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Daily report, Wednesday
September 10, 2003
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Slices and diagonal
Position at 6H45 (Paris) :
10° 24 S / 108° 12 W
We received a visit from M. Jacques
Séguéla at the PC and the whole Maison de Radio
France was immersed in a warm Catalonian atmosphere.
M. Séguéla is providential element to the project
since he made it possible for Raphaëla to materialize
the crossing after a long preparatory work that lasted for
more than 2 years.
"You know, Raphaëla, chance never strikes randomly.
Remember that if we had not met, you would not be freezing
your ass right now!".
He senses Raphaëla’s imminent victory and
sees no less in her than a "Jeanne d'Arc of sail ".
Frédéric Jaillant, Director des Sports at TF1,
has joined us and is questioning Raphaëla on ways to
cook the cumbersome goose barnacles with safran for a few
days. "As a last recourse, when I wont’ have
anything more to eat, I’ll know that there will always
be a pantry located under the board “ Fresh products
ensured.
Raphaëla has set up for
herself self motivation sessions that consist in listening
to old hit songs of the last 40 years, "it’s
a little frustrating, I only know a few words that I drum
over and over again ".
Right now it is Capdevielle’s hit "When
you are in the desert" that she is repeating.
Are you surprised? Not I.
"I sing at the top of my voice", she can
go right ahead, there wont be any frustrated neighbor who
will threaten to call the SPP (Syndicate of pelagic Fish)
for disturbance of the peace … La Maladie d'Amour,
l'Ete indien, Sag warum, Let it be, they are all there…"My
voice is a little hoarse, I am coughing since a few days.
Symptoms are similar to my allergy back home".
What a pity, we did not plan to put a hoover on board
to suck up the dust that is now preventing her from singing
to the stars the songs of our youth…
"However, when it comes to making delicate maneuvers,
such as rigging the sail in 3 meter hollows, I sing nursery
rhymes like on the Atlantic where I was singing "A green
mouse " three times a day".
At the moment, it’s "Pile of Rice, Pile of
rats", you know it ?
"Tas de riz tentant
Tenta tas de rats tentés"
….
What interesting material for shrinks……
"I’ve got to
revise my geometry to calculate the nautical miles that I
am covering. Today I covered 23 miles to the West et
23 miles to the North. So my question is how many did
I actually cover?".
Silence overcomes the classroom, do you remember, everyone
lowers their head and plunges into their book. I start attacking
the lesson of the triangle and diagonal. "remember
that the length is the square root of the sum of the squares….".
She does not let me finish, "too complicated I don’t
have my calculator". It’s true we had not
planned for a calculator either on board…
After the math course, it’s
the biology lesson. Raphaëla is more at ease. "It’s
been 3 days that I see white slices of 5 cm diameter
that float on the water. Finally they came close to the board
".
Oh dear, I immediately thought of the Physallis of the
Atlantic that left Raphaëla with a bitter memory. She
had dived her hand in the water to touch them. Ah ! Children
with no surveillance, - electoral promises, uncontrolables…
"I did not touch them", THANK GOD! "But
I still would not mind knowing if they sting or not ".
Don’t hang up we will find out for you…
But she is a little worried,
"what is this depression in the big south, it’s
going to fall on top of me, is that it?". I put
all of my efforts into convincing her to continue going North
to bypass it and I can tell you this is not easy…
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Photo : Odyssée du vent
2003 |
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