Archives: Log

“In the zone where Geronimo is right now, the trade winds are blowing. They’re quite strong and well-developed. At the same time, quite variable, but there are a few fine bursts up to 30, 33, 34 knots… We’re tacking because there’s nothing that takes us to the equator directly. Now I think we’re going to go south, we can’t keep going west (…) We’ve had some really good wind, the passage round the Canaries was a bit shaky but we’re back to a system where the winds are strong and regular… Things are fine, we’re advancing very reasonably in the right direction… There are moments when we surf along, sometimes at 30 knots, but not all the time… What’s also pleasant is that there’s the moon at night, everything’s perfect, like in a film… It makes for really nice nights, gliding along under the moon, it’s brutal, pretty and at the same time moving. Really gorgeous, between 25 and 30 knots on a silvery sea like that. Hot stuff…”

Decor:
“Our descent wasn’t bad. To make that time in pretty poor conditions isn’t too bad. (…) There are few places in the world where you’ll find this decor around you, black spots, completely leaden sea, without reflections, as if everything’s switched off. With this vapor, it sort of looks like a quirky Turkish bath, it’s a different maritime landscape that has its charm as long as it doesn’t last for a week.”
Performance:
“We’re not at all where we should be, we’re waiting for easterly winds that we don’t see coming at all for the moment. We’re in a state of uncertainty. We’re not downcast but we’re not that exuberant either. We should manage to follow a passable route towards Saint Helena. We’re not exactly on track but not in the worst situation either. In a circumnavigation, you always need to think about the whole and not get upset about temporary circumstances.”
Cheyenne :
“ (…) It’s not our major preoccupation today. Fossett managed to make an easy trip south. You can bring on 40 Fossetts, that doesn’t change anything for us. We don’t need anything, behind or ahead, to push us, to do our job thoroughly. (…) Besides, we’re ready for any fight.”

“We’ve got some decent wind, a relatively easy sea, things are going well. (…) There’s air, it’s easy to handle, we’re chomping up the miles, we’re really working it. Geronimo has improved since last year, the crew too, we’ve made gains in speed of 5 to 7 % (…) We’re looking to continue, to keep up the rhythm and the advance we have on the record. We’re happy to be ahead of the record time at the moment. (…) We’re going down, we risk having an anticyclone block our way in a day and a half. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be at 45° South. I’m not too happy about this because of the convergence. (…) There’s nothing sweet about the Roaring Forties. We leave a normal world and arrive in a world which has its elements of beauty, extraordinary freakiness, but also real violence.”

“We’ve had our shortest half-day since the departure, we did 101 miles of our route in 12 h! (…) I don’t dare to say the shortest day because I don’t dare to look at the whole day, I can’t face it. (…) There are minutes that last an hour, and hours that last a minute. (…)
The last 24 hours of calm have definitely not helped our average but they have definitely helped our crew’s physical state. We all slept a bit, really deeply. (…) Today the sea’s as flat as Quiberon Bay on a fine November day, it lets us recuperate. (…)
We must always bear in mind that this is a complete world tour rather than getting excited or worked up when things go badly. It’s all relative. At the same time, you need to concentrate on what you’re doing in the next hour to get the most out of it. The exercise is interesting. You’re in a system that works over a long duration but you know that every second used is used. (…) Nothing is acquired for good on this course, what you gain might slip between your fingers in 48 hours, just like that.”

“Sailing without visibility in places where there’s ice, possibly growlers etcetera is tiring, it stretches you, your nerves and also psychologically. Because you can’t make a mistake, you need extreme vigilance, and this produces high fatigue levels. (…) Steering a boat of this size, at this speed, in this type of sea, is really very stressful. We feel tired, I sense that the whole crew’s tired. The mist, the ice, all that creates enormous nervous tension and this nervous tension leads to stress and fatigue. (…) Recharging by heat up is not really possible: if we heat up inside at the moment, there’s too much of a thermal shock between inside and outside, and when people go up, they suffer even more. So we need to get our bodies used to living in a cold environment.”

Extract from Le Carnet de Libération by Olivier de Kersauson: “It’s moving on all sides, it’s on the boil. You’d say a thousand demons flailing about in holy water… I can even smile about it when I think: if this is yachting, well I’m not doing it any more. To be clear about it, I can’t continue a week like this.”

The trimaran’s anemometer rarely fell below 45 knots during the 31st day of the team’s attempt. Barepoled, the boat sped along with its mast only. The sentences became short, the messages concise: “SURFING AT 29 KNOTS MAST ONLY, LONG LIVE DAYBREAK, OLIVIER.” It’s becoming difficult to move around, everything’s drenched and icy, the sea is monstrous with a westerly swell and seven-meter waves from the south. Didier’s back is hurting, the many injuries and fatigue are making maneuvers dangerous:
“SHITTY SEA BRRRRR VERY HARD I WONDER IF WE CAN CONTINUE FOR LONG IN THESE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS. I FEEL LIKE WINTER IS ALREADY HERE TURNS ARE VERY BRUTAL UNSAILABLE. TO BE CONTINUED. OLIVIER »

“At the moment, it’s not dangerous, it’s just boring. The other day, it was dangerous, an excessively aggressive and strong southern sea is dangerous. We’ve got a beam sea, that’s the problem. If we glide along it’s fine. You can be gliding with a mountain of sea behind. But a beam sea is always complicated.”

(…) “There are moments we’d like to take a little break. A little break with parasols. The fantasy on board today is parasols… Wish us a flat sea, an orderly sea, decent wind and don’t forget the parasol, it’s the crucial element in nautical elegance.”

“Whew… we’re only just out of it. We’re glad to be free from it, I can tell you that. What the hell were we doing there? So glad to be out of it, that’s for sure. We didn’t slept much all on those days. We saw the boat leave the water altogether at a certain moment between two waves, I can’t tell you what the shock was like when we landed. It doesn’t make sense, no sense at all. We’re between the Falklands and land, easy. The nightmare’s over, that’s sure. It’s over. Now we’re going up north sharp, I tell you straight away. We need to go west on this route while climbing up the coast, but we’ll head west later. We’re going up, we’re going up, we’re going up in latitude. We’re not looking for adventure, we’re all tired. If you go on this sea and head straight for it, you’re finished. It’s much too hostile.  The route we took from the south of New Zealand to Horn with south winds and a winter sea, you just can’t do it. You just can’t go on that sort of sea, you just can’t go there. … It’s incredibly hostile. It’s shit sailing, it’s really dangerous, it’s exhausting. Can’t go there, can’t go there at this time of the year, that’s for sure.”

“We’re going fast, we’re at the south of Ireland. We’re going up to 51 North then heading down to Ushant. We’ve got a gennaker, we’re sliding along well, it’s all fine, the boat is between 23, 25, 27 knots. We’re taking a long route. Going straight there’d be 1329 miles left, and we’re going to do around 1500. (…) We’re glad to be going back. … There’re people around, there aren’t any problems maneuvering there, on shift or off shift, there’s electricity in the air here today, we feel like we’re being born again… We know that nothing’s won. … The gennakers are fine, thankfully – because if not, the only thing left would be to kill ourselves, on chestnut puree and Petits Lu cookies. You take a fifteen-kilo tin of chestnut puree, twelve boxes of nice dry Petits Lu cookies and you’re not allowed to drink. It’s a form of gastronomic suicide that’s quite common in sects from the Nantes region.”

 “For a month now we’ve been on starboard tack, everyone’s lost the habit of port tack. All our systems have noted that everything was always leaning left. The body compensates, it needs a few hours to reformat all these systems. The helmsmen are having trouble getting it right, the boys are finding it hard to walk on deck. The boys are very clumsy maneuvering. It’ll take a few hours for the whole crew to readapt. If we’re apprehensive, it’s because we’re not going to be alone any more, there’s sure to be traffic, and traffic at 35 or 40 knots is not automatically easy for us to manage. As we’re going towards the wind of a dangerous coast, the Ushant line, we can’t afford to have a mechanical problem. Satisfaction will come when we go over the line. Until then, there’s nothing but tension…”