19.11.2008
Temenos II gets a surprise rehearsal for the Doldrums
As planned the leaders are making their entrance into the Doldrums; an
entrance which is inevitably being accompanied by tumbling speedos aboard
the boats. Save for Véolia Environnement, which is trying its luck out to
the west, the difference between the longitudes chosen by the skippers to
pass through the zone reindexs minimal. The die is now cast for the leading
group.
Aboard Temenos II, the day started fairly well for Dominique. The skipper’s
positioning to the west of his group has borne fruit and Temenos II has made
up 2 places and is now lying in 11th position. However, although the first
ranking of the day proved to be a nice surprise for the skipper, this wasn’t
really the case as regards the wind. Contacted midway through the afternoon
Dominique was struggling to get his monohull making headway. Caught in a
zone of high pressure, the skipper appeared to be surprised to encounter
such conditions still 200 miles from the Doldrums. At the same point of
passage, the leader were yesterday racking up speeds which were double that
of Temenos II today.
“I have less than 6 knots of wind at the moment. The grib files forecast a
little more for me today. It feels like I’m already in the Doldrums, even
though I’m still some 200 miles away. I’m making 6 knots of boat speed.
We’re being shaken up by a slight swell and the boat is struggling to find a
favourable point of sail. This zone of high pressure has been slowing me
down since midday. I felt it gradually creep up on me in the early hours and
the situation hasn’t really sorted itself out since.”
There’s not a lot the skipper can do to fend off this unexpected high
pressure which has dropped in on Temenos II, other than to battle at the
helm to indextain what little speed the monohull is making. Whilst the
weather forecasts were announcing that the conditions were deteriorating for
the front of the fleet, a scenario which appears to be true given the speeds
of the leaders, the situation shouldn’t yet concern the group led by Temenos
II.
“It’s still a little grey but it’s erring towards pale blue now. It’s heavy
and the heat is stifling aboard the boat. We’d ended up in a zone where
there’s no gradient and the tradewinds are inexistent. We’re making headway
with a tiny trickle of air. The wind is light but just about steady. It
still has too much N’ly in it and is forcing me to make towards the SE
rather than heading south.”
As regards exiting this zone, it’s difficult for Dominique to make any
predictions about this: “The grib files aren’t giving me this wind today.
The forecast showed that the further south we went the more the wind would
ease.”
And although the skipper is managing to extract himself from this zone of
calms, a second should rapidly welcome him with open arms, that of the
Doldrums. Temenos II is set to feel the first effects of this from tomorrow
onwards.
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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