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Halfway home! Club Med leads the fleet through Cook Strait after a remarkable Southern Ocean passage. Will the sailing be as plain in the southern Pacific? February 2, 2001 Halfway around the world and just a little more than a month at sea ... Seems funny that the great passenger steamships of old used to take six weeks to sail from Europe to Australia and New Zealand. We are, indeed, experiencing a new era of sail. So Club Med continues her lead as quietly and efficiently as always. She has racked up a very impressive daily average since entering the Southern Ocean - thanks to her extensive sail wardrobe, fine design and - perhaps most importantly - an excellent weather window. Tomorrow morning she passes through Cook Strait and re-enters the Southern Ocean. What's in store? Second-placed Innovation Explorer, meanwhile, has tried every trick in the book to inch closer to her rival. With a delaminating reacher, or genoa, Innovation Explorer has had to make do with a Solent Jib and main. To fill them she's had to look for stronger winds by heading south - as far as Heard Island on her record Indian Ocean Crossing. But it wasn't until she entered waters under Australia that she found something akin to real Southern Ocean Weather. There she road north-west winds ahead of a westerly change and clocked 605 miles in one 24 hour period. The distance was excellent, but it came at a price: A daggerboard was smashed and in the process it may have damaged a rudder. The big question now is whether Innovation Explorer will stop at Wellington - 48 hours minimum according to race rules - to load a new daggerboard and genoa. If Loick Peyron and Skip Novak's cat does make a stop-over, will it put their second place in jeopardy? After all, Team Adventure was in Cape Town for only a little more than two days to repair her damaged front beam. Slim chance we reckon. The southern Indian Ocean was so placid for Innovation Explorer and Club Med, that it is unlikely Team Adventure or Warta Polpharma will experience anything like it. Already the third and fourth-placed cats have had to struggle with frontal systems and heavy swell. Warta has headed well north to avoid the big seas. One week after leaving Cape Town, Team Adventure was north of the Crozet Islands - just 30 degrees to the east. Club Med was averaging that distance in less than three days. So what next? Cook Strait is a notorious stretch of water. Separating north and south island, and including the scenic Marlborough Sounds, the strait has big tides washing between the Tasman sea on one side and the Southern Ocean on the other. Sail in this stretch of water with wind against current, and short choppy seas are the result. Add to that a big south-west swell, and conditions can be downright dangerous. Club Med and Innovation Explorer, however, appear to have timed their arrival with a big, beautiful summertime high, measuring 1029hPa. Clear skies and plenty of sun will greet them as they pass Nelson at the western end of the strait - reputed to the the country's sunniest place anyway. Once through the strait there are more urgent things to consider. A tropical influence? Ex-tropical low pressure systems have been tracking south just east of New Zealand and they should have had the potential to affect Club Med as she returns to the Southern Ocean. But it seems the boys in blue are blessed with good fortune, and models predict a big westerly flow to push under New Zealand. There is every chance it could carry Club Med half-way to Cape Horn and beyond. Even if Innovation Explorer does make a pit-stop at Wellington, it should be able to take advantage of these winds. Funny thing - about two days's sailing east of New Zealand lies complicated weather: Ridges of high pressure forcing deep into the Southern Ocean, and blocking patterns. Neptune must still be smiling on these guys! © weather-wise.com 2001 Fleet positions A big blocked high in the Tasman Sea and a couple big, bad-assed lows pushing through the Australian Bight: This is what we a re looking at right now. With Club Med in the Cook Strait, and innovation Explorer in hot pursuit, models are predicting more westerly winds for the leading cats. It seems these guys are blessed, because the weather just ahead of them is awfully convoluted! There have been ex-tropical lows moving south, ridges of high pressure and more blocking situations. Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. Five day pressure forecast for the
south west Pacific Images courtesy of Tim Hume, University
of Wellington According to the US Aviation model, customised for New Zealand waters and the Southern ocean, it look like Grant Dalton, Franck Proffitt and Club Med will be hitching yet another ride on a band of westerly winds, soon after clearing Chatham Island, south-east of Wellington. They are expected to pass Wellington on the evening of February 2, GMT - early morning on February 3 local time - and should re-enter the Southern Ocean soon after. Innovation Explorer in second place and gaining - for the moment - may stop at Wellington for new equipment. But if she leaves ASAP after her enforced 48 hour stay is over, she too could hitch a ride as a deep low pushes east under New Zealand and westerly winds come closer to the coast. Upper levels winds Yup. Looks messy, eh? You can see here the jet stream rotating to the north through the Tasman Sea, effectively locking in place a high pressure cell on the surface. This blocked high looks like remaining for several days to come, and along with a vigorous monsoonal trough has helped flood the east coast of Australia ... but that is another story. For the leading cats in The Race, a wicked westerly flow - already visible as a straight jet stream under Australia - is predicted to push to the east underneath the Tasman Sea, forcing that blocked high a little to the north. It must be a strong system to push so hard, and it appears Club Med will grab yet another wild ride on the Southern Ocean highway. So too will Innovation Explorer, if she doesn't waste time in Wellington! Image courtesy of Aviation Weather Centre
More great reading: Catch up on all the past action in our race archive. Here it from the horse's mouth at race headquarters. Follow the action between the world's toughest solo skippers in the Vendee Globe. Re-live the Sydney to Hobart yacht race! Break ice in the Ross Sea! |