Bulletin: 16th November 2007

Mediterranean, Atlantic, same battle?

The Mediterranean clearly doesn't have the monopoly on convoluted, tricky weather situations. A number of skippers in the fleet must be feeling disappointed after these first 24 hours in the Atlantic, particularly as the forecasts for the next few days don't seem any the more cheerful. Slowly, sometimes very slowly if we look at the averages racked up by the nine monohulls, the boats are slipping along on an Atlantic, which is just as calm as its little sister the Mediterranean.

When discussing the developments over the coming days with Dominique, rapidly contacted this afternoon, the skipper couldn't hide his pessimism having just been pouring over the latest grib files.

“We’re becalmed and it’s set to last for a good while. Normally we drop down towards the tradewinds under spinnaker but here we're upwind in the calms.

We really feel like we're on a razor's edge. We know that in these types of conditions, 10 to 15 miles separation can make all the difference. The files are continuing to contradict themselves and provide us with a multitude of different routing. We’re ending up having to improvise a bit! According to certain files we’re even going to get hit by a fine little depression forcing us to sail close-hauled near the Canaries.

The routes of all the boats seem to have coverged

We’re spending our time at the helm trying to get the most out of each little breath of air or at the chart table trying not to miss any weather links. Conditions are more tiresome emotionally rather than anything else. You ask yourself ten thousand questions and sometimes you end up losing sleep over it!"

As regards the monohull’s slight S’ly separation, the skipper doesn’t seem to be particularly worried by it. In fact, since this morning, the routes of all the boats seem to have converged. TEMENOS II is continuing to tail Estralla Damm, the latter positioned just 8 little miles ahead.

A frugal meal for Michelle with a constant eye on the trimming

TEMENOS II off Morocco

At the 1500 hour ranking, TEMENOS II was in 4th place, 87 miles from the leader. 

Ranking 15h00
Rk	Boat	Dist to lead	Vmg	Latitude	Longtitude	Average speed
1	PAPREC-VIRBAC 2	0,0	6,0	34 31.13' N	10 45.23' W	6,4
2	PRB	17,7	6,0	34 28.23' N	10 00.01' W	7,4
3	ESTRELLA DAMM	79,9	6,4	35 02.65' N	8 49.80' W	6,5
4	TEMENOS II	87,6	7,0	35 06.43' N	8 40.48' W	7
5	DELTA DORE	109,7	1,5	35 28.17' N	8 30.45' W	8,4
6	MUTUA MADRILENA	111,1	7,0	34 57.85' N	7 45.30' W	7
7	VEOLIA ENVIRONNEMENT	115,6	7,4	35 32.77' N	8 25.91' W	8,4
8	HUGO BOSS	129,7	10,2	35 44.68' N	8 16.49' W	10,7
9	EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS	248,1	7,6	35 54.82' N	5 10.83' W	8,7