24.11.2007
Please find today's and yesterday's press release from Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret in the Barcelona World Race. Sorry I didn't manage to get anything out to you yesterday after plane delays.
Other news, Joyon did indeed set off on his round the world solo record attempt yesterday, with 450 miles in his wake already! And here from Brazil you should all have been in receipt of my press release for the Transat ECOVER BtoB race, which is now due to set off from Brazil to Brittany on 29th November without course marks (other than a tiny one in the bay at the start). Jean Le Cam won’t be taking part as he’s decided it’s best to ship his boat home in Brittany instead so there will hopefully be 15 setting off.
Kate
Hot up front!
The tradewinds, or the motorway as we are used to calling it, is something everyone had been dreaming about. Instead they had been left frustrated close hauled in light winds for too long. Listening to the skippers at the Friday morning radio session you could be forgiven however for thinking that they were missing those light airs. “We’re always happy to reach the trades and then when we get there it’s never great” recalled Roland Jourdain aboard Veolia Environnement with humour.
It was the same scenario for all the skippers questioned today. The conditions are fast but demanding and fatigue is setting in right across the fleet. The skippers have just reduced their watches in order to avoid long sessions on the helm, but still they have nearly 12 hours a day there, so they'll be more than happy once they can rely on their automatic pilots again.
“The seas are quite messy and you can’t afford to leave the helm as our boats wouldn't be able to hold course under automatic pilot in these conditions. Temenos II is being shaken up in every direction and conditions are anything but comfortable. We have around 20 knots of breeze, which isn't fully established, so we have light patches from time to time" said Dominique contacted this lunch time.
The flying fish have resurfaced again now that they’re in the tradewinds, a godsend for the crew on Veolia Environnement since who prepare it with a little lemon juice, but just the contrary for Dominique, victim of a head-on collision.
“A flying fish hit me smack on the face last night. He targeted me like a heat seeking missile! (laughs) The upshot of that was that he bounced back into the sea, which prevented him from hitting the deck.”
At the head of the race, it's decision time for the leaders. Whilst Paprec-Virbac has made a daring gamble to try and defy the wind shadow of the Cape Verde archipelago, PRB has opted, with its W'ly separation, to round the islands. In 3rd position, Veolia Environnement also seems to have gone for the latter option.
Dominique seems to share this view: "That way we avoid the wind shadow and line ourselves up nicely for the Doldrums. From a tactical point of view, it could be a good thing to have more westing, because when the wind begins to drop off, we can then luff up."
Contacted during her watch as the positions came in, Michele recalled the sailing conditions. “We've got a steady pace but it can be pretty tricky to have the large spinnaker hoisted as there's really a lot of sail up. You have to be really focused on the helm. In this situation you can’t afford to go off course. As a result we’re stuck on the helm and have set an hourly timer to take it in turns to rush off to sleep without wasting a second."
Avoiding breakage without sacrificing performance is the challenge that lies ahead of each of the tandems for the next few hours, before the forecast calm spell on Saturday.
SATURDAY 24th NOVEMBER
Another day at the helm
The pace of this Barcelona World Race has not dropped off on this fourteenth day of racing. Contrary to that of the Canaries archipelago, the passage of the Cape Verde islands, won't generate any big separation. Even though it's conceded a few miles whilst crossing the archipelago, Paprec-Virbac is still controlling the fleet. The averages reindex high, the boats continue their dive southwards towards the formidable inter-tropical convergence zone, which the leaders will begin to feel the effects of from tomorrow.
With a little W’ly separation nevertheless, Temenos II was still suffering from a light drop in the pace, most likely due to the influence of the Cape Verde islands as Dominique indicated to us earlier. “For the past 3 hours, the wind has dropped off a lot. We have less than fifteen knots of breeze but we've still got big seas. It is preventing the boat from getting into a rhythm, the spinnaker still barely holding. There's not thirty-six ways to get round it so we’re being forced to continue on the helm. We should come out of this zone soon and find a little more wind.”
This infernal pace imposes a minimum amount of service aboard the boats, and with 12 hours spent at the helm each skipper must eat into their periods of sleep in order to look into the weather files. For almost 24 hours, the skippers have been trying to work on the next course obstacle, crossing the Doldrums, and in view of the various trajectories, not all of them have decided to pass in the same place.
“It’s intriguing, even though the Doldrums are shaping up to be fairly inactive, the slight East West separation within the fleet may generate a few differences at the exit. I would have preferred it to be a little more difficult for the frontrunners," jokes Dominique, “but there will doubtless be some more opportunities to make up the delay later.”
With over 22,000 miles left to race, this should indeed be the case!
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