|
Atlantic
weather links: Stormwatch: La
Nina: Profiles: |
|
Quebec to St Malo race 2000
How Bayer En France sailed as fast as Club Med over 24 hours Bayer En France sails 625.34 nautical miles in 24 hours, smashing the previous record for the class of 540 miles (held by the same boat).Maxi cat Club Med's recent 24-hour record is just a few hundred metres more at 625.7 miles, set in June while crossing the Atlantic from east to west on its way to the Bahamas. What happened? We talk to router Ken Campbell of Commanders’ Weather ... August 16, 2000 How did an out-of-date Open 60 trimaran come within a whisker of beating Club Med’s June 24-hour distance record? Great advice from routers Ken Campbell and George Caras of Commanders’ Weather, calm seas and steady, 18-24 knot winds. Oh yes, and a lot of skill on the part of Yvan Bourgnon and crew. In fact, the whole thing was a celebration, considering that the 10 year-old boat Bayer En France - the oldest in the fleet - had been through this kind of thing so many times before. Formerly known as Primagaz, she had set the previous Open 60 24-hour distance record of 540 nautical miles with Yvan’s older brother Laurent at the helm - sailing solo. Last year, the boat, then named Foncia and skippered by Yvan and Cam Lewis - who will lead a campaign in The Race aboard Team Adventure - came within 90 minutes of breaking the New York-to-Lizard Atlantic crossing. Success was so close, but a torn headsail prevented Foncia from avoiding a collision with an occluded low - and its associated light winds - about 10 degrees west. The wallowing which followed put the Denver Boot on an otherwise successful mission. Chess match According to Ken Campbell, the Quebec to St Malo race, like every ocean race, is a chess match between competing crew and weather routers "You know that the advice from the other guys is going to be just as good as yours, and its a real challenge," he said from his New Hampshire home this week. "There are certain gates you have to get through, certain weather features you have to catch to be successful." In the case of Yvan Bourgnon and Bayer, the immediate goal once clear of the Newfoundland coast was to catch a low pressure cell to the south east and ride its gradient winds without becoming bogged in windless high pressure ridges either side. At the same time, it was essential to avoid the windless centre of that low. True, the entire Atlantic had been in slow-down mode for some days, thanks to a blocking situation, but a new low over the Great Lakes was beginning to push the systems to the east. Now was the time to hitch a ride. At the time Biscuits La Trinitaine, skippered by Marc Guillemot, chose to do the same and sailed well south of the fleet, pushing through a ridge, expecting to take advantage of stronger gradient winds well beyond the centre of the low. "We knew our boat didn’t have the legs that the newer Biscuits would have," recalled Campbell. "We wanted to go south, but we also wanted to minimise the distance because sailing in light airs downwind we would not be as fast as the newer boats." Battling a ridge of high pressure From August 3, Yvan began to get breeze from the north west and the routing team back at Commanders’ headquarters felt Bayer was in good wind flow circulating around the top of the low pressure cell. "We felt we’d catch the low north of Biscuits," said Campbell, "but then a few hours later Yvan called us and said the wind had gone around to the south west." This was bad news. The wind shift signaled that Bayer was caught on the western edge of a high pressure ridge and was not close enough to the low pressure cell to take advantage of better winds. In fact, Bayer was unable to keep up with the low’s eastward progress. While the wind strength from the south west was ok, the slant was poor - dead downwind in fact. Yvan and crew worked hard to maintain 7-10 knots of boat speed and for the next 8 to 10 hours Bayer jibed through wind shifts - south-west to north-west and back again, fighting to get ahead of the high pressure ridge, but to no avail. "When you go through shifts, the crew is up and awake," reminds Campbell. "There’s no rest. The crew is getting fatigued and it is frustrating. It was becoming apparent that we wouldn’t make it through. Meanwhile, everybody from behind is catching up to Bayer with the next weather system. Sailing out of Tuesday and into Wednesday, Bourgnon was becoming concerned. After leading Bicuits La Trinitaine, Bayer En France was now 180 miles behind. "I said to Yvan, disregard the first goal, and set up for next weather pattern," recalled Campbell. "I urged him to sail further north and set up for a south west wind ahead of the next cold front. We weren’t going to beat these guys in a foot race in light winds." "I stated that we would really have to do well in the next weather pattern or we weren’t going to place." Record run The move paid dividends. Bayer positioned herself one degree further north than any boat in the fleet, including Groupama (which elected earlier to sail north, but corrected after Biscuits showed success). What she and Bourgnon discovered were steady 18-24 knot winds flowing from the south west between a ridge of high pressure and an encroaching frontal system. With winds pushing into an area of ocean previously dominated by light winds, there was no sea. Bayer was about to hitch the ride of her life. "I came into the office on August 7 to take over from George (George Caras, co-founder - with Ken Campbell - of Commanders’ Weather) and he commented how fast Bayer was moving," recalled Ken. It was soon clear that Bayer was on a record run and routers and crew had a decision to make - head for Fastnet Rock (a mandatory way mark in the Quebec to St Malo race) or sail further south, with wind abeam, and take advantage of the better slant to break the 24 hour distance record. Yvan made the decision to go for the record. Over the next six hours, Bayer’s boat speed climbed higher and higher, until it averaged more than 26.08 knots. To beat Club Med’s record, Bayer would have to exceed 26.07 knots for the 24 hours. According to Campbell, Bayer recorded 26.09 knots and would have maintained that speed for a while longer, except skipper and crew opted to return to the race as soon as the record was broken on August 7. What nobody realised was that a one minute lag time between hourly position reports meant that on paper, Bayer’s record was 24 minutes short. So, Bourgnon and crew sailed faster than Club Med for 23 hours and 36 minutes and would have sailed four miles further than Club Med over the 24 hours, but they didn't have reliable proof of doing so. As it stands, Bayer En France missed out on the record by a few tenths of a mile. Big deal "It’s symantics," states Cambell. " We’re really happy for Bourgnon and his ten year old boat. "It is a real pleasure to work with someone like Yvan and his brother Laurent and the boat goes so wicked fast when those guys drive it." © Jamie Brown/weather-wise.com 2000 At a glance:
Read all about it: Extracts from www.therace.org
More great reading:
Useful sailing sites: www.transat2000.com - The official home page for the Quebec to St Malo trans-Atlantic race. www.sail-online.com - news and information with a French flair. www.sailingworld.com - news from the publishers of Cruising World and Sailing World magazines. |