Dominique Wavre is currently lying 10th overall as the fleet reaches the Canary Islands. It has taken the Swiss sailor just six days to reach this point and the last 48 hours have thrown some particularly challenging weather conditions at him.
“It has been quite a rodeo ride! But I am pretty happy with how things have worked out over the last few days, it was quite tough from a strategy point of view, but I’m looking OK.”
The fleet was confronted with its first major tactical decision on Tuesday with the approach of a strong westerly low pressure: Should the sailors continue south following the most direct route or head towards the depression and go 70 degrees off course? Dominique chose the latter strategy and sailed even further West than his competitors to pick up the stronger winds and climb up the leaderboard.
“All day yesterday I had the wind on the beam gusting 40 knots with three metre breaking waves,” he said. “It was absolutely fantastic!”
Before sailing into such heavy conditions, Dominique fully prepared Mirabaud for the impending pounding: “Knowing the wind direction, I could stack all the sails, the food bags and any other material on the starboard side of the boat ahead of time,” he described. “I also made sure I had all the sails ready so that when the first gust hit, I was prepared. I furled the Genoa, hoisted the staysail and took a first reef, and then a second one. And we put the hammer down!”
According to Dominique, skipper and boat are in very good shape. “I had a few small issues and will need to do a spot of maintenance when the weather allows, but nothing major. As for me, I’m also doing well. I managed to get some rest despite the rough conditions and have been eating well – not so easy when the boat is bouncing about as much as it has been! Thankfully the food has been so well planned by Michele and Magali that all I have to do is reach out and there it is!”
