Since last night, Alexia Barrier has been facing a violent storm off the Chilean coast. A perilous situation that is expected to end by early afternoon, according to various weather bulletins.
Nearly 6,000 miles from the race leader, Alexia Barrier isn’t thinking about returning to Sables d’Olonne. Unusually, she faces a particularly strong storm with her fellow sailor in distress, Ari Huusela. A Special Meteorological Bulletin (BMS) encompassing Tierra del Fuego. For about ten days now, the two sailors have been battling within the same low-pressure system that has brought them a share of squalls, rain, snow, and even hail… The wind is expected to strengthen over the next few hours, with gusts reaching 45 knots and waves between five to six meters high.
“When the waves are too strong, you can’t really speed up; I quickly bury this boat,” regrets the skipper of TSE-4myplanet, who besides this storm, has been sailing through very cold temperatures for nearly three weeks: “I am Mediterranean, so I think I’m going to go around Iceland more often to get used to the cold, because this is quite surprising, you don’t maneuver or live the same way on a boat without heating or a canopy. It’s something special to experience.”
The worst part is that once Cape Horn is behind her, several more depressions are expected to disrupt her progress in the climb up the Atlantic. Needless to say, her arrival is likely to be somewhat delayed!
