HALVARD MABIRE & MIRANDA MERRON

Miranda, Halvard and Campagne de France remain some 1400 miles from the finish of the Transat Jacques Vabre having seen the first effects of the Doldrums in the early hours of the morning. For those leading the IMOCA fleet the Doldrums wreaked havoc for some 36 hours turning the leader board upside down. This, the most famous of the Intertropical Convergence Zones now stretches some 400 miles in latitude making the coming hours all the more challenging. With Miranda and Halvard starting to feel the effects they’ll be hoping that the lead they have on those behind them isn’t melted away like snow in the sun or at least, that their competitors face the same challenges they do.

The latest from Halvard:

“The exit is 400 miles away, it’s a long way off, we went through a very active area at the beginning of the night. Lightning everywhere, heavy kernels, changing wind direction and gusts of over 35 knots. The lighting remains around us and it’s difficult to know how to position the boat in these conditions. The only thing that is safe to say is that the manoeuvres and constant adjustments are somewhat painful.

Frankly, it’s a funny idea to go to such places “for fun”. The Transat Jacques Vabre Normandy Le Havre boast of being the only Transat to cross through the Doldrums. Whilst understanding the enjoyment of those spectating delight in our pain and the upheaval of leaderboards, I do not see the interest. Circus games and gladiators were good for the public too. Especially when the Christians were eaten by the Lions. But… the worst part is that we’re still happy to be here. The human brain is a complex, even odd thing.

We have to keep our heads, the lack of sleep begins to be felt. This combined with our computer problems and miscellaneous connectors getting worse, we often end up without a computer, without a screen, keyboard, mouse or nothing at all. We had a system that wasn’t working badly and we wanted, as a precaution, to test it once more. But it’s shit. I begin to suspect that computer scientists secure their future by making a system as unstable as possible so they can then explain the cause and obviously the most “reliable” solution.

As long as we sell only disposable items, do not come and inform me of the climate and try to tell me that I do everything wrong and that everything is my fault. Trying to make people feel guilty and want to make each of us personally responsible, well consumers anyway, is somewhat perverse. We’re sold items that are often fundamentally floored with no ability to fix or preserve. I wonder if this approach is the issue but it’s not this we talk about. Either way it seems that Greta will save us… Amen.

Like that, it is quite normal to move from the Doldrums to the Climate because here, we’re right in it. Perhaps we’ll be saying that the consistency of the Doldrums in this years Transat Jacques Vabre is somehow related to greenhouse gases. Moreover, Greta saw it with her own eyes whilst crossing the Atlantic on Malizia this summer. It’s conversations like this that are interesting and makes it possible to plant a little seed in everyone’s heads that nature should be a priority in its place, i.e. above us and with that, I’m fine. »