Vendée Globe - Didac Costa 'I'm looking forward to the finish'

Didac Costa the Catlan skipper aboard One Planet One Ocean spoke to Race HQ in Les Sables d'Olonne this morning and gave us this updated 

How are you?

I’m doing ok, a bit tired, but I'm looking forward to arriving in Les Sables d’Olonne. There are still a few days to go and the finish line is not very clear, but I’ll have to be patient.

Are you having a good race?
Yes, I'm happy with the race, I think with the boat I have I'm going at a good pace, but we still have to finish, there are still a few days to go.

How’s the ‘regatta’ going with the other boats nearby?
The truth is that of the boats that are close to me, except for Pip's boat (Medallia), they are all pretty fast. I think when they get some wind they're going to speed up. With Pip I'm closer, but I think she's going to get the best wind first. So, it's relative, but being with other boats close by is much better and I'm glad I did a lot of the race that way

How do you feel about your close race with Pip?

I'm happy to have done the round the world race sailing close to her, although in the south she had a very fast pace with strong winds. Now I’m catching up with her but well, we'll see how it all turns out now when we pass the Azores anticyclone. There are 2 or 3 very strong squalls that are going to pass from west to east and I don't know exactly how I'm going to face them.

Would you have to do extra miles?
We are looking at how to avoid the area with low wind from the anti-cyclone and because there are cutting winds to the west, whereas if we went straight upwind things would be different. But more than anything else, after a week with no wind, for the following 5 and 7 days there is going to be a very strong depression that has to pass for us and we will have to see how to manage it because I don't know if I will have to re-route to avoid it.

And how is the boat doing?
Today is a bit different, the wind has picked up and, unlike when I went up the Doldrums, now I have a lot of squalls with winds of 20-25 and sometimes up to 28 knots.  I'm hoping the squalls will pass quickly so we'll have more stable wind.
But the boat is fine, I haven't had to do any repairs lately and the sails are fine (I try to take care of them as much as possible). I only have a problem with the wind equipment that sometimes doesn't work well and this takes a bit of performance away from me, but nothing too major.

Do you have enough food on board?
I still have enough food for 3 weeks or so, so I don't have a problem with that. Even if I had to wait 3 weeks to finish, I would still have enough food to get there.

Translation: Johanna Arcienigas 

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Cover photo © Didac Costa / One Planet One Ocean