Vendée Globe - Alexia Barrier 'I'm in good shape' - News

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Vendée Globe - Alexia Barrier 'I'm in good shape'

29 November 2020 - 08:53

Vendée Globe Press

29/11/2020 10:00

One of the six women in this ninth edition of the Vendée Globe Alexia Barrier is sailing on the oldest of this race's IMOCA monohulls, the former Penguin that Catherine Chabaud raced around the world in 2000. Since then, this Lombard design raced many more times around the globe. Alexia Barrier seems to be particularly happy on this mythical monohull!

"There's quite a strong wind off Brazil and it's still unstable in strength and direction, with squalls... Yesterday, it gave me the chance me to make good make up good ground with my new sails: I went quite fast! Then last night I wanted to take a reef out of the mainsail and it got stuck on the second. I have struggled but will wait for daylight to try again because I have already spent two hours on the end of the boom in the middle of the night, and it's not very comfortable or to work on.

We have a magical moon, and that changes everything for sailing! It is especially great as I haven't had my deck searchlight since the first week for all the manoeuvres and sail checks. I am trying to not think too far ahead to avoid getting stressed and am just doing things one after the other and so now I'm taking advantage of this pretty moon. Especially as the sea is much nicer than in the north of Brazil where we had very unpleasant cross seas. It is still quite unstable on the South with squalls...

I have Miranda (Merron) next to me and we're keeping similar speeds although yesterday I was a bit faster. It's really nice because it means you push the boat, it's motivating to go faster. And behind me, I have Clément (Giraud) who is coming back and even further back, there is Ari (Huusela) and Sébastien (Destremau): we're a small group at the back of the fleet and it's rather reassuring for the moment when we reach the Cape of Good Hope and the Southern Ocean. It's not bad not to find that we are not alone in these far flung places!

My boat is the oldest in the fleet since it was built for Catherine Chabaud in 1998. I should be going 30% slower than the others, and in reality, I manage to hold on, and that's pretty cool! It is a very physical monohull because there are still some old systems on board. I have total confidence in my boat even if it's very wet because there's no coach roof.

Yesterday I plugged the water drains in the cockpit to give myself a five minute swim! I took advantage of it and I'm in great shape after the Northern Hemisphere trade winds and the Doldrums. I'm finally managing to sleep well as I need to regain my strength to get around the St. Helena High, which is proving to be strategically complicated.

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