Monday 24th November 2008
MESSAGE AND VIDEO FROM ON BOARD SODEB’O
After the anarchy of Sunday afternoon where Thomas was thrashing about in a
very stormy zone, the skipper made it back into a steady E’ly wind of around
15 knots this morning. Sodeb'O is now continuing its stampede due south and
is making up its deficit. It would seem that the ‘real’ Doldrums has kicked
in today and it’s shaping up fairly well: “The Doldrums is very far north
finally, well before the equator and fairly narrow. Thomas could well hit
the tradewinds of the southern hemisphere fairly quickly without being
slowed too much” explained Thierry Briend this morning, before going on to
say: “Sodeb’O is back in a classic weather situation for this region and
should make the equator tomorrow as planned. For the time being they’re
making headway with the wind on the beam and should then have to sail
close-hauled as they approach the Saint Helena High.”
"Not much time to take care of myself! I’ve been caught up in a series of
meetings recently. Please don’t hesitate to call back later, we’ll see what
we can do, though I’m not promising anything. The situation with Lehman
Brothers is nothing compared with what I’m dealing with at the moment. Check
it out with the new American trainee who’s just arrived on the scene. You
know the nice, handsome coloured chap! He’ll sort you out.
The wind has kicked in again but we’re sailing against the SE’ly swell and
it’s really not comfortable!
Yesterday I was fighting like a wildcat, it was exhausting! Constantly
battling through squalls with the wind doing exactly what it wanted. It was
really full on at times and it was hard to know if I should dump all the
sail or chance everything and go head down into it without knowing what was
behind the black curtain!
It rained the whole day. It was incredibly wet and the feeling of being in
the middle of an abnormal natural phenomenon gets you by the heart strings
and doesn’t want to let you go. You no longer know which is the way out and
it just goes on and on. At the back of your mind, you suffer the frustration
of the time ticking by as the rain lashes against your face. Time slips away
and everything that you’ve built up beforehand disappears like a sandcastle
as the tide marches up the beach. I didn’t ease off the pace one iota
though. I took each cloud as if it was the first and by last night I was
done in. It was pitch black and moonless, and the shadowy light of each
squall came towards me like a ghost. The mainsail halyard was poised to
drop. I had nearly 600 m² of sail above me to deal with if it all went
pear-shaped. A real game of calling its bluff!
As the day broke this morning, I looked behind me and saw an enormous mass
of cloud forming, which went right up into the sky. I was on the other side,
I’d passed it. Or rather, it had let me past! It took up a lot of energy and
time I know, but deep within me I felt quietly happy to have negotiated and
got through something difficult. I’m here for that and nothing else this
morning.
See you soon, Tom."
AUDIO, VIDEO, IMAGES AND CARTOGRAPHY ACCESSIBLE FROM THE press zone on the
site www.sodebo-voile.com
Translated by Kate Jennings – Expression
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