He's not really smiling this Thursday. Sébastien Simon, skipper of the Arkéa-Paprec monohull, ranked 5th in the Transat Jacques Vabre, is approaching the dreaded Doldrums. And before falling into the calm of this meteorological swamp separating two systems of trade winds just above the equator, he must face another plague that disrupts the progress of all racing boats in this area between the Canaries. , off Brazil and the West Indies. Sargassum. These huge packets of algae get caught in all the appendages lying under the boats and therefore in the water: keel, rudders, hydrogenator ... And they obviously slow down their progress, driving the sailors crazy who are trying by all means to part with it. Sometimes even if it means stopping their boat and reversing.Or outright, as some figarists do during the double-handed transatlantic flight to Saint-Barthelémy by diving under their sailboat ...
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This is what the Sargassum does, it is put in the rudders, in the hydrogenerator.
We have the impression of being on a motor boat so much that it makes a stir, says Sébastien Simon in a video.
It's everywhere.
And there is not much we can do.
We were surprised (with Yann Eliès, his co-skipper) not to see any from the Canaries, but that's it.
There to the south, from Cape Verde, there are starting to be some, in my opinion it will follow us to the West Indies
”.
And so until the arrival in Fort-de-France.
Good luck, as the other would say ...
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