Vigo (Pontevedra)
Updated:12/19/2020 14:46h
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The first participation of the Spanish sailor in the solo sailing around the world, without stopovers or external help, was in the Vendée Globe in 2016-2017. Regatta that he could not start as he would like because a few minutes after departure he had to return to port due to problems with the batteries and the unused generator; leaving Le Sables d´Olonne again four days later.
In this ninth edition of the Vendée Globe, the development of his regatta is within normal limits, which at first should have been four years ago. After 40 days of competition, Costa marches in nineteenth place in the fleet with his boat «OnePlanet OneOcean», a jewel of a museum among the IMOCAs that is twenty years since its launch, designed by Owen Clarke and to which he has made a cure for weight loss of several hundred kilos, the most drastic is to remove the lateral daggerboards.
“… We are making good progress, I am super happy, in a few days I will be at Cape Leeuwin… the last hours have been somewhat moved by the storm that has passed and now there is a lot of swell.
Very interesting sailing near Pip Hare, patron saint of the «Medallia», in the last hours she has taken a bit of an advantage that I will try to recover. There are also other boats nearby, but with Pip we go together from the Canaries. It is very interesting and fun, but also exhausting. In the previous edition of the Vendée Globe I sailed the entire regatta alone, and this situation encourages more. I am quite in touch with her.
The schedule changes on board are complex, I adjust them as best I can, but I am more focused on the changes in the weather, and I eat meals when I am hungry. And sleep, I sleep more at night, but during the day I also rest what I can.
When it comes to candles, now I have more and better. In the previous edition the number was very limited, and many times I had to repair them on board with all that it entails …
I don’t know if I’m going faster or slower compared to my previous participation, I don’t have the passing times that I did either. Although the ship is now faster in the Atlantic, it had to go much further south. I don’t know exactly, but I think I’m going faster.
I feel much better than in the previous edition because I had to keep the sails while now I am more aware that the boat goes faster which is allowing me to be with other boats that are going at a certain pace.
I think it’s incredible the regatta that Jean Le Cam is doing with a boat that doesn’t have foils, although it doesn’t surprise me much because in 2016 he did an extraordinary regatta with that same boat. I understand that he has prepared for the boat to be very reliable, that he knows very well, that he has made it easier and can concentrate more on getting it right with his experience; it’s incredible, it’s right there.
He is a person that I have always admired for his skill and knowledge. At my level with an older boat I try to do the same, to keep it as simple as possible and to be able to do a good regatta ”.
“If I could have a more competitive boat, seeing how the regatta is developing, I would choose a new one from 2016, perhaps they are more reliable and it is being seen that they achieve more results, they are more proven, it could perhaps be the best choice as the “Maître CoQ IV” from Bestaven or the “Bureau Valle 2” which is the one that won the previous edition of the Vendée Globe …
The weather conditions have begun to be colder in the Buena Esperanza area, in the last two days the temperature has risen a lot and I am much more comfortable, it is changing, but when it is very cold things are more difficult, dressing , the humidity, everything more complicated, it becomes harder; it affects your performance a lot. “
In the position report at 12:00 today, Saturday (December 19, 2020), Dídac Costa is still in 16th place sailing at about 15 knots of speed in a group of four other IMOCAs. It is stern to the Kerguelen Islands at 790 miles, and is 1,100 miles from the Cape Leeuwin meridian.
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