t buy an experience like this, it’s awesome!”
However, the race was not without incident as Caffari was forced to use all her tenacity and determination to battle her way to the finish line with her severely damaged mainsail looking like a shredded ‘string vest’. The mainsail is a solo skipper’s key sail that provides the majority of the power to the 60 foot carbon fibre racing machine but since the Southern Ocean Caffari has had continuous problems caused by the sail falling apart.
In an effort to keep the sail in one piece Caffari even resorted to using the skin staples from her medial kit and had to cut up one of her additional sails (the code 5) to patch the most badly affected areas. However, three months of ocean racing with hurricane force winds and enormous waves have left the sail in tatters. Nonetheless, the British skipper kept her eyes on the ultimate prize, to set a double world first and make history.
Caffari added:
“The mainsail constantly caused me concern. You just have to look at it to see what a dreadful state it’s in but I managed to struggle on. I never let it get the better of me. I had an opportunity here to make history so a disintegrating mainsail wasn’t going to get in my way. It’s been frustrating and tiring but Aviva and I are here now and I’m on cloud nine!”
The Vendée Globe has been littered with drama and excitement, with nineteen yachts retired from thirty starters making the race a war of attrition. It has been a battle that Caffari has bravely fought to reach her ultimate goal.
The solo skipper added:
“The Vendée Globe has a reputation as the ‘Everest of the Seas’ and this edition has certainly lived up to its name. There was disaster and drama at every turn with dismastings, Yann Elies’s broken leg and Jean Le Cam’s capsize. It was hard not to get distracted but I just had to keep going. My focus was getting Aviva and I home safe and sound and with the support of my team I’ve managed that so I’m over the moon.”
Sarah Loughran, Head of Corporate Sponsorship at Aviva commented:
“Dee’s performance has been inspirational. She set her sights on the double world first and we’ve backed her all the way. Aviva and our employees in 27 markets across the world are very proud of her today. This race has been a testament to her determination, resolve and tenacity. We’re proud to be recognised as part of the team behind her great individual performance”