12.02.2008
An express front
With the passage of the front last night the atmosphere aboard had radically
changed and the two co-skippers really had to put any thoughts of the glorious
sailing conditions of recent days to the back of their minds.
Quickly, within the space of just a few hours, the front ‘flew over’ Temenos II,
generating 25 knots of breeze and really spicing up the night aboard the
monohull.
In the early hours, the blue sky was timidly breaking through, the wind dropping
to below 10 knots for the duo, now out of the front. This situation is likely to
continue until the boat reaches Gibraltar on around Thursday morning. In the
meantime we can but hope that the duo manage to rack up a few hours sleep in
advance. You have to do something special to earn your entrance ticket into the
Mediterranean and Temenos II should be no exception. Like Paprec-Virbac 2 and
Hugo Boss before it, some strong E’ly winds accompanied by some short seas are
forecast in the strait during the boat’s passage.
Still battling for 3rd place, the separation of Mutua Madrilena to the East has
not born fruit and the deficit of the Spanish boat has stretched to 266 miles.
If we are to believe the latest developments in the weather, Michèle and
Dominique could well cross the finish line between the evening of 16th February
and 17th February.
Contacted midway through the afternoon, Dominique recounted: “we had a tricky
end to the night. The skies clouded over abruptly with the arrival of a front
and from that point the wind began to fill in and be very shifty.
With the passage of the squalls, we had up to 25 knots under spinnaker. It was a
pitch black night and when we switched on the deck lights, we saw some massive
sprays of water at the bow. We had to gybe twice during the night. The wind
shift wasn’t really clear so conditions were pretty sporty and you're always
concerned about the gear in situations like that.
Since this morning, the wind has dropped and we saw a patch of blue sky appear
behind us amidst the rain squalls. We escaped the front quicker than we
imagined. It was narrow, about fifty miles wide, which is why it passed through
so quickly. At the moment it's fairly light. We have around ten knots of breeze
but we're on a good tack along the direct course. We will reindex in this light
air flow, which shouldn't exceed 15 knots as far as Gibraltar. Things are going
to be lively in the strait so we're likely to get the same treatment as our
playmates. We're expecting to make a series of tacks in a strong E'ly wind. As a
result we're going to try and get in some sleep in preparation for this, as well
as organising the deck properly and preparing the sails.”
Kate Jennings
Expression.
P.O. Box 26,
Dartmouth,
DEVON.
TQ6 0YG
United Kingdom
+44 (0)7795 116699
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