29.11.2008
Happy Birthday Bernard!
Stamm is 45 years old today and to celebrate he has picked off yet another
rival. Last night, Cheminées Poujoulat passed Fondation Ocean Vital
skippered by Dinelli and is set to leave Great American III in his wake in a
few hours time. All’s well aboard with the yellow and black 60 footer
lengthening her stride and still the fastest of the fleet. A good morale
boost all in all.
Onto the next!
Now 21st, Cheminées Poujoulat should make it to 20th position before the
day’s out. And today is rather a special day since Bernard is celebrating
his 45th birthday, alone, off the Brazilian coast. In 20 to 25 knots of wind
on the beam, Cheminées Poujoulat is devouring the miles as she racks up
higher average speeds than those of all her rivals. On today’s menu is the
search for the low to the south of their current position so as to continue
dropping south. “I’m not going to be able to cut the corner as I did in the
Velux 5 Oceans. I’m also going to have to make a tour of the parish but I’ll
still have less ground to cover than the frontrunners, as the Saint Helena
High has shifted over to the east slightly. Up ahead the pace should start
to pick up again soon, but the descent can’t have been much fun for them”.
As regards the two competitors he’ll have overtaken by the end of the day,
Bernard isn’t boasting: “Sorry Raphaël, but it’s fairly logical as we don’t
have the same boats, so it would be a bit worrying if I wasn’t able to get
back with you. And so, onto the next. It’s Rich’s turn, who is helming a
boat I knew well, back in 2003, during the Around Alone. It was skippered by
Thierry Dubois, my fiercest rival. Here, it’s the same scenario, the boats
are from a different generation”. He concludes by saying: “it’ll really
begin to feel good when I’m able to attack Unaï”. Unaï Basurko is currently
70 miles ahead of Stamm.
Happy Birthday Jacquot!
In his morning message, Bernard didn’t forget to celebrate another birthday.
“Besides that, today is Jacques Chirac’s birthday, so happy birthday
Jacquot”. Bernard has now finished retensioning his bobstay, which proved to
be rather an acrobatic manoeuvre. “You have nothing to support you and with
the boat making 13 knots of boat speed, there’s no point hooking yourself
on. I took a beacon and the boat’s remote control just in case…”. Later, on
delving around a little inside Cheminées Poujoulat, Bernard found a few
presents, but not all of them. “There’s a drawing by Camillou (his daughter)
and a little duck which is a night light. I know there are some others but I
haven’t finished by search yet”. The icing on the cake for the birthday boy
on Cheminées Poujoulat is a tin of tuna for dessert. “It’s great!”
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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