13.11.2008
Some rather overly invasive high pressure!
On reading the message sent to race management by Dominique we can imagine
that last night was far from restful aboard Temenos II. “It’s not a race for
those who like to sleep a lot! My daily dose of coffee has been largely
exceeded…” Dominique is trying to extract his Temenos II from the clutches
of the high pressure which has been a little too insistent. The skipper is
attempting to hook onto the right wagon so as to stay within a reasonable
distance of the leaders, but it’s proving to be a difficult task for the
skipper, who is experiencing rather different conditions than his
predecessors.
Though the high pressure was discrete as the head of the fleet passed by, it
now seems to be interfering with the course of the Swiss monohull. Meantime
the situation for the back of the fleet is set to deteriorate still further.
Dominique is certainly not giving up though. The skipper is reindexing on the
deck of his boat, at times trimming, at the helm or manśuvring, in order to
follow the wind shifts, which are still proving too light and fickle: “It’s
been a very lively night; I put in four gybes on the edge of the zone of
high pressure, which really didn’t want to let me through, and this morning
I have two hours with virtually no wind. The grib files gave me around 12
knots but I had to make do with 5. The anticyclone has stretched a little
wider in relation to yesterday’s forecasts. The wind is kicking back in a
little but it isn’t fully established yet. I have between 8 and 12 knots,
not quite at the angle I’d have liked, but it’s already better than this
morning” recounted Dominique early this afternoon.
The four gybes which peppered the skipper’s night weren’t enough to free him
of the threat of high pressure and, despite his best efforts, Temenos II was
still struggling to exceed 10 knots (at the 1600 hour ranking) “There are
some big wind shifts so I’m constantly having to trim. I’m also helming a
lot in order to try and get the boat as powered up as I can.”
Meantime the leaders of the fleet who have managed to hook onto the NE’ly
trade winds are only too willing to lengthen their stride. Beam onto the
wind, these boats are racking up average speeds of in excess of 16 knots.
It’ll be a tough day for the chasing pack. “The lead held by the
frontrunners will extend still further” forecast Dominique.
As Temenos II drops southwards she should also get into a fresher breeze.
Dominique is continuing to keep a close eye on the next ‘delights’ in store,
and is clinging onto the idea that he will make the most of every
opportunity to make up ground. “Between the Canaries and the islands of Cape
Verde, the tradewinds seem to be easing, which should give us the chance to
close on the leaders a little. This reindexs part of a long term forecast but
it would be a nice scenario!”
With a boat which permanently requires the presence of her skipper on deck,
this isn’t the time for rest, but when you reflect on the lack of sleep with
Dominique, his response is unexpected: “It’s fine, compared with what we had
in the Bay of Biscay, for the time being it’s a picnic. At the end of the
day it’s not such a bad thing to have had to tackle a storm from the outset
because, after that, everything appears easy. It’s a pure delight!” (laughs)
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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