03.02.2008
Temenos II in the Doldrums
The speeds racked up by Temenos II over the past few hours leave no doubt that
the boat has been caught within the clutches of the Doldrums since yesterday
evening. At the cost of numerous manœuvres and trimming, the duo has attempted
to get the monohull to make headway despite a light, shifty wind.
Contacted at the start of the afternoon, Michèle was banking on an imminent exit
from the inter-tropical zone of convergence. Whether it be a question of weather
models, the clearing skies or or even the wind progressively filling in,
everything aboard Temenos II would seem to support this hypothesis.
“We have slept very little. We spent the night changing the headsails and
changing tack to try to get the most out of the little puffs of breeze under the
squalls. At times we manœuvred for an increase in wind strength, which often
didn't exceed 10 minutes. It was fairly light and between the clouds there were
long periods of calm. In short, a good old Doldrums!
There was a lot of stormy activity. We saw some great streaks of lightning
split open the sky, but fortunately we were always quite far away from these
stormy cells. I remember a Transat Jacques Vabre where you could see the
lightning striking all around the boat, making electric arcs which we could hear
crackling. In such a situation and with an imposing mast of some thirty or so
metres, you're never very at ease. You've certainly nothing to lose by wearing
rubber boots!
We got a good soaking last night. I reindexed on deck without my foulies. The
rainwater is really cold but after a while it does you a lot of good to get rid
of the salt on your skin. I also had a few emergencies to deal with as I threw
flying fish back into the water, which were lost on deck!
We’ve just hit a bit of wind so we're approaching the exit. Furthermore, if we
are to believe the grib files, there is a little exit passage ahead of us. We
hope to be free of the zone at the end of the day. The large cloud masses are
beginning to dissipate, which is a good sign. We’ve got our fingers crossed that
we'll quickly find the way out and above all that it closes behind us. For the
time being we're not heading towards Gibraltar but instead making northing to
escape the Doldrums and hopefully hit the tradewinds as soon as possible.”
Kate Jennings
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