Bulletin: 26th November 2007

The doldrums living up to their reputation

Though we’ll have to wait for the fleet to be right out of the inter-tropical convergence zone before we can really analyse the situation on the water, for the two leaders this is clearly the case given the noon position report. Since yesterday evening PRB has snatched back the reigns in the Barcelona World Race to the detriment of Paprec-Virbac.
Slowed, sometimes halted but never for very long, the majority of the boats were continuing to make headway in relatively mild doldrums if we look at the progress of the fleet since yesterday. However, mild does not mean accommodating and can be even more relaxing as Dominique confirmed when rapidly contacted mid afternoon today. There are squalls about, broken up my periods of flat calm and such conditions require continual patience on deck. Sometimes it's time for manœuvres to quickly adapt the sail area on their steeds with the abrupt arrival of a squall, sometimes it’s trimming in order to get the most out of any little veins of wind, so the duos certainly aren’t lacking jobs.

Aboard TEMENOS II, last night was fairly hectic, whilst this morning was quite the contrary.

“We’ve had a difficult night, with non-stop manoeuvring under driving rain, with a vast amount of reef taking and sail changes. We got hit by a big line of squalls, with gusts at 30 knot, and a wind which has gradually been backing as we make headway. We ended up virtually upwind, under jib and with 3 reefs in the main. This morning we found ourselves in a totally calm zone for nearly 3 hours and had to hoist everything. We then saw another front coming, with some more 30 knot gusts so we just haven't stopped! There are messy seas so as soon as the wind dies it shakes the boat every which way. This morning in the calm conditions, you really had to hang on to be able stay on deck. The boat felt like it had mad cow disease! (laughs). The doldrums are really living up to their reputation with shifty wind, violent squalls and a huge amount of manœuvres to be done.” Dominique concludes on the advantages of double-handed sailing “it’s really good that there’s two of us!”