02.11. 2006
26.3 knots on TEMENOS’ speedo
Good speed average last two days for TEMENOS |
At the 1600 hour ranking, the five leading boats had gybed to the West, some leaving it later than others like Sill-Véolia, which extended its original tack in an attempt to gain some Southing. The ranking is irrevocable; the latitudinal separation observed within the group yesterday now favouring those on a more S’ly course. Virbac-Paprec is reaping those particular benefits to regain the leadership, and TEMENOS has made up some precious miles on all the frontrunners. In fact, having covered 345 miles, the monohull has been the fastest of the fleet over the past 24 hours; a sure sign that the Swiss skipper is beginning to tame the brand new monohull…
Though the multihulls are displaying some blistering averages, the monohulls are certainly not lacking. Once again not many skippers were able to take part in the radio chat session, but hearing Jean Le Cam live announcing peaks of 22 knots of boat speed, we can well imagine that the skippers have a lot to do on deck. Since last night, the leaders from the Imoca fleet have been making advances to the North of a depression and are using it to lengthen their stride still further. There are messy seas and conditions onboard are wet but the skipper of TEMENOS is not complaining.
"There are cross seas and the troughs are around 3 metres high. These aren’t the best conditions for TEMENOS to show what she’s made of so I’m spending a fair amount of time at the helm. The boat is fabulous. She is light and I’m really enjoying helming her. We’ve been making a constant 20 knots for a good while and I have recorded a peak of 26.3 knots on the GPS", enthused Dominique when contacted by his shore crew at 1630 hours today.
After gybing at around 1100 hours this morning, a rather tricky manoeuvre in 25/30 knots of wind, the monohull is now making for the Azores archipelago, which the frontrunners are set to reach this evening. It will doubtless be a delicate passage due to the numerous wind shadows from these volcanic islands, some of which have very high peaks. Two multihulls got stuck there earlier making less than 10 knots, losing numerous miles to their adversaries who were flying along at over 20 knots.
Clearly, this will be a challenging passage, one where the race may not necessarily be won, but may well be lost. Great care must be taken to avoid this pitfall.
On shore eyes are riveted to the weather charts; the weather routers working relentlessly to decide whether to cross though or round the islands. The various strategies remain secret, until tomorrow that is…
At less than 150 miles off the Azores, TEMENOS should arrive there in 7 to 8 hours’ time.
At the 1600 hour ranking, TEMENOS was positioned in 5th place, 81 miles behind the leader, to 115 miles yesterday at the same time.
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About TEMENOS :
Founded in 1993, TEMENOS Group AG is a provider of integrated modular core banking systems to over 500 financial institutions in 110 countries worldwide. TEMENOS software provides banks with a single, real-time view of the client across the enterprise, enabling banks to maximize returns while streamlining costs. Whether providing 24/7 functionality to the wholesale, retail and private or universal banking sectors, partnering with central banks on core system replacement, or working with the World Bank on solutions for the emerging markets, TEMENOS knows banking. The company has a transparent approach to its operations and brings to bear its experience, expertise, commitment and professionalism on every project.
Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the company has 39 offices in 31 countries and is listed on the main segment of the SWX Swiss Exchange (TEMN). www.temenos.com
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For more informations, thanks to contact us :
Bleue Salée
Service Presse Dominique Wavre
72 route de Grenoble
F-06200 Nice
email : bleuesalee@aol.com
