Bulletin: 23rd November 2007

Hot up front!

The tradewinds, or the motorway as we are used to calling it, is something everyone had been dreaming about. Instead they had been left frustrated close hauled in light winds for too long. Listening to the skippers at the Friday morning radio session you could be forgiven however for thinking that they were missing those light airs. “We’re always happy to reach the trades and then when we get there it’s never great” recalled Roland Jourdain aboard Veolia Environnement with humour.

It was the same scenario for all the skippers questioned today. The conditions are fast but demanding and fatigue is setting in right across the fleet. The skippers have just reduced their watches in order to avoid long sessions on the helm, but still they have nearly 12 hours a day there, so they'll be more than happy once they can rely on their automatic pilots again.

“The seas are quite messy and you can’t afford to leave the helm as our boats wouldn't be able to hold course under automatic pilot in these conditions. Temenos II is being shaken up in every direction and conditions are anything but comfortable. We have around 20 knots of breeze, which isn't fully established, so we have light patches from time to time" said Dominique contacted this lunch time.

The flying fish have resurfaced again now that they’re in the tradewinds, a godsend for the crew on Veolia Environnement since who prepare it with a little lemon juice, but just the contrary for Dominique, victim of a head-on collision.

“A flying fish hit me smack on the face last night. He targeted me like a heat seeking missile! (laughs) The upshot of that was that he bounced back into the sea, which prevented him from hitting the deck.”

Cape Verde archipelago

At the head of the race, it's decision time for the leaders. Whilst Paprec-Virbac has made a daring gamble to try and defy the wind shadow of the Cape Verde archipelago, PRB has opted, with its W'ly separation, to round the islands. In 3rd position, Veolia Environnement also seems to have gone for the latter option.

Dominique seems to share this view: "That way we avoid the wind shadow and line ourselves up nicely for the Doldrums. From a tactical point of view, it could be a good thing to have more westing, because when the wind begins to drop off, we can then luff up."

Contacted during her watch as the positions came in, Michele recalled the sailing conditions. “We've got a steady pace but it can be pretty tricky to have the large spinnaker hoisted as there's really a lot of sail up. You have to be really focused on the helm. In this situation you can’t afford to go off course. As a result we’re stuck on the helm and have set an hourly timer to take it in turns to rush off to sleep without wasting a second."

Avoiding breakage without sacrificing performance is the challenge that lies ahead of each of the tandems for the next few hours, before the forecast calm spell on Saturday.