03.12.2008
At the gateway to the deep south
It’s a very deep low with gusts of up to 50 knots which will welcome Bernard
Stamm into the roaring forties. Under small spinnaker and one reef in the
indexsail, Cheminées Poujoulat is continuing to make gains on the head of the
fleet as she trucks on towards the Atlantic gateway.
Considerable work ahead, partly under the water
At the 1100 hour ranking, 11 miles separated Cheminées Poujoulat from 16th
placed Akéna Vérandas. Despite the repairs that Bernard Stamm has had to
carry out on his bowsprit, he has continued to get back into the thick of
the action. “I realised prior to the Doldrums that the bobstay, which
retains the bowsprit, had lost a little of its tension. All of a sudden the
piece got distorted and was having an affect on the boat’s structure. I
thought I’d be able to carry out repairs in the calm spells in the Doldrums,
but I had winds the whole time. A few days ago I managed to tension the
bobstay, which was no mean feat and rather acrobatic to say the least. I was
also finally able to laminate the broken carbon fibres. I hope it’ll hold,
as I won’t be able to do that everyday!” Whilst the resin dries, Cheminées
Poujoulat is sailing under a small spinnaker attached to the bow. This is
enabling some fine average speeds and continued gains on the head of the
fleet.
A long loop around the Antarctic
17th at 1100 hours, the skipper of Cheminées Poujoulat is not yet fully
satisfied and is hungry for further gains. “I’m happy but not satisfied;
it’s not enough.” In order to satisfy Stamm’s appetite, the menu over the
next 24 hours involves a good ‘meaty’ low, which should push Cheminées
Poujoulat along in the right direction, with gusts of up to 50 knots. “The
system’s gradually kicking in and it should last for a day to a day and a
half. The seas are building, but it’s still manageable and it’s gone from a
tradewind blue to green. There is a little foam. The sky is dotted with
mare’s tails, which are high clouds which signal that something is on its
way. I’ve put my fleeces on again”, ready for the deep south.
Past the Cape of Good Hope, certain people are alluding to a single file
navigation, like the passengers aboard a train, on the same seat all the way
to Cape Horn. These trains will take the form of a succession of lows, but
Bernard is anticipating a quite different scenario: “I really hope that’s
not how it’s going to pan out. It’s a long way around Antarctica. Downwind,
you gybe. There are some tacks which are more penalizing than others so I’ll
have to make the right choices at the right moment. That means a lot can
happen between Good Hope and Cape Horn and that’s fortunate for me!”
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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