Press release – Tuesday 8 March 2011
Video Passage Kap Hoorn+ Treffen
Press release - Tuesday 22 March 2011
52nd DAY AT SEA
NO SPRINGTIME FOR THOMAS COVILLE
Having set off to tackle the solo round the world record some 52 days ago,
the skipper of Sodebo is having to face another meteorological barrier on
his journey back to Europe. Due to the "anticyclonic swamp" sprawling across
the North Atlantic, Thomas Coville is being forced to make a massive detour
via the West.
Since crossing the equator last Sunday, the sailor has been focusing on his
speed rather than his heading, in a bid to snatch up an opportunity to hook
onto a depression rolling in to the North. The trimaran has managed to
retain a good average speed and was still making around 19 knots this
morning, however the wind will gradually ease as it enters the ridge of high
pressure associated with this immense Azores High, which is sprawling across
an area from the Canaries to less than 1,000 miles to the East of the West
Indies.
Thomas won't hit the desired westerly wind under the depression until he's
out of this transition zone. As such, though he's positioned just 2,800
miles from Brest, level with the Cape Verde archipelago, the solo skipper
can see his chances of beating Francis Joyon's record (57d 13h 34') slipping
from his grasp.
"When you look at the cartography you must be wondering where on earth I'm
going!" he says to camera. "To the West Indies? To New York? No, I fully
intend to return to Brest but the weather has decided not to let me take the
most direct route."
Thomas knows that after the calms at the end of the South Atlantic, the
current weather configuration cannot give him the optimum route for
traversing the North Atlantic. "After Cape Cap Horn, when we thought that
the hardest part was behind us, we traced a superb wake, but it was entirely
upwind, going into heavy and very difficult seas. The boat and I were really
put to the test but we got a sense of pride when we managed to get ahead of
Francis Joyon's trajectory again, after amassing such a deficit in the other
three oceans. For a moment I believed that I'd have a classic weather
scenario to ascend the Brazilian coast and enter the northern hemisphere,
but it was nothing of the sort. After having endured a very difficult and
stormy low to the North of Brazil, which killed the SE'ly tradewinds, we
remained in light, unusual conditions off the horn of South America.
Right now, it's an enormous zone of high pressure which is preventing us from
hooking onto the disturbed circuit of W and SW'ly wind, the same system that
is supposed to carry us back towards Europe. That means that I'll have to
make a massive detour to the West so I can hunt down the appropriate breeze
a long way ahead of this disturbance."
Translated by Kate Jennings - Expression
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