Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Position: 46 23.209S x 134 23.600E
Distance to Hobart: 595 miles
Speed: 8 knots

The winds are cooperating for now and I have 23 knots from the south west so I’m being pushed along smoothly towards land. The winds dropped to 13 knots over night and I even ventured to put the staysail up for a while which really helped me along. Now the wind is back in the low 20’s so I have taken the staysail down as I don’t want to take any chances on overstressing the mast. Unfortunately, the synthetic rigging on the port side that is damaged is taking a beating as it winds itself up and then unwinds itself and flogs against the spreaders and mast in the process. I’m not sure how much will be useable by the time I reach land. I’ve been cleaning the inside of the boat and getting all the water out. A case of chocolate boost (drink) exploded in the rollover so I have liquid chocolate everywhere. It’s getting warmer now and it is starting to smell. You get the picture.

I’ve had a lot of sleep in the last day and the sun is shining this morning so my outlook on the whole situation has improved dramatically. Thank so much to those of you that have contributed to the crisis fund. Without you, we would not be able to proceed.

Happy New Year Everyone. Here’s to a great 2009

Take Care

Derek

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Position 46 45S x 131 47E
Distance to Hobart: 749 miles

I have been moving well towards Hobart with just the mainsail set at the
4th reef. It seems that the wind has not been below 30 knots for weeks now
and it continues to blow up the high 30’s from time to time. Not much
respite with the waves and I have been watching them nervously all day to
see if they are building to a dangerous state. There has been the odd one
that would give us trouble in our wounded condition but luckily we avoided
them.

The out pouring of emails providing encouragement is astounding. We
haven’t counted them but they are in the 1000’s. My state of mind is
slowly improving and I am anxious to get ashore and start the process of
getting the boat home. It sounds like there will be lots of friendly faces
in Hobart to make our stop there an easier one. Patianne and the kids will
arrive asap and I really look forward to seeing them again, the only
positive thing out of this whole incident thus far.

The mast is continuing to impress me that it is still standing as it moves
around a lot more than I have ever seen on a sailboat. With the sea state
so nasty, I fully expect it to break at the second spreader at any time
and I am careful on deck to be aware that it may come down very quickly.

More soon. Take Care

Derek

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

I have just notified the race committee that I must officially retire from the Vendee Globe 2008/09. After the knock down and damage to the mast I continued to look for solutions to fix the broken spreaders while the mast is still standing. After considering all the options we have concluded that it is not possible to make a repair without outside assistance, which is not allowed in this race. I was hoping I would wake up and it was all a bad dream.

It’s time to move on with a plan to move forward. We have accomplished so much; building the IMOCA 60 in Canada, preparing and qualifying for the hardest race in the world and unfortunately being knocked out indiscriminately like so many others, among them some of the elite single-handed sailors in the world. At first I was devastated, not for me, but for those individuals and corporate sponsors that have helped us get this far. But in the last few days, their words to me of encouragement have shown me that we have nothing to be ashamed about; that we tried our best and played well. I’m not sure if we made a difference or not but I think you will agree that this type of event truly captures the imagination of the world. These thoughts have turned it around for me and now I’m ready to move forward. We were able to find a number of sponsors, including Algimouss; we can find more so that we can continue with Spirit of Canada as we always planned, representing Canada and our partners on the world stage in the IMOCA 60 circuit.

The Plan

The immediate plan is to take the boat to Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It’s just under 900 miles away and it will take me about 8 more days to reach port. If the mast is still standing when I get there, we will be able to remove it from the boat and fix the spreaders and the mast will be whole again. We have been in contact with other teams and preparing ourselves to ship Spirit of Canada home, saving all the wear and tear on the boat and crew. Once back in the northern hemisphere, we can refurbish the boat and prepare it for what’s next, racing single-handed and preparing and training new members of the team. The IMOCA circuit continues in May with races throughout Europe and the North Atlantic. For this we need to find more sponsors; hopefully our performance in the Vendee Globe will help us succeed at that.

What Spirit of Canada Needs

A lot of the emails that we have received have asked how they can help. Our budget is tight to nonexistent so our immediate need is for financial assistance in the form of money, logistics, shipping partners, air miles etc, etc. Your emails have provided me with a lot of emotional support and I thank you again. As always, Patianne is the back bone of the team and can be contacted at any time with your ideas on how to secure sponsorship or make donations. Her coordinates are: mobile 416-816-7446 or by email patianne@spiritofcanada.net.

I want to thank each and every one of you for supporting Spirit of Canada. If you would like to discuss any of these details, please do not hesitate to contact me on my mobile: 416-844-7245 or by email: derek@spiritofcanada.net.

Take Care

Derek

In short:

- candid report from Derek onboard
- picture of the damage to the mast
- Late night interview with Derek, he gives us a short update of the situation
- plan of action

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

After a week battling storm after storm, I thought that we would get a break today with lighter winds. Last night it was blowing 40-47 knots all night long with gusts to 55 knots on occasion. In the gusts, the autopilot was struggling to keep the boat tracking and would round up into the wind. This morning the seas were huge, maybe 25 feet and confused but nothing we couldn’t handle normally. I was exhausted and laying in my bunk and crash, the boat went over and I ended up on the ceiling with all kinds of articles whizzing past me. The boat came upright immediately and the carnage inside was immediate. I rushed on deck and my heart sank to see two of the spreaders dangling limp on the shrouds. The shock hits you quickly that this is not fixable and the end of the race is here already. I started to cry and it was uncontrollable. I called Patianne and told her, she was gutted and shocked. It’s now been a long day of stabilizing the rig and cleaning up the interior so I can live a little easier and I am still in shock. I feel so bad for Patianne and all the people that have supported us for five long years both financially and emotionally. I know it will pass and we will turn it all around, but the devastating feeling is still here for now. I’ve headed for Australia to get the boat safely tied to a dock and figure out what to do next. We will persevere and continue on because that is what we do, but right now it’s unbelievably difficult. Thank you so much for following and believing in us, we will try and turn it around somehow.

In a late night interview Derek had this to say: As you can see from the picture of the mast there is still a chance that the mast will break, probably above the first spreader, so I am monitoring this situation.”

I have been in contact with David Adams who is the Australian safety officer for the Vendee Globe Race Committee and he has been very helpful in this situation.

“I have stabilized the rig as much as I can and have the mainsail up to the fourth reef it still doesn’t have battens in it as we were waiting until the wind came down which ironically is today. It is dark here now so I’m slowly heading north to better weather I hope.

So now we set about trying to find some support to get the boat back North in sailing trim.

There is a lot of work to do but we are prepared to do what it takes.

December 28th at 02:02hr GMT

Derek Hatfields team informs Vendee Globe race committee that he has suffered a massive knock-down and the top two spreaders on his mast have broken in half leaving the mast unsupported on the leeward side, the broken spreaders banging against the mast.

At the time the Canadian skipper was sailing along under bare poles in a storm that has been raging for more than five days with low pressure system after low pressure system. The storm seemed to be subsiding when a huge wave knocked the boat on its side putting the mast in the water, not an easy thing to do on these 60 by 20 boats.

Hatfield states that he was not injured and is going on deck to further assess the damage to the mast and come up with a plan of action.

We will release more information as it becomes available.

Media inquires please contact Patianne@spiritofcanada.net or at +1.647.288.7342.

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Seems that 35 knots of wind is becoming very normal as the low pressure continues to plague the fleet. I’m sitting in the cabin reading all the inspirational emails that have been sent over the past few weeks and I am truly moved by the messages that people send me about how they feel as they follow the race. Some are motivated to do things for themselves where otherwise they might not. Some feel that the race is a great metaphor for real life and that it brings out what is truly important in their lives, and that is to focus on ones goals and never stop trying to reach them. Whatever the message, I find them truly inspiring for me. As the storm is still raging, I have not had the opportunity to work on the mainsail so it is down on deck still. The boat slips along sometimes surfing up to 20 knots just under staysail. Makes me think that I am overpowering the autopilots with too much sail area during those times when the pilot crash jibes the boat and causes damage. The IMOCA 60 is a powerful sailboat and I’m learning that it doesn’t need a lot of sail area to make it go fast, especially down here. From all the reports from the rest of the skippers, sounds like everyone is dealing with their own issues, it’s reassuring to me that I’m not the only one that is having trouble in the tough weather. Let’s hope everyone comes thru this series of storms without any more damage or injury. I closely watch the barometer on the nav station wall and just now it started going up from 985 and I know the center of the low has passed and the beginning of the end of the “blow” has started. I think there is another 18 hours or so before it has truly passed but it helps my morale to see that change in direction of the barometer. Come on 1010, that’s the 24-28 knots of wind zone where good winds and flat seas make for some fantastic sailing. It will take me about 3 hours working on the mainsail to get it back into fighting trim once this storm has passed. Hopefully tomorrow I can do the work and get back on the road again.

Take Care

Derek

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

What can I say, the days and nights are full of 35-45 knots of wind, big seas, some as large as 25 feet I think, and babysitting the errant auto pilot who for some reason looses the plot and decides to head north. Maybe Joshua is trying to tell me something. Life on board changed drastically about two days ago as far as comfort for the skipper inside the cabin. I was in the cockpit and we came over the crest of this big 20 foot wave and for some reason the pilot turned and went straight down the wave with the bow going into the trough all the way to the mast. I ducked down and grabbed something to hold onto as I knew there would be some heavy water following. After the plunge into the trough the boat stopped so suddenly that the boat slewed sideways and the rolling water came crashing over the side and into the cockpit. I found myself waist high in water for about 15 seconds before it cleared out the transom. The travesty of all this is that the cabin door was open as usual and when inspecting down below, I found that a lot of water had managed to come in the door and soak the cabin. Damage report: nav station soaked, computer making funny beeps and eventually lost the mouse and USP ports for charting software. All the instruments were soaked but I managed to dry them and keep them going for now. The real travesty was my bed; totally soaked. Both sleeping bags onto the floor and into the water, all my dry foul weather gear that I have been so careful about keeping dry, soaked without going outside. It’s truly unbelievable where water can get into. I should have known better from the last race around the world but this is an Open 60, it would never be able to swamp the cabin door. Wrong! So now I’m dealing with the relentless wind and waves and cold and wet to boot. Christmas day was not a happy time on board with even the satellites for the phone not co-operating. I hope that you all had a more pleasant day.

The mainsail is now down on deck as the three broken battens were shredding the sail. It was a tough decision to take it down but I need to fix the sail so we can race again. It may be a few days before I can get it fixed. Turns out that the autopilot is much happier anyway which tells me that in over 35 knots the pilot struggles with being overpowered by the sail plan. Right now I have only the staysail up and we still are doing over 20 knots at times. I need the wind to come down so I can cut and fit some new battens and then climb into the mainsail and try and replace them. The top one is under huge pressure from the weight of the sail and normally the battens are loaded with the sail spread on the ground. I’m not sure how that one will go. The pilots are not so happy but managing. I tried switching to the backup pilot but cannot get the wind instrument for that pilot to work. The pilots need the true wind reading to operate well when going down wind. I have four wind instruments on board and only one is working right now so I’m trying to resolve this.

So, all in all a tough couple of days thus far and I’m not sure any respite is in the works. The low pressure systems are back to back and as soon as one moves on, another one develops right behind it. I don’t think it’s always this way.

I hope you are all enjoying the holidays and be thankful for family, friends and the times around you. Thank you so much for all the great emails, some of them are very touching and I read them over and over again.

Take Care

Derek

Ranking: 16th
Position: 48 27.63’S 113 22.27’E
Distance to Finish: 13706nm
Distance to Leader: 3466nm
Distance to Great American III: 132nm (loss of 15nm over 24hrs)

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

Christmas aboard was a day of fighting with Autopilots, leaking ballast
tanks and broken battens trying to jump out of the mainsail. The wind has
been at 42kts all last night and today, showing no signs of letting up.
The mainsail is looking pretty sad with the top portion of it unsupported,
not holding it’s shape at all and I cannot do anything about it until the
wind drops off hopefully there will be less wind in about 12-16hrs further
to the south.

Hope everyone has had a good feed of turkey dinner and is seated with
friends and family.

Take care,

Derek

Merry Christmas

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada,

Its Christmas Eve and all we want from Santa is to get through the next few low pressure systems. We have been fighting a storm since yesterday afternoon; it started with 35kts of wind but built to 47knots at times. The waves have been building all day, there was no relief from the wind. the boat has been knocked down three times, once particularly bad and resulted in some damage to the mainsail battens. Below deck is soaked which changes the quality of life aboard very quickly as things dont really get a chance to dry once they are wet. The weather file shows little chance of letting up over the next couple of days so we have four reefs in the mainsail, not as much racing going on as survival at times.

I have received hundreds of emails today wishing us Merry Christmas, thanks for those letters they really help me get through the tough times.

From our team to yours, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Take care,

Derek

Hello from Algimouss Spirit of Canada

The next in the series of low pressure systems is upon me as we get ready to honor the West Australia gate. Ice has been reported near this gate so we are especially vigilant in making sure we get through safely. Right now it’s raining/foggy outside with about 25 knots of wind from the west. I have the radar running to spot ice if possible. Ice makes me very nervous as it is the one unknown that can damage the boat very quickly and it won’t take a very big piece to break a rudder. Breaking a rudder is a race ending scenario for us as we cannot replace one at sea. The rudder design is one of those performance issues that you make early in the build stage with the designer of the boat.

I must climb a little higher to gain some latitude on the gate and I will loose some ground on the two boats in front of me. But once past the longitude of this end of the gate I can start south again.

I can only imagine the excitement in all the children; tomorrow is Christmas Eve.

Take Care

Derek