Since he passed Ambrose Light last friday, Eric Defert and Drekan Energie had covered 1300 miles. After a few hours of "light" wind (just under 20 knots), and the passage of the Strait of New Foundland, they are now sailing fast on the direct route to Lizard Point. Christian Dumard and the belgium company Great Circle ( http://greatcircle.be/ ) are of a great help to Eric in his attempt to establish a new reference time for the Class 40 boat on the historical route between New York and England.
Eric: " Here, everything goes well! I’m reefing and de-reefing all the time. Today, with the hailstorm, the wind shift from 19 to 28 kts." About the life onboard: " I can sleep mostly in the morning. The temperature are between 30 F at night and 40 F during the day. I’m able to eat 1 or 2 hot meals a day. But I really feel I need a lot of energy to endure the cold."
Thanks to Mr Chocolate himself, Jacques Torres, there is enough good stuff aboard to keep a positive attitude all the time! Eric has been wearing his dry suit most of the time: " I need to be careful with the wrist because of the neoprene. I use talc powder to protect them." The main issue is how to protect his hands: "They are in bad shape with the cold and he constant humidity. Fortunately, I took with me a magical cream!" As of the boat: "She is in a good shape!
