Clarisse Crémer (France) - Banque Populaire (IMOCA)

Everything is fine. We're recovering after a manouevre just now. We're a little bit tired. The Doldrums has been a pain in the arse! And I hope it's over. We have been in it since Tuesday afternoon at 9 degrees north. The wind shifts with every squall, and we stop. We are going from J0 to J2, we manoeuvre, we manoeuvre back...We try to sleep and as soon as you get in the bunk, it all starts again! Yesterday afternoon, we were able to rest a little but last night was rotten. It’s not how we like it on the boat! We’re sorry forCharal. In a boat anything can happen, but it's a bit hard to lose like that. 

This is the first time I've been in the Doldrums and I realise now that between the forecast at the entrance and what you actually find in it, everything is different. It's very hard to establish a strategy. The goal is always to go south and to be east for the angle at the exit, but it is also where the Doldrums is the most dense.