The stress of looking out for "growlers" (icebergs) while thrashing about in the Southern Ocean is raising the pressure levels on Aviva as Dee Caffari revisits an icy cauldron that last time round drove her to despair.
The stress of looking out for "growlers" (icebergs) while thrashing about in the Southern Ocean is raising the pressure levels on Aviva as Dee Caffari revisits an icy cauldron that last time round drove her to despair.
In 2006, while Dee was completing the Aviva Challenge, her record breaking circumnavigation against prevailing winds and tides, she found herself in the deep south floating listlessly in a massive icepack with no means of escape.
She had slept for just eight hours in nine days and wrote a desperate message to her shore crew describing her state of mind as a "paranoid mess".
This time, as she heads east through the frozen wilderness in 35 knots of wind, wearing four layers of clothing plus thermal hat and gloves, she is less troubled but still no wiser as to how to cope with the dreaded icebergs that are looming large on the radar for some skippers in the Vendee Globe.
"I really don't really want to see any ice because I saw enough last time round to last a lifetime," said Dee, who was lying in 16th place, 900 nautical miles behind the leader Jean Pierre Dick on Paprec-Virbac 2.
"It is clearly marked but I don't want go anywhere near. It's so hard to see anything when you are going at this speed and you can't go on deck for any length of time because it's so wet and cold.
"The radar is on but there is a lot of wave action so you don't know whether you are in it until you see it.
"You can't slow down. You just have to stay away from where we know they are and keep your fingers crossed.
"It's the so called little ones - the ones that are less than 50 metres, which I reckon are still pretty big - that are the dangerous ones but you can't have a strategy for icebergs. You just have to be vigilant. There is no point in sitting on deck for 24 hours a day - you can't see in the dark."
Like the rest of the fleet, Aviva is being battered by the relentless storms that are renowned in the Southern Ocean. It was bad last night and there is worse to come, Dee said.
"Last night was not very nice. We had 40 knots and the sea state was all mixed up. It was hard on the boat. It was a bit scary but we gybed this morning and I will probably gybe at the end of the day and head east.
"The wind was really gusty and I set the boat up for gusts up to 35-38 knots but then it would drop down to 24 and the boat would be dead in the water with the waves seeming to decide what they were going to do. It was a horrible feeling. So mixed up.
"I'm getting better at what sail set up I need for what wind strength so I am anticipating things a bit better. The clouds come and go and dump a load of wind and rain on us then disappear and leave us with no breeze. It is weird."
Aviva Ocean Racing summary
Record-breaking British yachtswoman Dee Caffari, who sailed into the record books in May 2006 by becoming the first woman to sail solo, non-stop around the world against the prevailing winds and currents, is attempt her next "world first" by competing in the Vendée Globe yacht race. Caffari is attempting to become the first woman to sail solo and non-stop both ways around the world.
Further information on Dee Caffari and her Aviva Ocean Racing campaign can be found at www.avivaoceanracing.com.
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For further information and interview requests contact:
Caroline Ayling
Mobile: +44 (0) 7801 351950
E-mail: caroline.ayling@synergy-sponsorship.com
Kelly Russell
Mobile: +44 (0)7786 516570
E-mail: Kelly.russell@synergy-sponsorship.com
Website: www.avivaoceanracing.com
Images: www.avivaoceanracing.com/images
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