Bulletin: 10th November 2006

11 October 2006

During a short radio chat session with his shore crew at noon, the Swiss skipper was still battling his way across a windless zone. TEMENOS II has been suffering a hazardous succession of squalls and calm and its skipper is being forced to perform a series of manœuvres in order to limit the additional loss of miles in relation to his opponents.

“I feel completely wiped out. I’m constantly performing manoeuvres as conditions alternate between calm and squalls of varying degrees of severity. Earlier on we even ended up close-hauled, daggerboard lowered, with over 20 knots of W’ly!! I hope to be able to extract myself from these foul conditions soon. I have a feeling I can see a way out as the squalls seem to be dispersing a little.”

The trade winds have been crushed by this vast zone of squalls that TEMENOS II has been enduring and the final sprint is far from restful for Dominique, who is continuing to do battle against these tough conditions.

The noon ranking confirms what Dominique describes, with TEMENOS II’ average speed appearing to be lower and more irregular than his opponents.

“I’m not particularly thrilled about all this, that’s for sure, but now is not really the time to have second thoughts. We’re battling along, TEMENOS II and I. The boat is going really well. At the moment there is 10 knots of wind and we’re making 11 knots of boat speed.”

Preoccupied and concentrated on getting the most out of his boat, Dominique hasn’t really been able to rest much over the past 24 hours.

“In order to keep myself going I have ‘micro-naps’. That’s all I can allow myself at the moment. It’s not really all that relaxing but it’s enough. We’re on the home sprint and now is not the time to fall asleep at the wheel.”

The trade winds are likely to fill in from the North during the course of the day, benefiting the boats on a more N’ly course. This may enable certain skippers to claw back a few miles from the leader, though Roland Jourdain’s supremacy is unlikely to be in the balance in this the 8th edition of the Route du Rhum-la Banque Postale.

At noon TEMENOS II still had 245 miles to the finish whilst the leader, Sill et Veolia had just 45 miles to go. In the meantime each of the competitors will have to complete a lap of the island, which promises to be a much riskier affair than it was for the multihulls.

Contacted at 1600 hours this afternoon, Dominique was continuing to make difficult headway, with conditions alternating between zones of calm and squalls. Doubtless a frustrating day for the skipper, during which the frontrunners seem to have slowed as forecast, the wind shadows bringing calm conditions as they approach the island. Temenos meantime was making 10 knots (over a 30 minute period) and 202 miles from the finish at 1600 hours.

Sill et Veolia has 32 miles to go, followed by VM Materiaux, now just 19 miles behind with the promise of a fierce battle and a close finish.

Ranking at 4 pm.

Rank	Boat / Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	Speed	Cap	Dist. Goal	Dist. 1st
1	Sill et VeoliaRoland Jourdain	19 19.32' N	59 42.80' W	13.2	214	256.0	0.0
2	VM MatériauxJean Le Cam	20 51.44' N	59 08.00' W	14.7	209	358.1	102.1
3	Virbac-PaprecJean-Pierre Dick	21 52.16' N	58 02.44' W	15.3	221	441.9	185.9
3	Virbac-PaprecJean-Pierre Dick	21 52.16' N	58 02.44' W	15.3	221	441.9	185.9
5	Temenos II Dominique Wavre	21 09.80' N	56 26.80' W	13.0	203	467.5	211.5