Small doldrums

In the end, the doldrums has not really slowed down the two leaders, who lost roughly a hundred miles to their immediate followers. However, Virbac-Paprec 3 and Foncia are still the same distance from each other, as they have been for several days. There is just a lateral difference of one degree of longitude. Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron passed the equator very early this Thursday morning followed one hour later by Michel Desjoyeaux and François Gabart, located further west. Estrella Damm and MAPFRE were only just out of the doldrums at around 03:00 this Thursday, when Mirabaud, Groupe Bel and Neutrogena were just catching a glimpse of the end as the sun rose.

Kito de Pavant: “We had our first heavy squall in the doldrums as we passed the 5th parallel north. A good rinsing, wind changing and strengthening suddenly, a few sail trims, and that was it. I hate this place. The light is dreary, the clouds sinister, developing at great speed. It feels as though it is the end of the world. Then the wind came back as it was before, from the NE, although it had eased off a little. We prepared the boat for this delicate passage. All the sails were on standby, ready to be replaced one after the other, as quickly as possible, and depending on the strength of the thunderstorms we were going to cross. We also moved the equipment in the boat, to displace the weight of the yacht to the bow. Ah yes my dear, the downwind run is over; the south Atlantic begins with a head wind.”

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