Golden Globe Race - Day 44: Philippe Péché heads for Cape Town

by Barry Pickthall / GGR 13 Aug 2018 14:58 BST 13 August 2018

Philippe Péché, pictured when sailing through the Marina Rubicon gate in the Canaries. This shows the special alloy telescopic tiller fitted to PRB which snapped later in the race, together with the Beaufort wind vane self steering system © Christophe Favreau

Over the weekend, French yachtsman Philippe Péché has fashioned a repair to the aluminium tiller on his Rustler 36 PRB, but without self steering, has decided to head to Cape Town under reduced sail.

This morning, the 57-year old professional from La Trinité Sur Mer, who had led the Golden Globe Race almost continuously since the start from Les Sables d'Olonne on July 1st, was making 2.9knots in 25knot headwinds and expecting to take 13 to 17 days to reach the Cape.

Péché first alerted race organisers to the broken tiller on Friday, but his problems began earlier in the week when the actuating arm on his Beaufort wind vane self steering system sheered off. Attempts to repair the wind vane with spare tube for his special telescopic tiller failed, and when the tiller then snapped in 45-50knot winds experienced at the end of last week, he had nothing left to repair it with.

Péché made an emergency call to the Golden Globe Race HQ at 18:10 UTC on Friday using a satellite phone all competitors carry for use in such situations. Skippers are free to call Race HQ and emergency services at any time, but under the strict rules of this retro non-stop round the world race, can only contact the greater world by radio. Péché then made a second call to his partner, having told Race HQ "I am going to call my partner and I do not care about the consequences."

Jean-Luc Van Den Heede's windward course down the eastern side of the South Atlantic towards the Cape of Good Hope has proved better than the longer traditional Trade Wind route favoured by Mark Slats, and the Frenchman now leads the Dutchman by 575 miles - photo © Christophe Favreau / Matmut / PPL

Don McIntyre, the Race Chairman confirmed today: "The situation is that Philippe is now in the Chichester Class as if he had made one stop. So if he now pulls in to Cape Town that would be a second infringement and he would be out of the Race altogether. He can apply for a time penalty for the phone call (As Istvan Kopar did after stopping in the Cape Verde Islands two weeks ago) and we will reconsider that, because as far as we can ascertain, he did not receive any materiel assistance other than psychological support. If successful, this would reinstate him in the GGR, and allow him to continue in the Chichester Class after he stops in Cape Town."

Nabil Amra, the Palestinian/American who was forced to retire from the GGR two weeks ago after suffering an identical failure with his Beaufort wind vane self-steering, has every sympathy for Philippe's situation. He said today. "I have my fingers crossed for Philippe. This is a bad spot for it to happen. I had a fear that the next blow he got from behind was going to do the same thing [to his wind vane]. The winds may be with him but that doesn't change the feelings that well up inside when you see that useless bit of gear hanging off the back. 1,500 miles is just possible with a following wind, but he will be completely demolished by the time he makes Cape Town.

Palestinian Nabil Amra was forced to retire from the Golden Globe Race two weeks ago when the self-steering system on his Biscay 36 Liberty II failed in exactly the way that it has done on PRB - photo © Team Palestine / GGR / PPL

Everyone says that you should balance the rig so that the boat sails herself. But to make it do that for any appreciable time when every third wave is knocking you far enough off course that she just starts charging off in errant directions, is not easy. It takes only an hour to realize how futile that is (especially if you are beating into the winds!). You then resign yourself to hand steering for 18 hours a day, which is when the soul sucking starts! This will be when Philippe's real "race" starts. I'm sure he will surprise us all. This is when he has to dig really deep, from a place that nobody ever sees. When your ship is wounded, so are you!

He is in my thoughts!"

Jean-Jacques Laurent from PRB added. "Philippe has had a remarkable race since the start from Les Sables d'Olonne. We knew that this Golden Globe Race would be particularly difficult. It's an extreme race. Philippe makes his choices as a good sailor. Our priority is that he arrives in Cape Town in good health and that he can repair PRB. We know how important this race is to him and he has all our support to start again in the Chichester class."

Fellow Frenchman Jean-Luc Van Den Heede sailing the Rustler 36 Matmut who shadowed PRB's course down the centre of the South Atlantic, continues to lead the Race, some 575 miles ahead of second placed Dutchman Mark Slats (Rustler 36 Ohpen Maverick) who chose to take the longer westerly Trade wind route. This morning, he tacked south to avoid a high pressure system that may yet entrap Van Den Heede, in expectation of riding the strong favourable winds generated by the next low pressure system sweeping in from the west in the hope that this could close the gap or even leapfrog him ahead of the French leader.

Britain's Susie Goodall, becalmed last week, is now back up to speed in 6th place with her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight - photo © Christophe Favreau

Norwegian Are Wiig (OE 32 Olleanna) has moved up to 3rd place displacing Estonian Uku Randmaa (Rustler 36 One and All) during the weekend. Britain's Susie Goodall, who reported last Friday 'IVE DONE A SUPER JOB OF FINDING THE WINDLESS PATCH IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC' has now found fresh wind again and her Rustler 36 DHL Starlight is moving well in 6th place, but Finland's Tapio Lehtinen (Gaia 36 Asteria) has yet to find a fix for his solar panel and engine problems and is now very low on battery power.