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Image courtesy of Thierry Martinez. What a blow! Bernard Stamm and his Open 60 Armor Lux - Foie Gras Bizac with triple-reefed main and storm jib on the approach to the Lizard on February 6. Life ain't boring on board this boat! Look at the sea state ... and the staysail being washed over the port rail! Check out the wake, and the way this Open 60 lifts its bow ... Wow, what a day to break records! Plenty of guts for the glory Bernard Stamm and his Open 60 smash the New York to Lizard record thanks to a brutal string of low pressure cells February 8, 2001 When the maxi monohull Mari Cha III claimed the New York to Lizard record in October 1998, the sailing world stood in awe. At 44.7m, (146 feet), the Kiwi-built, French designed yacht was awesome just standing still and when she moved, all that waterline made strong men turn to jelly. She beat Nicorette's previous record by a whopping two and half days, and was just 20 hours shy of breaking Phocea's 10 year old power-winch assisted monohull record. Now the sailing world again stands agog: Bernard Stamm in his little ole' Open 60 Armor Lux - Foie Gras Bizac, hoisted sail in the dead of winter and the game's bloody over! In just eight days and 55 minutes, Stamm blasted across the Atlantic, and in conditions the likes of Charlie Barr would have wholeheartedly approved! This was North Atlantic sailing at its most extreme. Gone is Marie Cha's record, and we are left wondering just what sort of monohull and in what conditions in will take to break this current milestone. Multihulls sail quicker, and Jet Services V - now sailing as Warta Polpharma in The Race - still holds the same distance record in a time of six days, 13 hours and three minutes. Jet Services has held this record for more than a decade, despite a concerted campaign to break it by Playstation, Club Med, Foncia, Commodore Explorer (formerly known as Jet Services V) and others. Swiss born Stamm, along with crew Christophe Lebas, Jean Baptiste L'Ollivier and Francois Scheeck - all from France - certainly chose their moment to leave New York and cross 'the pond', as a powerful front sped crossed the New England coast and rushed into the Atlantic. It took just two more frontal systems to bring Stamm across the line at the Lizard - although these last two systems were intertwined, in as much as the second fed off a trough line connected to the first and may have dragged the original storm centre into its clutches as it deepened west of Ireland. Stamm's stunning finish, in the wake of this powerful storm - one of Britain's wildest this winter - was caught by French sailing photographer Thierry Martinez ... and thank goodnesss! Any other rendering of this incredible moment would not have brought it justice. Now we look forward to a summer during which the giant multihulls will try to break their record in much lighter conditions, no doubt followed by a winter of monohull record attempts in conditions no less wild as those seen here. We have, indeed, entered into a new era of sailing. © Jamie Brown/weather-wise.com 2001 A look at the weather Image courtesy of Intellicast. One day before this animated image begins, Swiss skipper Bernard Stamm leaves New York in brisk west winds, in the wake of a cold front. The same front is first pictured here in mid-Atlantic with its low pressure cell just east of Newfoundland. Here it is circulating north west winds onto the grand banks. Another powerful storm is pounding the US midwest with snow and sleet. In another day it will cross the New England coast, bringing more west to north west winds for Stamm and crew. Image courtesy of Intellicast. Nearly 48 hours elapses before we capture the next set of infra-red images for the Atlantic. However, it appears the storm has tracked to the north-east and is off the coast of Newfoundland when this animated image begins. The storm then stalls a bit and appears to reform west of Ireland as other Arctic influences converge. As a born-again storm it really packs a punch. Image courtesy of NOAA. This is a five day forecast from January 31, and it gives an idea of what took place east of New York, however this model does not quite correspond with the real-time animate images above late in its prediction. Compare February 2 in both images and you will see some differences. In the model, a new storm develops off the US east coast and becomes a monster low east of Newfoundland on February 4. In reality, on February 2 a trough extends from the US south east all the way across the Atlantic to the low which propelled Stamm out of New York Harbour. A new low develops out of that trough and becomes a deep depression east of Newfoundland on February 4. So while the storm's genesis is somewhat out of whack when you look at the model, the storm's ultimate position east of Newfoundland turns out to be correct. Images courtesy of the UK Met Office. From waters east of Newfoundland to the wild seas west of the Irish coast is about 1500 miles and in that time this storm has really gone ape. Look how it suck cold air into its west-facing maw. Those white squall clouds are clearly visible. Stamm and crew aboard Armor Lux - Foie Gras Bizac would have encountered 60 knots when those squalls approached. This storm is perfect for Stamm's record run, because it deepens over Ireland without tracking too far north, so the strongest winds are in the approach to Lands End and the Lizard. The storm also sucks another low pressure centre to the south-west, creating an elongated, football, or rugby ball-shaped centre. Winds were forced well to the west before they could return south and then east. The result: less chance for cross-seas. Images courtesy of the UK Met Office. She's deep! 954hPa. In this image Stamm would have been 11 hours away from the Lizard - probably west of Lands End, in a consistent west to south-west flow. There would have been no cross seas - just a whole lotta grunt from behind. Atlantic records Mari Cha III sailed from New York to the Lizard in eight days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 17 seconds after leaving New York on October 15. The record to beat in monohulls prior to Mari Cha's 1998 record was held by the Finlando/Swede Ludde Ingvall on the Grand Mistral (24 metres –78.75 ft) Nicorette since April 1997, in 11 days, 13 hours, 22 minutes and 5 seconds. The Atlantic crossing record for monohulls with assisted sail handling (hydraulic and electric winches) is held by Phocéa since July 1988 stands in 8 days, 3 hours and 29 minutes - but Stamm and crew smashed that record too! The outright Atlantic record by crewed multihull was set by Serge Madec on the catamaran Jet Services V in June 1990 : 6 days, 13 hours and 3 minutes. This same catamaran was renamed Commodore Explorer, operated by Bruno Peyron, and is now Warta Polpharma - a Polish entrant in The Race. Charlie Barr set the first trans-Atlantic record in the schooner Atlantic in 1905. This record lasted until Eric Taberly beat it in 1981. More great reading: Find out more about Mari Cha's 1998 record. Catch up on all the past action of the Vendee Globe in our race archive. Follow the action between the world's fastest multihulls in The Race Re-live the Sydney to Hobart yacht race! Break ice in the Ross Sea! |
