Bulletin: 3rd January 2008
Comings and goings in Wellington!
Yesterday we learnt from the skipper Javier Sanso that the Spanish boat, Mutua Madrilena, currently in 4th position, was also set to make a pit-stop in Wellington for repairs. This latter arrived early morning in New Zealand and will have to wait until Saturday before it can set off again. As for Michèle and Dominique, they are preparing to leave Wellington this evening (UTC time on Thursday), after a rather dense 48 hour pit-stop. The keel was able to be repaired to the great delight of the duo, as was the rudder, it too damaged during impact with a floating object. Benefiting from TEMENOS II’s downtime, a number of other points on the boat have also been tested.
Very enthusiastic about the idea of heading back into the race, Michèle made a point about the kindness and above all the effectiveness of the welcome they have received in port.
“The boat is ready; I hope we haven't forgotten anything (laughs). The Kiwis have really been great. We’ve met a whole host of lovely people, who have been very enthusiastic about helping us out. They've given us a great deal of assistance.
It was strange to see all these little ants bustling about all around and inside the boat. It's been our little cell of private life for over 50 days.
The mast has been checked, and we’ve finally managed to take care of untangling the large gennaker and putting back some pre-stressing into it as it’s been sleeping in the locker for nearly a month.
We haven’t stood idle for the past two days, but we knew we had a very good bunch of people around us and that we'd finish within the time limit. Everything has been fairly stress free. We're going to set off serenely aboard a boat that is at 100% of its potential. It’s a real joy as the past few weeks of sailing haven’t been very pleasant.
We should set off early morning. A strong gale is forecast so we'll have to see whether we'll get a tow out to sea or not. The local police are likely to make two of its boats available to us, so we’ll have a good escort!
We’ve always remained racing and as soon as we found out that the keel could be repaired, Dominique immersed himself in the weather. Today, he positioned all the icebergs, which have already been indexed. There's an impressive list of them, so unless the weather is mild we're going to avoid playing in that particular zone."
