05.11. 2006
Heat, light conditions and suspense for the Imoca fleet
Lots of sails on TEMENOS’s deck between manoeuvres |
Barring serious damage, Guadeloupe is preparing to celebrate the victory of Lionel Lemonchois in the multihull fleet of this 8th Route du Rhum – La Banque Postale. Meantime it’s difficult to make any kind of short term forecast as to the winner of the monohull fleet as the cards are constantly being reshuffled within the top trio.
The position waltz continues with the fleet making less speed in the gentle winds generated by the presence of a ridge of high pressure. Sill-Véolia continues on alone up front, a just recompense for its S’ly option taken three days earlier. The sense of disappointment in Jean-Pierre Dick’s voice was very much apparent when he was questioned by the Press HQ today. Still in pole position yesterday, the skipper has now conceded over forty miles to Roland Jourdain.
For TEMENOS, the results from the past 24 hours need to be qualified. Though the monohull is now positioned 104 miles behind the new leader, it is now just 45 miles behind Virbac-Paprec as opposed to 81 yesterday, and has made up 26 miles on VM Matériaux. By shifting southwards, Dominique has made up some ground on the pair, who were sailing within sight of each other all day yesterday. As for Brian Thompson, still in 5th, he now has a deficit of 48 miles on TEMENOS.
The sun has been beating down on the fleet for the past two days, the heat gradually taking hold as they gain southing. As the boats are sailing downwind, this heat, accompanied by a lack of apparent wind means that the sailors are beginning to suffer from varying degrees of fatigue. The skippers present at the noon radio chat session, once again stressed the importance of good physical management and bore witness to the difficulty of remaining within your limits.
For Jean-Pierre Dick, "not easy to make the right decisions as far as sleeping is concerned. You have to sleep but also maintain your speed… Similarly you have to watch that you don’t push yourself too hard the first week as you can pay quite dearly for that later on…"
The weather situation remains tricky and the racers are likely to have to wait until Tuesday or Wednesday before the trade winds establish themselves.
Another day without much wind in TEMENOS’s sails |
I have between 10 and 15 knots of E’ly wind, which I’m not too happy about. I’m making my way along the ridge of high pressure and I’ve got a little stuck. I’m not in a position to cross through it quickly as the wind direction isn’t right and is instead forcing me to make my way along the ridge. That’s proving to be hard work as the wind is erratic and very light so you have to helm a lot. There are a masses of banks of weed, which get caught around the keel and the rudders.
Virbac-Paprec and VM-Matérieux should be the first to extract themselves from the ridge of high pressure and escape with the small upcoming front. However, in the light conditions, the weather models are not always very reliable" said Dominique when contacted by his shore crew at 1730 hours.
"For the time being there’s no chance of sleep with the wind oscillating."
There is still a long way to go however as the monohulls have just passed the midway point in the last 24 hours.
At the 1600 hour ranking,TEMENOS had 1612 miles to go before reaching Guadeloupe, and the ranking is still very open!
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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
