The Oryx Quest 2005 www.oryxquest.com - zur Übersicht 14.02.2005 © Quest International Sports Pot au Noir and other problems STOP PRESS: At the 12:00 GMT poll on Monday, Geronimo had taken a slim 3 mile lead over Doha 2006. The French trimaran is due east of Doha 2006 sailing at 15.2 knots. Doha 2006 seems to be enjoying better winds and is sailing faster at 21.3 knots. From the masthead they should be able to see each other. Dädalus ORIGINAL STORY: At the 06:00 GMT poll on Monday morning, Doha 2006 and Geronimo were dead even on a distance-to-go basis. Forty-nine miles separated the boats laterally with Doha 2006 to the east and Geronimo 18 miles further to the south. It’s a tied race after nine days of red hot racing. On board Doha 2006 skipper Brian Thompson shared his thoughts in his log. “It’s another hot and sticky day today as we race southwards from the equator to the next transition; the second doldrum belt that will take us into the high pressure 'trade winds' blowing around the high to the west of Australia. It’s just 200 miles away and we will be entering the zone tonight, lots of squalls in prospect before we get to the steady easterlies on the other side.” The Indian Ocean is different from the Atlanic in that it has two doldrum belts, one north of the equator and one south of the equator. The doldrums, or ITCZ (Inter Tropic Convergence Zone) are the worst part of the race for the sailors and the French aptly name the region the Pot au Noir, or Black Pot. The doldrums occur where great masses of air from the two hemispheres meet. It is an area of tremendous heat being so close to the equator and the ocean is subject to day after day of relentless, pounding suinshine. The result is hot, moist, electrically charged air that can give rise to enormous storms. One moment the ocean is glassy calm; the next it is whipped up by 40 knots of moisture laden wind. It makes for difficult sailing as sail changes are endless, say nothing of the stifling conditions below deck. No one really knows why the French call the doldrums Pot au Noir. Some sailors say that the sailors of old gave it the name because of its huge storms with clouds as black as night. Other, less poetic sources, claim that it was the slave traders running between Africa and the West Indies that called it Pot au Noir because the bodies of the slaves who died of thirst aboard becalmed ships were thrown overboard. There is probably a grain of truth in both stories with Pot au Noir being famous for its calms as well as it’s dark and violent storms. On board Doha 2006 Brian Thompson continued his log. “That will make 3 nights in a row of negotiating continuous rain showers. The initial night was at the first doldrums. We had the clouds all to ourselves and lost a huge amount of distance to Geronimo as we parked most of the night behind a slow moving wall of rain. Last night was squally too, but we managed to keep moving throughout so fingers crossed we have gained some back on Geronimo who should have been in heavier squalls to our west. We are separated laterally so we could be in radically different conditions particularly as we line up to cross these final doldrums. It’s something of a lottery as it is so hard to forecast the fast changing and tiny systems along this transition line.” To the south a band of trade winds await. The first of the two boats to get into the steadier wind will have the advantage and, for now anyway, two different strategies are at play. Olivier de Kersauson on Geronimo is banking on heading south to find the fresh breeze first. Brian Thompson on Doha 2006 is hoping that his easterly position will serve him well. The next 12 hours are going to be critical. Three hundred miles to the north a similar battle is taking place between Tony Bulimore and his team of Daedalus, and Dave Scully and the crew on Cheyenne. Daedalus was the only boat to leave the Maldives to port and Bullimore set a course that took them on a long, slow arc south until they finally crossed paths with Cheyenne. At the 06:00 poll Cheyenne was 75 miles further to the south of Daedalus and slightly ahead on a distance-to-go basis with both boats registering instant boat speeds faster than their counterparts at the front of the pack. Bullimore must certainly be credited with sailing his smaller catamaran in a crafty and courageous way keeping in close contact with the leaders and at times sailing ahead of Cheyenne, a boat 20 feet longer. He will have his work cut out for him once Cheyenne gets into the trades and finds its stride in the steady breeze. --- Brian Hancock brian.hancock@qisel.com Copyright © 1996-2016 - SEGEL.DE