Bulletin: 31st October 2007

A first impression of the Barcelona World Race 

TEMENOS II left its base in La Rochelle Wednesday October 10th, with Michele Paret and Dominique Wavre on board. At almost a month day for day of the departure of the next world around race, the skippers who will start in Barcelona on November 11th, to take part to the first edition of the Barcelona Race Around the World, double handed, and without stopover, choose to sail in duet for this journey of 1500 miles.
Questioned at the time to cast off about the motivation of this navigation in double, Dominique answers "the window weather forecast is good, with a northerly wind veering to the North-West. We chose to sail just us two in order to find ourselves under conditions rather close to those of the race, baring the competitors, to get ourselves ready".

Two skippers on board, a boat fit, well prepared and already fully equipped to sail around the world.

One could not avoid to project oneself 30 days later when looking at TEMENOS II leaving the quay, getting a first impression of the Barcelona World Race. This will not have escaped the skippers ready to throw back the mooring lines.

For Dominique, "one keeps thinking about the race for sure, and the fact that we are just the two of us on board increases this feeling. We leave after 3 months of hectic preparation, practically without interruption. It is at the same time the opportunity to mark a break between the purely technical tasks and the navigation activities and to put ourselves in condition.

Our last navigations were mainly day outings to test and validate the boat. This trip is an excellent  training, we are delighted to sail the offshore breeze again !

At sea it always takes one or two days before we find all our reflexes and our automatisms, in particular at night. To know to quickly find a frontal lamp inside the boat in the dark without having to grope, that can appear trivial, but it is both time saved and effectiveness gained. We hope that thanks to this convoying to be even more rapidly in the race rhythm, with our automatisms established from the start of the race."

In addition to the excellent test it constitutes for the tandem, this convoying will be interesting in more than one respect

"It is the first time that we sail with the boat loaded in the round the world configuration, it will be interesting to observe the incidence that that has on the polar speed compared with that of the boat in light configuration".

The technical team on the ground makes the last preparations, while waiting to take care of the monohull in Barcelona around October 20th.

TEMENOS II for the first time in Barcelona

Arrived in Barcelona Friday October 19th, TEMENOS II and all the team members took their quarters within the Spanish nautical capital. For Michèle Paret and Dominique Wavre, alone on board the monohull for this sail over to Barcelona, this training proved very beneficial, less than one month of the departure of the Barcelona World Race.
“There was a bit of every condition, reaching in the Bay of Biscay, then close reach along Portugal, the wind increasing along the Spanish coast. Everything went well, we could with a little advance to the start of the race take on our rhythm in double and to space out our periods of sleep. We noted that the hand over of the watch and directives also occurred very well, the knowledge of the other and our many navigations in double are surely for something "analyzed Dominique.

Moored in the Vell Port, located in centre town, the 60 feet IMOCA are within the commotion of the Catalan capital. For Michèle and Dominique, the contrast after 10 days spent out at sea is quite bewildering.

"Barcelona is a large city, busy, alive and noisy. After 1500 miles with only the sound of the waves and the wind, the transition is astonishing! Spanish is very hospitable; they went out of their way to accommodate the boats which for the majority arrived here in advance." (note, in accordance with the race instructions, the mono hulls have to be in Barcelona as of October 29).

Without delay, the team quickly put itself at work. But at two weeks of the departure, next November 11th, it is more like last adjustments and preparations, rather than important modifications or major work.

"Everything is going very well here, we get slowly in the racing mode, steadily and without stress. We are supported by a solid technical team. The list of To Dos gets shorter very quickly, and we follow exactly the set technical program. We have just installed the racing sails, and we plan one or two sails to check the tensions of the luff, and to avoid nasty last minute surprises the day of the race. We also replaced some of the running rigging. TEMENOS II has already 20 000 miles in his wake, almost a world circumnavigation. It is time to change some of the ropes."

As of Monday, the first safety checks start on board the boats, briefings will succeed each other, the requests and the pressure increase on the skippers as days pass... no more no less than the "routine" of a departure of a race around the world!