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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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Almost home and hosed! Ellen MacArthur leads the Open 60 monohulls to a fairy-tale win while damage amongst the rear guard is still being assessed June 17, day 13. The leading monohulls have left the bubble of high pressure that has truly tested their frayed nerves. Having sailed slightly north of their position yesterday, they connected with a band of south westerly winds blowing around the Bermuda High and along a cold front sweeping in from the US east coast. Now, in winds predicted to increase beyond 25 knots, the leading skippers are expected into Newport in race record time. However, for sailors further east, more fickle winds are on the menu as a blocked high pressure cell takes shape. Forecasters are calling for the high to remain in position east of New England through Wednesday, which should really slow things down for skippers in the vicinity of its centre. For those further east, the blocked high might present a good opportunity to beat into consistent trades. What do we mean by a 'blocked high'? Like its name suggests, it is an area of high pressure trapped in position, usually for several days. What causes it? A kink in the jet stream is usually behind the scenes, created by the position of intense low pressure cells. In this case, the jet stream is currently flowing north-east along a cold front that is expected to cross the coast today. The jet then turns sharply south about mid-Atlantic before turning sharply north again towards that low pressure cell which clobbered much of the fleet in classes two through five over the previous two days. Often a long-wave trough, or cloud band further downstream (to the west) will also help stall the procession of weather systems upstream. Like the chicken and egg debate, no one is sure what starts the process, but when working together they all help to create a blocking high. There is some good news for skippers in the western Atlantic: After days of freezing conditions associated with the cold Labrador current, some sailors have 'popped' out of this cold stream into the warm Gulf Stream. See Jean-Yves Bernot describe the situation below, but basically the two currents exist side by side, flowing in opposite directions. Because the two currents are so different in temperature and so close together, sailing across their boundaries is a rare experience. Gloves and beanie one moment, flying fish and t-shirts the next! Here's the synoptic chart for the Atlantic (June 17 00gmt). You can see a kink in the cloud band over the central Atlantic. This kink reflects the path of the jet stream above it. Expect this situation to remain in place for a few days. Image courtesy of Intellicast. This image of the Atlantic (June 17 06gmt) clearly shows the path of the jet stream as reflected in clouds. At the centre of it all is that wicked low pressure cell which clobbered the smaller boats in the TRANSAT 2000 over the previous two days. Image courtesy of Intellicast This chart says it all: The jet stream is shown here (June 17 06gmt) as a line in pink (warm fronts on the surface are in red, cold fronts in blue). Note how the pink line zig-zags all the way across the Atlantic and into Europe. The sharp corners north and south almost defy the logical flow of winds! This is a classic blocking situation and in the case of the Bermuda High, this crazy weather pattern will lock things in place for several days. Image courtesy of the Aviation Weather Centre Marine forecast for New England Waters 330 AM EDT SAT 17 JUN 2000 A COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE N NEW ENGLAND COAST
SUN...WINDS BECOMING S TO SE AND DECREASING TO 10 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 3 TO
4 FT. WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND PATCHY FOG. TONIGHT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT SHIFTING TO N TO NW 15 TO 20 KT LATE. SEAS 6 TO 7 FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. AREAS OF FOG. SUN...WINDS BECOMING E TO SE AND DECREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING TO
4 TO 5 FT. WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND PATCHY FOG. TONIGHT...SW WINDS 20 TO 25 KT SHIFTING TO N TO NE 15 KT LATE. SEAS 6 TO 7
FT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS. PATCHY FOG. .SUN...WINDS BECOMING S TO SE AND
DECREASING TO 10 TO 15 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FT. WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS
AND PATCHY FOG.
Damage at the back of the fleet ... The rest of the fleet are suffering from yet more gale force conditions.In Class 3 Danish sailor Erling Jensen (Amoureuse) is heading towards the Azores to repair several damages on his boat. In Class 2, Pieter Adriaans (Syllogic) has declared to the race organisation that he is thinking of making his way to Halifax (North of Newport) as he is extremely exhausted, but otherwise fine. In Class 5, the young British skipper Jason Baggaley (Ana) had to set of his EPIRB yesterday after his boat capsized and was subsequently dismasted. He was thankfully rescued by a cargo ship bound for Sweden. For the more fortunate, the race continues. In the front-runners of Class 2, the trimaran of Hervé Cléris (Tenez bon les enfants) is becalmed 22 miles from his nearest rival Franck Yves Escoffier (Deleage) . The monohull fleet has 1000 miles to go, and Andrea Gancia (Nastro Azzurro) stays ahead but Emma Richards (Pindar) has clung on defiantly and remains only 6 or so miles behind. Jean Marie Arthaud (Biotonic) has a big lead in Class 3 but without radar is unable to cross the iceberg zone and must instead cross through the high pressure. In the multihulls ‘M’Pulse is not fixed, and it is either David Credey or Didier Levillain who leads this dance. In Class 4, 6 boats are not fixed. In their absence, Victor Yazykov (Wind of Change) takes charge on his Open 40. And finally in Class 5, 6 boats are not fixed, and with the sad loss of ‘Ana’, and the rescue of skipper Jason Baggaley, it is Raymond Elliot in ‘Spirit of Amport’ ahead, still with 2000 miles to go ! Flying fish and warm water ... Still in Kingfisher’s wake, Roland Jourdain has been progressing in fits and starts over the last day. " It’s because of the weather, sometimes I get going, other times I just stop. But Sill is okay apart from small electronic problems and naturally worn sails from the continuous heavy weather. But yesterday afternoon was fantastic, sailing under main sail and gennaker, then genoa two hours of surfing. Now I can see flying fish and the water is 22 degrees." Dominique Wavre breaks a boom ... In the middle of the night (Saturday Morning for us) disaster struck for the Swiss skipper Dominique Wavre (UBP). “I was going along at 12 nots upwind, main sail full, when I heard a terrible noise. The boom had just cracked 1 metre in length. I couldn’t think of a reason as to why this would have happened. It broke where there is a considerable pressure point: where the main sheet meets the end of the boom.” The skipper is reviewing his situation. “I must continue to Newport but only under a reefed mainsail as I can only go at 70% of the boat’s normal potential.” He was 9th in the Class 1 monohull fleet at the time. Mike Golding breaks a daggerboard ... Mike Golding (Team Group 4) was equally surprised to hear how much he had caught up over night as he fell victim to a “UFO”: "I struck an object in the water about 2am, I’ve still no idea what it was, perhaps a whale or container, but it smashed the Starboard dagger case and cut 2 inches into the hull. I had to make emergency repairs with epoxy resin to stop more than 2 tons of water flooding in. So how I managed to get ahead I don’t know!" Many have said he is playing it safe sticking to the more direct route : "I thought I was the brave one staying put! My starboard daggerboard problems have kept me more on the right of the fleet. I thought the others were taking more of a gamble as the system they got into was quite risky. I got more pressure, albeit not on any better angle than them, but I gained consistently. Now the issue is when the wind shifts, it’s due to go to the NW and so boats on the right will gain... simply if it shifts in the next 12 hours that’s good for me, if not then it’s not good! I am fully intending to pass Sill and gain dramatically on Kingfisher." We had better watch out for this Lion of the sea! The skippers passed from full oilskins to T-shirts in a few hours, without having to change their route towards the south too much. This is because the warm Gulf Stream meets the freezing Labrador Current – hence hot and cold together. The Gulf Stream brings tropical waters from the Gulf of Mexico across the strait of Florida, along the US continental plateau, right over to Western Europe and the Norwegian coast. The Labrador current flows down from along the Newfoundland coastline, Novia Scotia then New England, right up to 35 N. With it come icebergs, and as if ‘Mr Labrador’ is ashamed of what he is doing, the current shrinks back to the American coastline. The difference of temperature between hot and cold could reach about 10 degrees over a distance of 50 – 60 miles. The colour of the water passes from grey-green to deep blue. The fog lifts from the cold sea and ventures no further South. The effect of this climatic change is important: Heating up the East side of the Atlantic and cooling the West. Team Kingfisher and Ellen MacArthur report: 07.30gmt Friday, June 16: An extremely tired Ellen MacArthur called in at 0630...
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. |