29.01.2008
Temenos II out of the woods
Aboard Temenos II, Michèle and Dominique welcomed the arrival of the tradewinds
with a mixture of delight and relief. Still fairly light, their encounter with
these winds has nevertheless enabled them to definitively extract themselves
from this chaotic zone, which has constantly set their nerves on edge for more
than 2 days. And though Michèle yesterday described the past 24 hours as being
perhaps the worst since the start of the race, today was quite the contrary,
with what may well have been one of the finest nights of their voyage. In the
space of a day, the tone and the discourse have radically changed and all it
took was a little boost from the weather.
For the Spanish monohull, the passage of this Brazilian front will doubtless be
a very different memory as its crew benefited from a little support from the
wind Gods to reduce their deficit on Temenos II by half. Now just 64 miles
behind, the battle continues, and there's still everything to play for to gain
some separation between the two boats.
“We finally and definitively escaped the front yesterday evening. Little by
little the large clouds have dissipated, the wind has kicked back in and we have
changed tack to track down a favourable breeze. To start with it was a slightly
erratic wind, but since then we have had a gentle, established breeze of around
fifteen knots. There are still some light patches though and we got stuck under
a cloud for nearly 2 hours this morning.
Last night was really fabulous, the stars replacing the clouds. It was mild, the
sea was calm and the wind steady; perfect conditions for the pilot. After a
night like that I wouldn’t think twice about signing up for another
circumnavigation!
Since yesterday, we have been able to catch up on our sleep deficit and we had a
good pasta meal at lunchtime. With the way things have been over the past couple
of days, we hadn't slept and hadn't taken the time to really eat either.
It’s a bit like an oven down below as it’s 32°. It’s bearable on deck though
with the wind, but as soon as you expose your skin to the elements you can
straightaway feel the sun attacking you. The tradewinds should stay with us for
a while now, which is excellent news!”
Kate Jennings
Expression.
P.O. Box 26,
Dartmouth,
DEVON.
TQ6 0YG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)7795 116699
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