23.12.2008
Temenos II 900 miles from Fremantle
Though Dominique wasn’t able to totally escape the influence of a vigorous low situated to his south, the winds generated on his passage are likely to reindex moderate. “It’s going to fill in little by little without being very strong if all goes to plan. With the 20 to 25 knots of breeze I should manage to keep up an average of 10 knots and be able to gain northing and some milder latitudes.”
Having just completed a gybe the skipper was expecting to have to continue with a series of these moves as far as Fremantle. “In simple terms I’m making headway to the east and the wind is coming from the west. As such, it’ll be one gybe after another virtually all the way to my arrival.” Though sailors are normally helped to fill the windward ballast tanks in order to facilitate the switching of sails from one tack to another, the monohull’s keel problems are forcing Dominique to slightly adapt the manœuvre. “I’m ensuring that I can gybe by carrying little sail and above all by filling all the aft ballast tanks so that the boat’s motion is dampened and thus avoids excessive heeling. Also, the minute I’ve gybed I empty the ballast tanks again which serve no purpose. It’s rather a long manœuvre but it works well this way.”
Although the skipper was delighted about leaving the influence of the austral lows and its tempestuous winds, he was rather fearful of the calms forecast across the last stretch of his course. The constraints on the gear are considerable on these boats when becalmed. Without wind, the sails flog violently causing the boat to make some rather brutal movements at times. It’s a scenario which befits Temenos II and her rather ‘fickle’ keel. “I’m going to have to traverse a ridge of high pressure so the boat will slow. I still have an ETA of 27th or 28th but it will depend on how I manage to push Temenos II in the light conditions. It’s the great unknown. If the boat is really put under stress I can still put her on a different heading, abeam of the course, in order to avoid excessive heeling.”
Out of the race but still at sea, Dominique admitted that he was still in contact with a number of skippers in the fleet; exchanges that we can well imagine are a comfort for these solo sailors who have been at sea for over 44 days. “We swap news with each other. I’m following the race very closely and I am 100% behind what the others are experiencing. Between ourselves, we can talk in all honesty about things that we might not necessarily say in the radio sessions.”
900 miles from the Australian coast and 24 hours before Christmas Eve, the skipper was preparing to celebrate Christmas in the most traditional of ways, or almost… “I’m going to decorate the boat a bit and have a real little Christmas ceremony. For this I’ll chose a favourable moment where the boat is very stable. In any case, I haven’t invited many people to the party this year. Nobody is going to be early or late if I shift the scheduled timing a little. (laughs)
At 0130 UT, Tuesday 23rd December, Dominique released a beacon at 37°34.37’S and 96°56.99’E, which had been entrusted to him in Les Sables d’Olonne, within the framework of the Argonautica educational project. The purpose of this educational device developed on the initiative of the CNES (National Space Study Centre) is to make young populations aware of the fundamental role of the oceans in climate change, to enable them to understand the ocean currents and be aware of the contribution of the satellites in this doindex. The movements of the beacon, rechristened "fille de l’Atlantique" (the Atlantic’s daughter) by classes from the Ollières and St Julien schools in the Haute-Savoie, will be recorded, and this data will be studied by over fifty classes.
Dominique has previously been committed to this scheme as he took part in it in the last Vendée Globe. Being particularly attentive to the marine environment the skipper was happy to take part in it again this year.
Added to this Dominique has poignant memories of his time in the Kerguelen Islands and it’s only logical then that the skipper wanted to pay homage once again to the men from the TAAF, by addressing them a message, of which the following is an extract:
‘I have kept a very vivid memory of your kindness, backing and support. Solidarity and friendship are the attitudes which really characterise the whole of the L7.
You all have an abundance of solidarity and human uprightnesss, which is enveloped in a great deal of humour and modesty.
I am proud to include you amongst my friends.
I am really more than grateful to you for having given me back my physical and mental strength to carry on with the damaged Temenos towards Australia and for enabling me to refuse the assistance offered by the Emergency Services when the repair broke. That would have meant the total loss of the boat, which is something that sailors like you would have refused, as I have done.
As the quartermaster will tell you, we only abandon a vessel if it is sinking.
Temenos is courageous and we’ll arrive in Australia together.
This will be thanks to you all.
Thank you again
All the very best
Dominique’
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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