Clouds and squalls on Sodeb'O

9:44 PM Sun 23 Nov 2008 GMT

'Thomas Coville (FRA) 'Sodeb’’O' ater start of solo round the world record attempt.
Th.Martinez/Sea&Co.' ThMartinez &copy

Sodeb'O has just crossed an unsettled zone to the south of the Cape Verde Islands.

A zone of squalls formed without warning yesterday, snuffing out the tradewind and slowing the descent due south by the trimaran Sodeb'O for a few hours.

'It was like an early Doldrums' admitted the former navigator Christian Dumard this afternoon, who now forms part of the routing team on this solo round the world on a multihull.

Although the passage of the Cape Verde islands went as planned, that's to say an easy navigation between the islands without ever suffering the effects of the wind shadow, the next stage was a surprise.

Indeed Thomas Coville rapidly encountered a zone of unexpected squalls characterised by some very active cloud masses. 'The wind went from 5 to 28 knots, oscillating up to 90 degrees, to the extent that the boat ended up head to wind!' said Christian Dumard. 'This zone literally killed the tradewind temporarily, which up to that point, had been providing Thomas with a calm descent under gennaker' added Thierry Douillard, a fine regatta sailor and 'performer' within the routing unit for the round the world.

The result of these unsettled hours? A fifth day which was less perfect than the others. Setting out from Brest last Tuesday, Thomas has covered a total of 2,300 miles in five days, which amounts to a little over 450 miles a day.

The next 48 hours are forecast to be unsettled, but the squalls are certain to be less violent. The 'real' Doldrums, currently settled between 5 and 7 degrees north isn't very pronounced and conditions should enable the maxi trimaran Sodeb'O to reach the equator this Tuesday as planned.

www.sodebo-voile.com

by Kate Jennings - Expression

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