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Jean Luc update take two
14:52 p.m. EST Feb 27, 2004
Yesterday's update on Jean Luc ended in a dead link. Here is a new try, sorry about that:
Last week Jean Luc took out the final chart of his voyage, the one showing the North Atlantic. After a record breaking sail, Jean Luc hit a spell of slow weather, but remained positive: "Fortune comes to those who are prepared to wait!" he wrote. But things were slow to improve:
"I’ve gone down under the 26 days lead, as Philippe Monnet went very fast through this area" the Captain reported last Friday.
And early this week: "My optimistic feelings from last week have melted away a little. First of all, I can really say I’m down in the Doldrums! Early last night, the wind dropped away completely. Over the last few days, I’ve been steadily losing ground over Philippe Monnet. The Southern Atlantic on the return leg will have been the only stretch where I will have lost a few hours over my predecessor, which is something I’m not at all pleased about."
And the next day:
"Adrien has just beaten her record for being slow. We’re going so slowly (an average of less than one knot yesterday afternoon) that the Simrad pilot no longer understands what is going on. In addition, his sails are ripped; "I now have a mainsail and a genoese with a fringe, which swings about in the wind. These two sails will complete the trip, but are going to be in a weird condition!"
A little brake mid week:
"While for more than 24 hours, I had been struggling to edge forward metre by metre, yesterday, I started to see some ripples on the surface indicating that there was a little light breeze coming up. Then, puff by puff, the wind got up from 3 to 5 knots."
And yesterday Jean Luc struck fishing luck and some more wind too:
"My little sea bream was really excellent with some freshly baked bread. Yesterday, I did it in the frying pan and today poached in some stock... I could invite some guests. I’m going to have too much to keep in this heat.
The wind finally came around. Yesterday, after my message I changed my course to the west. I wasn’t able to head 270° and I lost 9 miles by going slightly south. That really got me down, but my reward came in the middle of the night, when the wind started to come around to the north, as forecast by Pierre Lasnier, and I came around likewise. All of that means that for the moment I’m heading in almost the right direction. If the wind turned a little further to the NE, it would be perfect."
Onboard his Adrien, four time circumnavigator Jean Luc Van Den Heede is attempting to break the record for sailing around the world solo and non-stop the “wrong way” – from East to West, against prevailing winds. It his fourth try in five years. Jean Luc has successfully completed four single-handed round the world voyages. He has taken 2nd and 3rd place in the Vendée Globe as well as 2nd and 3rd in the BOC Challenge.
Image of Jean-Luc courtesy of vdh.fr
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