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View the race from your computer Weather router Jean-Yves Bernot talks tactics Which way to go in the TRANSAT? Ellen MacArthur and Kingfisher learn the ropes Roger
Badham of team Sail downwind in the Southern Ocean
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Heading for winning winds Ellen MacArthur leads the monohull fleet, and not because of good luck ... June 16, day 12. It seems that young lass aboard Kingfisher understands a thing or two about fickle weather. And to think she described weather routing as a weakpoint in her sailing resume! Macarthur gained plenty last night as she sailed south and caught just enough breeze of a small low pressure cell to increase her lead over her rivals by 60 miles. Meanwhile, other skipper who chose to stay north found themselves trapped by high pressure (Dominique Wavre, in particular). The sad thing is, if Wavre and Golding had actually stuck to their guns and really stayed north - like up off the Newfoundland coast line - they would have found themselves in fine south westerly winds up to 25 knots. Sure, it would have been yet another beat to windward, but that's better than being becalmed! For race leaders, it is now a game of cat and mouse to navigate through another section of high pressure before connecting with those brisk south-westerlies lying just off the coast. It seems that heading north, right now, according to the weather model used by Virtual Spectator, should be an advantage, because the deep low (075hPa) which has been developing over the Great Lakes looks to move east over the top of Newfoundland and drag its frontal cloud band with it. The Bermuda High should then fill to the north and as it rotates clockwise, its northern end will become a channel for west-south-west winds. Certainly, for the race leaders, it looks like a hot shower in Newport is on the cards for Saturday night/Sunday morning. Meanwhile, the low that formed yesterday in the mid-Atlantic, has developed quickly, crushing the fleet in classes two through five as it drove north-east right through their paths. A hot shower and a warm, dry bed is a long, long ways away for these poor folks! You can see isobar lines bunching together over the east coast of the US, indicating more wind, while further east there's not a lot of anything. Don't expect that low pressure area to develop any further. Hopefully for race leaders, there will be plenty of clear-headed thinking as they navigate through this latest calm and collect winning winds on the other side! Image courtesy of Intellicast. Now over Labrador, that deep low pressure cell is moving east, dragging its frontal cloud bands with it. Forecasters are calling for the front over New England waters tomorrow and weakening as its moves out to sea. However, winds being drawn along its south eastern flank should send monohull fleet leaders over the finish line. Image courtesy of Canadian Bureau of Meteorology Here's another view of that frontal system as it moves over the US eastern seaboard. Image courtesy of Yahoo! and WSI Corp. Pity the poor folks caught in the guts of this east Atlantic low! What started as an innocent-looking low pressure 'node' along a west-to-east low pressure trough, or cloud band, quickly turned into yet another headache for sailors in fleets two through five. A warm shower and a dry bed is not on the agenda. Image courtesy of the UK Met Office. Marine forecast for New England Waters 330 AM EDT FRI 16 JUN 2000 NEW ENGLAND CONTINENTAL SHELF AND SLOPE WATERS FROM 25 NM OFFSHORE TO THE HAGUE LINE...EXCEPT TO ONE THOUSAND FATHOMS S OF NEW ENGLAND. SYNOPSIS: A WARM FRONT WILL MOVE N OF THE REGION THIS MORNING. A RIDGE OF HIGH PRES WILL CONTINUE SE OF THE WATERS THROUGH SAT. A TROUGH OF LOW PRES WILL APPROACH THE AREA FROM THE W TONIGHT...THEN WEAKEN ON SAT...AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE WATERS FROM THE W LATE SAT. GULF OF MAINE TO THE HAGUE LINE : TODAY...S WINDS 15 TO 20 KT...BECOMING S TO SW 20 TO 25 KT LATE. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. AREAS OF FOG WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM. SCATTERED SHOWERS DEVELOPING. TONIGHT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND AREAS OF FOG...WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM. . SAT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 6 TO 8 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS...AND AREAS OF FOG...WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM. GEORGES BANK...FROM THE NORTHEAST CHANNEL TO THE GREAT SOUTH CHANNEL INCLUDING THE WATERS EAST OF CAPE COD...TO THE HAGUE LINE : TODAY...S TO SE WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S TO SW 15 TO 20 KT THIS AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. AREAS OF FOG WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM. .TONIGHT...SW WINDS INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT. AREAS OF FOG WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM. . SAT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 6 TO 8 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. PATCHY FOG. SOUTH OF NEW ENGLAND...FROM THE GREAT SOUTH CHANNEL TO HUDSON CANYON INCLUDING THE WATERS SOUTH OF MARTHAS VINEYARD AND NANTUCKET ISLAND...OUT TO ONE THOUSAND FATHOMS : TODAY...S WINDS 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING SW AND INCREASING TO 20 TO 25 KT LATE. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. PATCHY FOG. TONIGHT...SW WINDS 15 TO 25 KT. SEAS 4 TO 7 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. PATCHY FOG. SAT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT. SEAS 5 TO 8 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. PATCHY FOG. MARINE EXTENDED OUTLOOK .SAT NIGHT THROUGH TUE: A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE NW WATERS SAT NIGHT...THEN MOVE ACROSS THE REGION AND WEAKEN ON SUN. WEAK LOW PRES WILL MOVE NE ACROSS THE WATERS SUN NIGHT AND MON. HIGH PRES WILL BUILD INTO THE WATERS BY TUE. LIGHT TO MODERATE WINDS ARE EXPECTED SAT NIGHT THROUGH MON...WITH LIGHT WINDS MON NIGHT AND TUE. WINDS LEGEND: LIGHT...20 KT OR LESS. MODERATE...21 TO 33 KT. GALE...34 TO 47 KT. STORM...48 KT OR MORE. Often over the USA coastline in this season, West Atlantic high pressure systems come across (sometimes called the ‘Bermuda High’) and determine the conditions ahead. Weather for 16th & 17th June The high covers a majority of the West Atlantic, only deteriorating towards
38N by small lows circulating along the cold front. This is where the monohulls
in the lead are playing out their race tactics, trying to find one degree more
pressure, and thus more wind, next to the front. Strategy Simple in theory : Get into wind North of the small low which drifts along 38N, cross a patch of light wind, and position yourself South to benefit better from the SW winds to come tomorrow morning. In practice, they must avoid small wind holes which are impossible to locate. In my opinion, the skippers will be red-eyed from scrutinising satellite photos which they receive every 6 hours. Read our interview with Jean-Yves as he talks Atlantic tactics. Team Kingfisher and Ellen MacArthur report: POSITIONS IN MONOHULL fleet at 0716 GMT THURSDAY To dive south is to maintain a leading position ... The big high pressure system that¹s engulfing the leaders just now
threatened to hurt the more Northern boats most. But MacArthur was able to dive
far enough to the South to effectively cover her opponents, and hold the lead. Northern route proves fruitless ... In the pelting rain and freezing cold on a route more North with no respite of calmer winds, Dominique Wavre (8th place, 433 miles behind Ellen MacArthur) said, “ I am in really unpleasant conditions, and was horribly becalmed for part of the night. I am not well placed in relation to the oncoming weather system, and when you know the others are in wind…it’s really frustrating! I prefer too much wind than none at all.” Thierrry Dubois in cold storage ... 5th and 38 miles behind Mike Golding, Thierry Dubois (Solidaires) has reached the North Atlantic ‘ice compartment’. “I’m getting refridgerated what with the cold Labrador currents and Northerly winds. Last night, I had to wear gloves to do anything…” Tactically, Thierry hopes that new weather will open up the options for the next few days. “We are in a kind of procession right now. I hope that the race doesn’t end like this!” Arriving in Newport on Wednesday 14th June at 0631hrs local time, the exhausted victor of the Europe 1 New Man Star gave his first impressions of the whole race before going to get some well earned rest. He had only slept 2 hours in the last 3 days in order to maintain his lead over the threatening approach of Cammas & Guillemot. “The Europe1 New Man Star has a special appeal, it’s a race which I have been yearning to win. It has an original course and I welcomed the challenge of the extreme weather conditions. My boat ‘Eure et Loir’ is newer than some of the other multihulls in this race, but I have been handicapped with an old mast and sail inventory. But I prepared the boat thoroughly. ‘Eure et Loir’ have contributed significantly to helping me attain victory. “I was fired up to win this time, after the 1996 Transat, where I capsized in the lead over the Nantucket shoals. This time there haven’t been any big sponsors and I have had to finance my project partly from my own pocket. But for me the goal was really to take my offshore racing experience to greater heights and gain a greater understanding of the ocean… I wasn’t sure I’d win this race until about half an hour before I crossed the line, when I suddenly realised that neither Marco or Franck were in sight. I wasn’t greatly competitive in the final stretch as I had a problem with the gennaker. I started to look on the bright side when I saw that I could keep up with the others, despite the older sails and mast. The chance would only become available by taking off in a different direction and ending up in a better place then the others. So I worked had on this throughout the race. “As for any damages in this race, nothing great. Some trouble with the autopilot and my battens needed repairing and there was a 40cm rip in the main sail. Obviously I was particularly vigilant over the Newfoundland banks after the last time I capsized on them… “I think it was because I was more in touch with the the elements, that I won in the end. The last stretch was a straight route to the finish and there were many tactical options out there for us to play in the shifting winds. This victory is above all a personal triumph more than a call to arms for financial support for the project… In 1988, Philippe Poupon had ideal conditions compared to this year’s Transat, with two thirds of the race in strong headwinds, and then the opposite, light airs for the last third! I think the record was broken because we can get a better performance out of these trimarans now; 12 years ago, you could reach 11-12 knots upwind in bad weather, now it’s around 16 knots… but this race involved a great deal more boat maneouvring: sail settings, reefing, unreefing. We’ve been continuously optimising the sail configuration all the way across. And it is a physical endurance test too – the noise is deafening inside the boat and you have to hold on tight to stop yourself from being constantly knocked about.” Marc Guillemot analyses his race Marc Guillemot, second in at 2 hrs 38 minutes behind Francis Joyon, gave us his first reflections as he stepped of his trimaran Biscuits La Trinitaine at the end of the Europe 1 New Man Star. « Exhaustion from accumulated fatigue made me miss out on an avenue of
opportunity under the Newfoundland banks, and I did something that I didn’t
want to do. Originally, Pierre Lasnier and I had seen an opportunity South, but
not one which would pay for the first few days but in the last third of the
race. So I left Plymouth and headed straight South. Well, I got so tired, it was
such a slog physically and I wasn’t thinking properly. So I slipped off the
wind a fraction. Result : I found myself placed right behind Francis, Alain
& Franck. Top Three Positions : Race history: We have a full archive of daily weather notes for the Europe 1 New Man single-handed trans-Atlantic race, beginning June 4, 2000, from Plymouth, England. |