Bulletin: 23rd December 2007
A front in the guise of a Christmas present
To the detriment of Michèle and Dominique, the front expected since yesterday, still seems to be astern of TEMENOS II. The rather unexpected consequence for the duo is that their monohull is struggling to make headway, caught in a zone of calm.
“Last night was fairly fast, but since then it’s really been very light. We have 11 knots at the moment and we’re stalling a bit so we're really looking forward to this front, constantly checking the barometer! We can make out a big cloud mass behind us, but it doesn’t seem to be moving very quickly. Since entering the Indian Ocean we've got used to making 15 knots… The next light patches will be particularly hard on the nerves!” predicted Michèle contacted this afternoon.
And a light spell may well be part of the equation once they climb up towards Wellington where the boat looks set to arrive around 2nd January.
“For the time being there are light zones pretty much everywhere, and a fine anticyclone is in the process of settling in place across our route. It's very active up there though, so we're still hoping that the situation will develop over the next few days.”
Benefiting from this surprise calm, Michèle and Dominique have found the time to get their Christmas decorations out of their bag. At sea for the past 43 days, the idea of spending Christmas at sea gets a mixed response from our French sailor.
“It’s nice to have a touch of colour aboard, the garlands moving in time to the waves. Moments like these evoke images of land, which clearly makes you a little nostalgic. On shore during these periods there is just a whirlwind of people. At sea, you don’t have to trawl around the shops and you have time to immerse yourself in your memories, especially with the conditions being very calm at the moment…”
Conditions are likely to be livelier once the front decides to take a step towards the monohull, TEMENOS II…
| Ranking 17:00 |
| Rk |
Boat |
Dist to lead |
Latitude |
Longitude |
Average speed |
| 2 |
HUGO BOSS |
103,3 |
46 22.63' S |
153 29.95' E |
15 |
| 3 |
TEMENOS II |
1596,6 |
48 40.81' S |
116 19.90' E |
13,1 |
| 4 |
MUTUA MADRILENA |
1988,9 |
47 09.26' S |
107 04.10' E |
16,9 |
| 5 |
EDUCACION SIN FRONTERAS |
3046,8 |
51 18.12' S |
80 36.42' E |
13 |