In this modern era there are few places where one can escape the clutches of technology – and it seems that’s true even if you’re sailing round the world. Eagle-eyed fans watching the Vendée Globe tracker may have been wondering where Swiss skipper Alan Roura was off to after he broke from the group he was in and headed over to the coast of Brazil.
Roura, who at 23 is the youngest skipper in the Vendée Globe fleet, today revealed the reason behind his peculiar course – he needs to download software for the antenna on his boats that picks receives much-needed weather data via satellite but in order to do so he needs 3G mobile signal. The only place he can get that is close to land so he has decided to sail close to the north-eastern tip of Brazil in search of a strong phone signal. Roura said he has been sailing without any weather information since exiting the Doldrums, a situation that prevents him from planning any sort of strategy.
“I’ve got a small technical problem to do with my communications gear,” the skipper of La Fabrique revealed today. “The problem is with my fleet antenna, which can’t find the satellites. My main means of communication is by VHF, and I don’t have the software to get all the data I need. Everything is going via the iridium satellite phone. That’s going to be slower for the downloading too. I need to get close to the coast to pick up the network and download some stuff. That should allow me to resolve my problems and continue in decent shape. Since the Doldrums I haven’t had any weather info on the boat – it’s all been done by guesswork. I’m a bit of a lame duck, but at least it isn’t part of the boat, just part of the communication system. If I can’t get it to work it won’t stop me from continuing. I am committed to going all the way.”
Roura was positioned 24th at the 1700 UTC rankings, which showed fourth-placed Morgan Lagravière making the greatest gains over the past day notching up a massive 503.8nm. Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss pulled out another few miles on second placed Sébastien Josse and third placed Armel Le Cléac’h. His track this evening puts him just 200nm north of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone.