Having left Barcelona on the 31st December in wintery conditions, Mirabaud has since passed through Spring-like temperatures off Madeira, intense heat off the coast of Senegal, stormy and oppressive conditions crossing the Equator in the direction of Brazil and now fierce tropical heat. Soon the mercury will be dropping again though, as they sail further south, meeting autumnal conditions off the coast of Chile before hitting the freezing conditions of the Southern Atlantic.
“For once, the going is fairly easy”, smiles Dominique. “The trades are stable and we’re sailing close-hauled under the full main and genoa. The autopilot is handling the conditions perfectly, so we’ve been able to make the most of things, recharge our batteries and catch up on some sleep !”
This time tomorrow, Mirabaud will be crossing the 20th parallel south and the weather conditions look like they will get considerably more complicated. To the West, a storm system is turning on itself, bringing with it strong northerly winds. Foncia and Virbac-Paprec 3 briefly managed to take advantage of this system before hitting a new zone of high-pressure that could considerably slow them down.
Estrella Damm, Groupe Bel and Mirabaud have all opted for a fairly direct route, but a small area of high pressure in their path could make life difficult for the teams. “We have to try and slip through the high pressure systems lying in front of us. We could well see a few calm patches and it’s going to be a tricky zone to navigate through.”
