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93 days 22 hours 52 minutes

FA TAKES FIGHT TO OLD CREWMATE COLMAN  – article by Vendée Globe official website and Nandor Fa skipper’s log 24 -26

FRIDAY 25th  – 28th NOVEMBER 2016, 20H00 Hungarian adventurer Nandor Fa might not be a threat to the Vendee Globe frontrunners but the 63-year-old is locked in battle all the same – with his old crew mate  – there’s a funny story with Conrad. Nándor is sailing on 14th-16th  … video

28th Nov. Nándor’s video message


27th Nov. GOOD MORNING! HERE WE ARE TODAY. BONJOUR!

Vendée Globe race datas by the official site



SOH77 Nandor’s ship’s log  25th Nov. 19:45  in the evening

At 19:15 the time had come and I gybed. I managed to arrange everything beforehand, so it wasn’t so straining as it usually is. These sails are in huge bags, their bottom is made of an extremely durable net that allows water to flow out and you can drag the bag on the deck all you want, without breaking it.

Clouds are gathering on the sky again, I’ll have to see what they’re up to.

For the first time I have the feeling that my boat and I have grown together. I already had a lot of experience with it, we constantly modified certain little details for her to become more cooperative. But now, I feel it. You can only really own a boat when you can feel what she feels. The boat becomes an extension of your body and you can feel everything that’s happening to it, even in the last corner. I still have to improve but there is time, and we are on the right track.

In the morning.


I had a busy night. I was aware that there was a significant wind-shift ahead, which I was going to run into within two hours. I was waiting, getting prepared. In such conditions in the middle of the night, in pitch-dark, you never know what kind of a weather these changes bring, but many times they come with showers.

I was asleep on the beanbag when the drumming of rain drops on the surface of the deck alarmed me. I took down the A2, which is never easy, especially when it’s raining and it’s dark. This sail is usually used when conditions are moderate and it’s really necessary. But it’s a different situation now. 9 out of 10 times we take it down in an urge, because we must take it down immediately. I had my fight with it this time as well, or rather: I had to fight for it. I bore away to 160° but even so it was luffing everywhere, getting tangled the way it usually likes to. It was hard to pull down, as everything was wet and tacky, and it caught wind all the time. Most certainly, gusts are coming just at the time when you are fighting with the A2. Anyways I managed it, even if less beautifully as it should be taught. J2 hoisted. After catching wind I could harden up and we were racing in the right direction for about 20 minutes. Then the wind decreased to 8 knots. There was no other choice, I had to hoist the C1. We were running fantastically with 13 knots boat speed, for 20 minutes. The wind had increased to 15 kts: boat healing, running wildly in the darkness. I couldn’t see what it was that generated such gust, but after 10 minutes of laying on the edge I admitted there was no sense risking. I furled in the C1 and I rolled out the J2. I’m not going to continue the story, pretty much the same kept happening: I was jumping up and down as the wind whistled, changing sails every half an hour. It was already dawn by the time the wind had somewhat stabilized and I could finally sit down on the beanbag.


It was daylight when I woke up to the sound of my teeth clinching, I was freezing. Everything was wet on me and the temperature had fallen quite significantly. I changed clothes and made a cup of coffee.

In the afternoon.

I could see a boat approaching on the monitor, heading South – South-West. I took a look at it from closer: it must have been a cargo I thought, it can’t be anything else. For my surprise it was Conrad! Yesterday, after he passed me he was about 10 miles ahead when he gybed. Around the same time I did so too, and we headed south. It’s very interesting to see how all of us who gybed south in various positions at various times, were moving on totally different tracks, different angles. Conrad was the most to the East in this group and he was the most negative. Bureau Vallée was the first one to tack south, and he sailed the most positively, the farthest on the West. At dawn C was far above me, approx 30 SM ahead. And now he appeared behind me, having had quite a negative tack. I called him on the radio, maybe he’s on. He was. I said: “What the hell are you doing here? You should be somewhere else.” “I made a mistake” – he said in a sad voice, adjusting his boat. It’s not hard to make mistakes within such conditions, where the wind is non-stop shifting as if it was coming from a watering pot. I’m going to have to tack too, in a few hours. At 22:30, according to the routing. In this zone, the routing hasn’t made any big mistakes, so far it’s been quite reliable.

Position: 26th nov. 19:10 UTC, 24° 19′ S, 015° 26,4′ W, everything is all right.


—- —-

continues the VG article of 25th Nov.

FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2016, 20H00 Hungarian adventurer Nandor Fa might not be a threat to the Vendee Globe frontrunners but the 63-year-old is locked in battle all the same – with his old crew mate….

. Veteran skipper Fa formed an unlikely partnership with the 32-year-old Kiwi sailor for the 2014 Barcelona World Race, finishing an seventh. During that circumnavigation the pair sailed through the very same waters that they now occupy two years on as rivals in the Vendée Globe.

Thomson lifts off again as Southern Ocean duel commences Thomson lifts off again as Southern… Ruyant puts foot down through South Atlantic Ruyant puts foot down through South…


Départ de Nandor Fa© C_FAVREAU / SPIRIT OF HUNGARY

Already close in terms of their friendship, the pair are now almost inseparable on the water – just a handful of miles separates them at 1700 UTC. It’s a good-natured battle that the sailors both young and old are relishing. “I just achieved my short term goal which was to get ahead of Nandor,” Colman told Vendée Globe HQ today. “Two years ago we were here together in the same boat during the Barcelona World Race and now we’re racing each other after a compression in the Vendée Globe fleet. “We had a chat on the radio yesterday where we said it was funny to find ourselves here going hammer and tongs in a battle against each other.”

Fa revealed that he and Colman have taken to their VHFs to reminisce about their experiences sailing together round the world, all the while mindful not to let any information slip that might give the other an advantage. “We talk quite a lot,” Fa said. “We talk about the old days when we sailed together, what we’re having for dinner and about other little questions. We don’t talk too much about sailing and not too much the weather either because we’re rivals, but it’s just nice to have company out here.”

Fa said that while he’s keen to get one up on his old sailing partner, he hasn’t taken his eye off the other skippers within firing range of his Spirit of Hungary IMOCA 60. “With Conrad this is a personal race but it’s not too serious – we’re racing the others too,” he said. “Conrad is a rival just like the others, and I want to beat them all.”

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