20.11.2008
A possible entrance into the Doldrums tonight
Whilst the frontrunners are making laboured progress through the
inter-tropical convergence zone, 191 miles astern of the leader Temenos II
is continuing to escape the influence of the dreaded Doldrums and is still
making headway in the tradewinds of the northern hemisphere. Happy to link
up with the NE'ly air flow again, which split away from him for a large part
of yesterday as well as last night, Dominique and his Temenos II are now
slipping along again under spinnaker. With 10 knots of wind, the speeds
remain modest but are enabling the skipper to gain southing more quickly
than the leading group, which is still under the influence of the doldrums.
The slowed pace of the frontrunners at the various rankings throughout the
day were no surprise and should be similar to that of Temenos II fairly
soon.
Throughout the night, the skipper has had to deal with an erratic, shifty
wind, linking together no less than seven gybes. Despite this though, on
this 11th day of racing, the skipper of Temenos II is in great shape and in
good spirits.
"Everything's going very well" confided Dominique when contacted at 1530
hours this afternoon, "since this morning, I've had a steady wind and I'm
making due south. It's not very fast but we're back in a classic NE'ly air
flow again. The lack of tradewinds yesterday was really unexpected. What's
happening today is already more normal; it's as if there was a 24 hour delay
in the forecast."
These steady conditions are enabling the skipper to recuperate from the past
few hours doing battle in the light airs. "In 20 minute chunks" the skipper
has managed to get in some sleep and recharge his batteries, which will be
very useful at the point where he enters the calms of the Doldrums.
"This morning I was able to sleep, which enabled me to rest as much as
possible. I'm in good shape and on the attack for the Doldrums. We should
hit it tonight or tomorrow but for the time being, I still can't see the
characteristic cloud formations on the horizon. That would suggest that the
entrance doesn't lie within the next 30 miles."
The grey mass hanging over the fleet has given way to beautiful blue skies,
and the sun has put in an appearance again. The sun is a real friend to the
boat's solar panels but less so to a skipper who is pinned to the helm for
too long, as Dominique explains.
"I haven't been helming much since this morning. I'm letting the pilot do a
lot of the work. Yesterday I rather overdid the hours at the helm with the
sun beating down and I had a bit of a headache last night."
With the Doldrums shifting southwards, Dominique thought he might have
spotted a better way through the zone than his predecessors, but in this
meteorological chaos the future remains uncertain.
"The Doldrums has been shifting southwards since yesterday. If ever we go
through it at the point where it climbs northwards from the south, that
could be a good opportunity to get through it a little easier at its
narrowest point, which would be a good thing. I'd prefer not to get ahead of
myself though; this zone may still have so many surprises in store for us."
So, good or bad? We should have our first answers tomorrow.
Translated by Kate Jennings - Expression
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