Charles: “Here it is – The Great South!”

Here are Charles Caudrelier’s thoughts in a blog from the chart table on Dongfeng as he and his crew face the toughest challenge of the race so far.

Here are Charles Caudrelier’s thoughts in a blog from the chart table on Dongfeng as he and his crew face the toughest challenge of the race so far.

“There will be five tough days to go until we reach Cape Horn,” he writes. “Five days is long in these conditions when you are close to the ice limit, in the coldest area, with many manoeuvres – it really is going to be very hard.

“We will really have to look after the boat and the sailors because there will be a lot of rough sea, a lot of wind and a lot of rotations. This is the worst because manoeuvres in these conditions and in the big seas are difficult, but we have no choice.

“Here it is, the Great South. Looking ahead, the weather models are not on the same page. There is a violent scenario on GFS (the American weather model), with a lot of wind and then when you look at the European model it is a little more manageable. The two are still very divergent which is normal because it is the end of summer and it is very active.

“Before that, we still have one or two days where we will travel well, where we will not have the sea yet, but then it will grow slowly…”

Charles