Having finally passed through the notorious Doldrums, Mirabaud
crossed the Equator yesterday and is now sailing in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Doldrums is the zone that separates the north-easterly trade winds of the Northern Hemisphere with the south-easterly winds of the Southern Hemisphere.
“We got through the Doldrums pretty unscathed until this morning,” explains Dominique Wavre. “We had really heavy, leaden skies for a couple of days and there were a few patches of light winds during the showers, but luckily the wind never totally died; however now the sea is flat…”.
The two leading yachts, Virbac Paprec and Foncia, were the first to put the brakes on as the wind died crossing the Doldrums, meaning the distances between the yachts were considerably lower early this week. They were also the first to pick up the new trade winds and logically this has seen them stretch out their lead again as of yesterday evening.
“The race is thrilling,” enthuses Dominique. “The leading group of about seven yachts is very tightly packed. This is a big group given the number of days we’ve been sailing but I’m not really that surprised when you look at the high standards in this competition. Clearly this makes the game all the more interesting.”
