Sunday 23rd November 2008
CLOUDS AND SQUALLS ON SODEB'O
SODEB'O HAS JUST CROSSED AN UNSETTLED ZONE TO THE SOUTH OF THE CAPE VERDE
ISLANDS
A zone of squalls formed without warning yesterday, snuffing out the
tradewind and slowing the descent due south by the trimaran Sodeb'O for a
few hours.
"It was like an early Doldrums" admitted the former navigator Christian
Dumard this afternoon, who now forms part of the routing team on this solo
round the world on a multihull. Although the passage of the Cape Verde
islands went as planned, that's to say an easy navigation between the
islands without ever suffering the effects of the wind shadow, the next
stage was a surprise. Indeed Thomas Coville rapidly encountered a zone of
unexpected squalls characterised by some very active cloud masses. "The wind
went from 5 to 28 knots, oscillating up to 90 degrees, to the extent that
the boat ended up head to wind!" said Christian Dumard. "This zone literally
killed the tradewind temporarily, which up to that point, had been providing
Thomas with a calm descent under gennaker" added Thierry Douillard, a fine
regatta sailor and 'performer' within the routing unit for the round the
world. The result of these unsettled hours? A fifth day which was less
perfect than the others. Setting out from Brest last Tuesday, Thomas has
covered a total of 2,300 miles in five days, which amounts to a little over
450 miles a day. The next 48 hours are forecast to be unsettled, but the
squalls are certain to be less violent. The 'real' Doldrums, currently
settled between 5 and 7 degrees north isn't very pronounced and conditions
should enable the maxi trimaran Sodeb'O to reach the equator this Tuesday as
planned.
AUDIO, IMAGES AND CARTOGRAPHY ACCESSIBLE FROM THE press zone on the site
www.sodebo-voile.com
Translated by Kate Jennings - Expression
|
