HASHanging up the phone, Violette Dorange confesses ” light “ Lack of sleep due to the heat, but the sailor’s morale is high and she holds the helm. Becomeits 18 meter monohull with straight fins.
“It must be about 30 degrees on the boat, every time I move I drip, but I take care of myself: I showered, I eat well and from the beginning [des Sables-d’Olonne, le 10 novembre] I have already read two books: Pride and Prejudice. [de Jane Austen] and Based on a true story [de Delphine de Vigan] »says the 23-year-old, who is participating in her first Vendée Globe.
This first solo world tour, non-stop and without assistance, which, since the abandonment due to injury and damage to Maxime Sorel (V and B-Monbana-Mayenne), on November 15, only 39 competitors remain, including 6 women, saw it “a bit like an escape game”.
“I really do it step by step, checking the boxesexplains. The first was Cape Finisterre. [Espagne]the second, stagnation [zone de convergence intertropicale]Now I am at the equator and then it will be the left turn towards the capes. [Bonne-Espérance, Afrique du Sud], Leeuwin [Australie] and horn [Chili]that mark the 45,000 kilometers of the route] ».
A sip of champagne
On Saturday, November 23, when her on-board computer screen showed zero degrees latitude, Violette did not deviate from maritime tradition. As a symbolic offering to Neptune, as is customary whenever he crosses the equator, he took a sip of champagne before spraying some over his ship and pouring the rest into the waves. Both to attract the favor of the owner of the oceans and to celebrate the beginning of his new life. “head upside down”.
For the first time in her young career, the intrepid, reedy-voiced captain heads to the southern hemisphere. Now it will have to deal with depressions and anticyclones that rotate in the opposite direction to what transatlantic racing has accustomed it to. “It adds spice to my career, it’s great to break the usual patterns! »she rejoices.
So far the novelty has been quite successful. As in the crisis, where the meeting of the trade winds from the south with those from the north creates, each time, a joyful agitation. she went there “more than thirty hours”.
“I was excited and a little scared.she says. I entered there escorted by an immense and extremely dark cloud, but little by little I understood that the great grains of calm mainly bring calm. [calme plat], and it didn’t go badly for me, because I rose three or four places in the ranking. »
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