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A new Indian Ocean record A kinder, gentler Southern Ocean allowed Club Med, then Innovation Explorer, to knock more than a day off the Cape Town to Cape Leeuwin record Feb1, 2001 When you think of the Southern Ocean, images of ugly grey beards spring to mind. Cold, savage seas ready to drown ships and crew who dare to meet the stare of this beautiful beast. Ha! Talk to those on board Club Med and Innovation Explorer, and they'll tell you it's all a pack of lies. Why, safety harnesses weren't even brought on deck, if you listen to Skip Novak's report sent to race headquarters. The swell has been so meek and mild that these big maxi cats haven't been able to really get up and surf. Hell, any old fool can sail in these latitudes and break records ... right? Talk to Russian explorer and Vendee Globe skipper Fedor Konyukhov and you'll hear a very different story. He's pulling into Sydney and out of the race after an awful Indian Ocean crossing, during which he experienced the worst storm of his life. So who's telling fibs? No one. This is the Southern Ocean. Kind one minute, evil the next. Or maybe we should put it like this: Sleeping one minute, busy, busy, busy the next. Like the crushed ant stuck to the toddler's knee, some critters are just in the wrong place at the wrong time! Certainly for Club Med and innovation Explorer, they were in the right place and we now wonder how long this new Indian Ocean record will last. It will fall, eventually, but my guess is it will stand for a long time to come. The previous record - from the longitude passing through the Cape of Good Hope to the longitude passing through Cape Leeuwin - was set by Olivier de Kersauson aboard Sport-Elec during one of his Jules Verne, 'round the world record attempts. First Club Med shattered that record with a crossing of seven days, 18 hours followed by Innovation Explorer in seven days 14 hours. Funny thing, the weather window was just about perfect - and in a race that is unusual. Specific record attempts rely on waiting for a weather window. These guys simply stumbled into it. Fleet positions Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. Out of the South Atlantic High and into the westerlies below 40 degrees. Club Med (blue line) is shown here riding the top of a complex low pressure cell, while another forms behind him. Note the number of centres comprising the low south of Club Med. The result is a long and consistent band of westerly winds riding over the top. The elongated South Atlantic High helps to drive these winds along a straight line. Southern Indian Ocean January 20, 1800gmt Image courtesy of Intellicast. One day later and Club Med is below the Cape of Good Hope, riding winds behind a frontal cloud band stretching to the south-east from the Cape. Winds are moderate - 20-25 knots - and the seas are less than three metres. The South Atlantic High is clearly visible, while several elongated high extend across the Indian Ocean. Note the elongated ridge of high pressure pushing under Australia. This pattern will continue for the next week. January 23, 1500gmt Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. Serious speed: Club Med (blue line) and Innovation Explorer (green Line) flirt with high pressure at the edge of westerly winds. Because of a damaged reacher, Innovation Explorer dives south to find winds between 35-40 knots so they can fly their Solent jib, while Club Med stays in 20-25 knots of wind further north. This really is plain sailing, and both boats are clocking in excess of 500 miles each and every day! January 23, 1800gmt Image courtesy of Intellicast. Below the blob of cloud south of Madagascar is where Innovation Explorer is sailing, while Club Med is further east, and slightly north, approaching Kerguelen - marked as a black spec in the mid-southern Indian Ocean. They passed the island the next day. Note the big blob of high pressure directly south of Cape Town and just north of Antarctica, where stratocumulus cloud is swirling aimlessly. This high pressure, and the large windless area of ocean, helped to reduce swell from the south-west, making travel smooth for leading skippers in The Race. January 24, 1430gmt Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. A low begins to develop to the north of Innovation Explorer - as one would expect: This corner of the Indian Ocean is known as a cyclogenesis area. Club Med, meanwhile benefits from north-west winds ahead of the low's frontal cloud to scoot further east. Note the elongated high in the Indian Ocean, helping to drive steady westerly winds along its southern boundary. January 25, 1500gmt Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. That low north of innovation Explorer fails to develop into a strong system, but its frontal cloud moves quick enough to overtake Club Med as it leaves Kerguelen behind. January 25, 00gmt Image courtesy of Intellicast. Here's the infra-red view 15 hours earlier. Innovation Explorer is underneath the loosely defined cloud west of Kerguelen while Club Med - west of the island - is riding tailwinds to the north of low pressure. Can you see the huge high pressure zone in the Indian Ocean It stretches from Mozambique to Western Australia, and has started to ridge under the island continent. In fact, the low below Cape Leeuwin will help to stall that ridge of high, but that is another story .... Perhaps the only relevant factor to this conversation is that it goes to show that Club Med and Innovation Explorer were in just the right spot for fast sailing over long distances! Southern Indian Ocean surface
pressure Image courtesy of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. Here's the surface pressure map - and boy oh boy doesn't it look different to the cloud map! Both Club Med and Innovation Explorer are riding westerlies between the two fronts, south-west of Australia. This is a perfect place to be and thanks to the big balloon of high pressure to the north, steady westerly winds are guaranteed. Southern Indian Ocean Jet Stream Image courtesy of the Australian
Bureau of Meteorology Another look at the westerly flow in the southern Indian Ocean: The jet stream proves it. No kinks, no major bends, just a gently waving flow. Kerguelen is on longitude 70 degrees, the same as innovation Explorer, and Club med is about 10 degrees further east. Note the big kink in the jet south of Australia. That is a blocking situation and would have slowed the pace if these boats happened to be further east. As it happened, the blocking possibly slowed down the two frontal systems cradling Club Med and innovation Explorer. Instead of losing touch with these weather systems, they were able to hang on for days to come. If the blocking situation was stronger, and the front to the east of Club Med weaker, this result might not have happened. Both cats would have run ahead of their wind makers and wallowed in high pressure. Hmmm ... seems like Neptune was in a good mood. January 28, 1430gmt Picture courtesy of Virtual Spectator. For three days Club med and innovation Explorer sat in the same system - Club Med remained tucked behind a large frontal system riding south-west flow while Innovation Explorer surfed the north-west winds of a front looming from behind. At one point they were so far south they could see Heard Island - 400 miles south-east of Kerguelen. This was real Tilman stuff for Skip Novak! These were the most stable of conditions since entering the Southern Ocean, and they pushed the boats to their limits. Conditions continued right under the Australian Bight. Innovation Explorer recorded 605 miles in one 24 hour period, but broke a daggerboard in the process. Fast reaching conditions for both boats only faded when a high in the Tasman forced the westerly stream further south. With Cook Strait as a required way point, Club Med was forced off the Southern Ocean highway ... and off the pace for a possible 'round the world record. January 28, 00gmt Image courtesy of Intellicast. With a big ridge of high pressure pushing in under Australia, westerly winds continue to flow in a straight line. The next day, Club Med set the record for an Indian Ocean crossing: in Seven Days 18 hours. Innovation Explorer followed by bettering that time by four hours. Note the blob of high pressure well south of Kerguelen. Again, this probably helped to reduce swell from the south-west, keeping the ocean relatively calm (three metres and less) and helping these maxi cats go their hardest. © Jamie Brown/weather-wise.com 2001 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. How Yvan Bourgnon nearly beat Club med in an Open 60 trimeran! Re-live the Sydney to Hobart yacht race! Break ice in the Ross Sea! |