How is the German experiencing day 10 of the race? Boris Herrmann describes what he has to do on board, what worries him, how the boat sails. An in-depth look that takes the reader on board the "Seaexplorer".
"It's still too hot and humid to sleep. I'm better off sitting in the cockpit, watching how the boat behaves and writing down what happened today: I overtook Benjamin Dutreux this morning. We spoke for a long time on the radio and you could almost say we became friends. It was very nice. One of the few skippers I've hardly ever met before and about whom I know nothing. Smart guy.
Then there was the French press conference, good questions today!
Showered. Perhaps the most beautiful shower ever. Just go to the bow. In the strong sun. Felt like I was on the beach for a moment. Bought a seawater shampoo before the start.
The question of code zero versus jib top remains a real mystery. How can the boat be faster with such a small headsail than with the Code Zero? 138 to 178 square metres! And it's not windy. 15 knots on average.
That makes me think a lot about hull shapes. The scow bow from Armel (Tripon) could ensure that the boat doesn't stop in every damn second wave and that the wind machine effect of the foils lasts longer. They create their own wind as the boat's speed increases. This mechanism is always interrupted in my case. All the time. You feel there's the potential for 26 knots, and you do get there from time to time, but we're still stuck at an average speed of 17-19 knots.
Very interesting for the future of Imoca designs. I think great leaps are still possible.
In the afternoon, I doze in my bunk for a while in the heat. I wake up a little woozy. That was about 30 to 50 minutes of sleep in one go. I listen to the Hamburg News podcast, which is the trick to waking up. Feels calmer today.
I clean the boat and myself, a sign that I'm back in the here and now. It took ten days to get this far. As so often. I check the fruit I've taken with me and hang it up in new places. The storm has killed the fruit nets. All the lemons are rotten. Just like the kiwis and avocados. I still have a few apples and oranges. Good, that makes the decision easier.
Live pictures from the "Seaexplorer"
An interesting fact at the end of the day: all morning we sailed through gigantic fields of Sargasso seaweed. It was so bad that the stuff blocked my furling lines on the bow and the hydro generator on the stern. I had to rely on the solar panels throughout the day. Now the stuff is finally gone and the generator is working again for the night.
In the evening I make a short video and then just stand in the cockpit for an hour and watch the night fall. The beautiful surfs of the boat. The acceleration when a wave pushes. The almost brutal decelerations. The sometimes brutally noticeable power of the foils. An unstable but fascinating experience. I daydream about the scow bug. That would make the system stable, I think.
The mast loads alarm goes off. I increase the runner voltage. Carefully. I'm not sure if our load cells are calibrated correctly. I go to 3.1 tonnes. I know others go to 5 tonnes. That would make the mast alarms go away, but increase the compression of the mast. I'm sticking with my softer approach, in all respects. I don't trust the numbers 100 per cent either. I prefer to go with my gut feeling. We have inbuilt load gauges in our arms. You can feel the load when you operate the winch.
That's it, that was my day. Of course, there are also the weather reports and tactics, chats with home, media and food. The satellite evening images of the Doldrums look cool. The low sun makes the clouds look almost three-dimensional. I send the scientific data from our measuring device to the researchers on land. I'm already looking forward to their discussion.
The next science thing will be the launch of the research buoy tomorrow.
It's a pitch-black night outside now. I'm still a bit worried about what happened to "Corum" (mast break, ed.). Can I go to sleep like this, or do I have to reduce the jib top for the night? Inside I'll fight it out in my sleep.... Good night."
Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
