22.12.2008
A French radio station has a little surprise in store for Dominique
Temenos II is continuing her climb northwards and Dominique is planning to
extend this tack for nearly a day more, "until the wind eases and shifts
round to the south." Yesterday the skipper hadn't yet experienced calmer
conditions and was still tackling the steady winds from the tail of a cold
front, which is currently passing across the zone. Under reduced sail area,
the skipper was continuing to keep the boat on an even keel and, with a cup
of coffee in his hand, was benefiting from the beauty of the surrounding
spectacle.
Contacted midway through the day, the skipper had this to say: "This morning
the wind filled in quite markedly and right now I have between 25 and 30
knots, accompanied by a fairly big swell of around 4.5 metres. I wasn't
expecting it to be this strong. I thought I would be a little more sheltered
than this by being up in the north and I also imagined that the swell would
calm down a little quicker. I'll have to be patient! The sun is playing hide
and seek with the clouds and the light and colours are superb today. From
time to time I settle myself in the boat's companionway with my coffee to
enjoy the spectacle. By tomorrow I should have been able to hoist a little
more sail area and make a pretty much direct course towards Fremantle. For
the time being I'm managing to indextain a 12 knot average and the strong
swell is pushing the boat along nicely. The keel is moving but there are no
suspect noises or water ingress. According to the forecasts, the wind could
climb to 35 knots. Squalls are likely so I'm watching the horizon, though
there's no sign of them at present."
Of course it hasn't escaped Dominique's attention that as each day passes
Temenos II is moving another step closer to Fremantle: "I'm monitoring my
progress virtually hour by hour! (laughs) I've got precisely 1,110 miles to
go!"
At sea, music has a special place aboard Temenos II. At times it plays a
motivational role when the fatigue sets in or in contrast it provides a
relaxing environment when the conditions are too harsh and you are keen to
extract yourself from the omnipresent stress. Indeed it is fairly rare for a
skipper to set off without this precious ally. Around ten days ago Dominique
admitted during a radio session that he regularly tuned his anti-noise
headphones into his onboard ipod. He also said he surprised himself
sometimes by laughing alone in his boat whilst listening to some recordings
from the Laurent Ruquier show. By the magic of the airwaves, the information
was conveyed to the famous host of one of France's top radio shows who,
together with his merry band, decided to contact Dominique in the utmost
secrecy. We can but imagine the skipper's surprise as he hadn't been warned
about the call!
"It was very nice to be able to speak to them. I really laughed a lot and
I'm still laughing now. It was extremely strange because just this morning I
was listening to a podcast of them. To suddenly find myself in the middle of
the ocean on the telephone with the whole team was totally surreal! It gave
me a real boost."
A little moment of relaxation for the skipper of Temenos II.
Translated by Kate Jennings - Expression
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