28.12.2008
Deliverance for Dominique
Whilst a few hours from his arrival in Australia you might have expected to
see the skipper relax a little from the tension which has accompanied him
since leaving Kerguelen, this didn't appear to be the case. In the end it
proved difficult to be totally free of stress due to a 30 knot breeze and a
sea which was making the boat round up.
Fortunately, just a stone's throw from Fremantle the wind finally eased
enabling the skipper to benefit from the last few moments of solitude, his
only companion the sun, which was rising in front of the bow of Temenos II.
At 0830 hours local time, after a little over 10 days of highly stressful
sailing, the monohull made her entrance into the commercial port, escorted
by a rib containing the shore crews from Ecover and Gitana Eighty, who had
kindly come out to lend Dominique a helping hand. Even though we can imagine
the skipper's disappointment at the idea of stopping in any port except that
of Les Sables d'Olonne, Dominique can at least take some satisfaction from
having brought his monohull safely back to port.
"I am relieved and also proud to have got Temenos II this far. We're a duo
and I've done my best to preserve her somehow so I'm happy to have achieved
that. I'm still suffering from the fact that I had to retire from the race.
I'll always be a little frustrated about that until the race is over and I
have the next one in my sights. However, for today the overriding sensation
is one of relief. I haven't forgotten that the consequences could have been
a lot more dramatic than a simple retirement from the race."
For Dominique the time is ripe for action rather than devastation. The
skipper and his team certainly won't be short of work on zone.
"We're going to have to roll up our sleeves. The jobs list on site is a long
one and if all goes well we hope to be able to put Temenos II aboard a
container ship mid-January. The arrival of the boat in Europe is scheduled a
month later. At that point we'll get together with the architects, engineers
and experts and work out how the keel broke and above all why."
The decisions made about this new keel were dictated by some highly reliable
research so the skipper's incomprehension must be especially great today.
"Together with the engineers and the architects we thought we'd opted for a
solid and reliable technical solution, but evidently this was not the case."
This incomprehension is something that the British skipper, Mike Golding,
must share. The latter sailor's boat is equipped with the same keel as
Temenos II and it was revealed a few days ago that some worrying cracks were
observed in it during the race, to the extent that the skipper admitted that
he was almost relieved to have been forced to retire from the race after his
dismasting.
"Mike and I have a similar kind of problem. We discussed the matter on my
arrival and we're going to seek the solutions together. We're going to have
to find the means to head back out to sea with a 100% reliable keel at all
costs. We cannot accept any concessions on this matter. The racers' safety
depends on it."
For today however, these keel issues were temporarily put to one side and
under a warm Australian sun it was good humour and relief which prevailed.
Translated by Kate Jennings - Expression
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