So far the Atlantic Ocean has been particularly unforgiving with the crew on board Mirabaud and the supply of humour on board is running a little low. At the end of last week, Dominique and Michèle were looking good in third place, 200 miles from the leaders, but now find themselves brutally pushed down into seventh place and 800 miles from the front runners. At this stage this equates to 3 whole days sailing. While Jean-Pierre Dick and Loïck Peyron onboard Virbac Paprec were setting a new record for the maximum distance of covered in 24 hours (516 miles at an average of 21 knots), the end of last week saw Mirabaud and those around her firmly stuck in an area of calm.
According to the official race website, “The biggest loser in this latest series of gambles has undoubtedly been Mirabaud. Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret have had to watch helplessly as their opponents passed within 20 miles of them at 6 knots whilst the sea around Mirabaud resembled a millpond.” Frustrating times!
Needless to say, Dominique and Michèle have had to dig deep into their collective resources to get through this ‘bubble of high pressure’, as the meteorologists call it. “We’ve stopped looking at how the boats around us are doing; it’s just too depressing,” admitted a slightly disheartened Dominique yesterday. “We are focusing on trying to optimize our boat speed as much as possible, making sure we have the right settings and squeezing every last drop of speed out of her. There’s nothing more we can do at this stage, and things couldn’t be much worse. To be honest, morale is a bit low onboard at the moment! Having said that, at least we are moving again now, which lightens the atmosphere a bit, but we can’t help but kick ourselves for the time we’ve lost.”
