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logbooks of the week
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2004-2-19
Hi there,
I’ve just had a really bad night, with a breeze that was really too light and still w...
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2004-2-18
Hi there,
Some major news! I’ve taken out the final chart of my voyage, the one showing the No...
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2004-2-17
Hi there,
The wind is coming from a more southerly direction, so last night, I came around to mo...
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2004-2-16
Hi there,
I’ve just crossed the latitude of Luanda in Angola. That gives me the chance to say ...
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2004-2-15
Hi there,
100 days of sea today! Time is slipping by quickly if you look at it one way, but sl...
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2004-2-13
Hi there,
Had a bit of a shock this morning. Even if it only lasted for a tenth of a second, it ...
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Logbook of 2004-2-19 |
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Hi there,
I’ve just had a really bad night, with a breeze that was really too light and still with a heavy swell. This made my poor mainsail flap around, which although downwind, often picked up the wind on the wrong side. Some superstitious people may think that I shouldn’t have said yesterday that there wouldn’t be much of a Doldrums. Not one myself, I rather think that it was the result of a thunderstorm, which created havoc with my light trade winds for a few hours.
Until 3 o’clock this morning, I tried to make headway as best I could with my asymmetrical spinnaker, then the wind got up a bit. I managed to get back into my bunk, after setting up my genoese with its pole... but that wasn’t to last long, as seeing I had gone quite a way west over the past few days in order to take advantage of the “friendly” Doldrums, I was back on the course the cargo ships take coming up from Africa.
My Simrad detector warns me of the presence of radar with an alarm, while the cargo ship is still out of sight, but when they aren’t going very fast and are on the same course as I am, the alarm can be triggered for several hours, so it is impossible to sleep. So I set my programmed radar to alert me to a 6-mile zone around Adrien...and consequently, I slept in this morning!
See you tomorrow,
JL VDH
A day with Greg’s cuddly toy, a pretty lamb that’s blue all over.
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Logbook of 2004-2-18 |
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Hi there,
Some major news! I’ve taken out the final chart of my voyage, the one showing the North Atlantic, which begins at 5° south. The next chart that I’ll be taking out will be the detailed one of the finishing line off Ushant. With each change of chart, I really feel like another leg is over. The feeling is even greater, when I pass a Cape that I can’t see like Leeuwin.
After crossing the finishing line (planned for week 11), I shan’t be stopping in Brest. I’ll be off immediately to Les Sables d’Olonne (with a crew this time), where Adrien will then be able to have a well-deserved rest in her homeport.
The weather for the next few days seems to be very good. After an incredible Cape Horn with 40-knot easterlies and a Cape of Good Hope downwind (which is slightly less remarkable), I may well be getting the Doldrums reduced to a minimum presence, if things develop as forecast. Which just goes to show that good fortune comes to those who are prepared to wait!
See you tomorrow,
JL VDH
A day with the cuddly toy from the Regional Council of the Pays de la Loire Region, stowed on board Adrien by Idée d’image.
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Logbook of 2004-2-17 |
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Hi there,
The wind is coming from a more southerly direction, so last night, I came around to move away from the coast of Africa and started heading in a more westerly direction than I have been. The stars were out, as for once, the clouds had disappeared, and I managed to see the Great Bear in the sky, which proves that the Equator isn’t that far off now.
It’s quite a rigmarole, when you are alone, to come around with the genoese propped up. You have to roll up the sail, take out the pole, and slide it on to the deck, to get it to the other side of the three stays. You have to bring in the mainsail, pass it to the other side and change the backstays, then put the pole back in place before unfurling the genoese. Besides all that, as I was carrying out all this, I saw a school of flying fish take off, and I certainly wouldn’t like to get hit in the face by them, as I’m sure it must be painful! Apart from that, life is rather relaxing. I make myself some bread every three days and I’m reading "Le chant du grand nord" (The song of the North ), an extraordinary novel by Nicolas Vannier, who several years ago, crossed the far north of Canada by dog-sledge in less than 100 days.
See you tomorrow,
JL VDH
A day with the cuddly toy from KAREL in Brest (itself), a little pink mouse.
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Logbook of 2004-2-16 |
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Hi there,
I’ve just crossed the latitude of Luanda in Angola. That gives me the chance to say hi to a team from my partners, Celerant Consulting, which is on a mission in this country for a French company. In terms of my longitude, I’ve headed a little further west, and I’ve just crossed the border which separates Ghana from the Ivory Coast, but if you go back to the northern hemisphere, it means I’ve just passed the longitude of Les Sables d'Olonne and before tomorrow, that of Ushant. It almost feels like I’m in home territory, doesn’t it?
As far as the weather is concerned, there’s nothing going on. In the morning and in the evening the wind abates, so my daily averages aren’t as good as I would like in these trade winds, which are too light for Adrien. Fortunately, for the moment, they are no worse than Philippe Monnet’s, so the gap between us isn’t really changing much. Try as I might to tell myself that he was still way behind in the Indian Ocean at this point, my racing nature is never satisfied with the gap between us, so I would like to increase it still further...
See you tomorrow,
JL VDH
A day with the cuddly toy from IFREMER, stowed on Adrien by Idée d’image.
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Logbook of 2004-2-15 |
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Hi there,
100 days of sea today! Time is slipping by quickly if you look at it one way, but slowly from a different angle. Quickly, because 100 days of being alone seems to be a lot, yet on the other hand I get the feeling it wasn’t that long ago that I left. Slowly, because the days all seem the same, especially in the trade winds, with their routine of setting the sails, meals, communications, odd jobs and reading. The trade winds are finally waking up and since yesterday, I’ve had some good winds. In the morning, I put away the pole and genoese, and raise the spinnaker, which I keep an eye on all day long, adjusting my course as required. At nightfall, the wind changes are so great that I lower the spinny to be on the safe side, and I push back up my genoese, which allows me to sleep without being so stressed out.
It’s amazing how it hasn’t been that warm in this latitude, seeing it’s the middle of Summer in the southern Hemisphere. Usually, I’m simply boiling down here, with curtains pulled across the portholes on the sunny side, and with the heat making me sweat heavily with the slightest effort on deck. It’s not like that at all this year. During the day, it’s been nice, but not excessively hot, then at night I’m still putting on my light fleece. The planet is supposed to be getting warmer...but that’s certainly not the case down here this year!
See you tomorrow,
JL VDH
A weekend spent with Améthyste’s cuddly toy, a little sandy-coloured bear that was given to her by her godfather, Karl.
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Logbook of 2004-2-13 |
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Hi there,
Had a bit of a shock this morning. Even if it only lasted for a tenth of a second, it was already too long for me! As I was leaning over the bow this morning, I saw part of my hull peeling off...Of course, I immediately realised that that was just impossible. Aluminium, whether it’s Pechiney or Alcan doesn’t peel off in strips! But during that brief moment, I was looking at Helvim’s hull during the Vendée Globe 92, then Algimouss’s, which peeled off in strips in Chile in 99.
In reality, the strips I was looking at were the sticker on Adrien’s starboard bow. Prawns, langoustines and turbot, which symbolise the main activities of the Adrien Group, were being ripped off with the slap of each wave. Maybe they had been attacked during the night by a fish, who had thought they were real, when he should have been attracted by my bait, which is still trailing along behind Adrien without any success!
Last night, she wasn’t going very fast either, but the wind got back up a bit this morning and we’re now making better headway. Luckily, the current for once is helping us in this area, as otherwise our daily average wouldn’t be that good. The trade winds are hardly blowing at all!
See you on Sunday,
JL VDH
A day with the cuddly toy from the Bateaux Nantais stowed on board Adrien by Idée d’image.
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