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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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Here they come! One last tricky cold front before a warm shower June 18, day 14. With all eyes to starboard, race leaders are looking to see what, exactly this next cold front will bring. Normally, south westerly winds prior to the cloud band will be followed by north westerlies filling in from behind, but with the jet stream to the east in kinky mode and a weak low developing within the southern extremity of this front, things are likely to be different. Yesterday, race leaders were debating whether north or south was the best route to take, with the northerners reaching southwesterly winds first, but facing a long beat to Newport if the change failed to materialise. Southerners would get the southwesterly winds later, but gain speed with a better slant towards the finish line. Now, it looks like the northwesterlies will be weak, if anything, as the front moves out to sea and evaporates. And forecasters are calling for a low to develop and track to the north east, bringing skippers to its north winds from astern. With anything up to 15 knots of breeze from behind, it should make for an exciting finish - expected sometime tonight. After tomorrow, it looks like the high will continue to dominate, moving slowly eastwards as the kink in the jet stream above straightens out. There will be a lot more fickle winds with plenty of fog where warm air off the Bermuda high hits colder waters. While skippers in classes two through five had more than their share of wind in the eastern Atlantic, it looks like they can hang their washing out to dry in the west! Keep an eye on this cold front trying to cross the New England coast. It has been slowly working its way to the east over the last couple of days, hampered by a big slow-down in the west-east movement of weather, thanks to that convoluted jet stream we talked about yesterday. However, forecasters are saying the low attached to the southern end of this cold front should move offshore tonight and produce light east to south-east winds for skippers approaching Newport. The front will then stall and deteriorate. However, east to south-east winds up to 15 knots will kick the front-runners home sometime tonight. Image courtesy of Intellicast. That convoluted jet stream we talked about yesterday is still visible in the mid-Atlantic and should keep the Bermuda High stationary for another few days. As a result, light winds should persist off the New England coast after this next cold front moves offshore and weakens. Image courtesy of Intellicast Same as yesterday: That kink in the jet stream is still clearly visible (as a pink line) and will play a big role in stalling weather systems to the west. While the cold front crossing the New England coast will create enough puff to kick the winner home, skippers further east will have to contend with more light air. Image courtesy of the Aviation Weather Centre Marine forecast for New England Waters 330 AM EDT SUN 18 JUN 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 COLD FRONT JUST OFF THE NEW ENGLAND COAST WILL MOVE SE ACROSS THE WATERS TODAY...AND BECOME STATIONARY ACROSS THE FAR SW PORTION BY THIS EVENING. LOW PRES WILL DEVELOP INLAND ON THE FRONT TODAY...THEN MOVE E NE ACROSS THE FAR S WATERS TONIGHT AND MON. HIGH PRES WILL BUILD E INTO THE NORTH WATERS TONIGHT AND MON. GULF OF MAINE TO THE HAGUE LINE . TODAY...W TO NW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...BECOMING E TO SE 10 KT OR LESS THIS AFTERNOON. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT...HIGHEST S. AREAS OF FOG. . TONIGHT...WINDS BECOMING E TO NE AND INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KT OVER THE S PORTION AND 10 TO 15 KT OVER THE N PORTION. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT...HIGHEST S. SCATTERED SHOWERS DEVELOPING OVER FAR S PORTION. PATCHY FOG. MON...WINDS BECOMING VARIABLE LESS THAN 10 KT. SEAS SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FT...HIGHEST S. SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER FAR S PORTION. GEORGES BANK...FROM THE NORTHEAST CHANNEL TO THE GREAT SOUTH CHANNEL INCLUDING THE WATERS EAST OF CAPE COD...TO THE HAGUE LINE . TODAY...SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT...SHIFTING TO N BY LATE MORNING...THEN BECOMING E TO SE LESS THAN 10 KT LATE IN THE DAY. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. AREAS OF FOG WITH VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM.. . TONIGHT...WINDS BECOMING E TO NE 10 TO 15 KT...EXCEPT S TO SW OVER FAR S PORTION. SEAS 4 TO 5 FT. LIGHT RAIN AND FOG OCCASIONALLY LOWERING VSBY BELOW 1 NM. MON...WINDS BECOMING NE 15 TO 20 KT THROUGHOUT. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN CHANGING TO SCATTERED SHOWERS. 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...FAR SW PORTION...W TO SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT INCREASING TO 15 TO 20 KT THIS AFTERNOON. REMAINDER OF THE AREA...W TO SW WINDS 10 TO 15 KT SHIFTING TO NE BY LATE MORNING...THEN BECOMING E TO SE 10 KT THIS AFTERNOON. SEAS 4 TO 6 FT THROUGHOUT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND TSTMS...WITH AREAS OF FOG...AND VSBY OCCASIONALLY LESS THAN 1 NM . TONIGHT...WINDS BECOMING NE 15 KT...EXCEPT S TO SW 15 KT OVER FAR SE PORTION. SEAS 4 TO 5 FT. RAIN...FOG AND SCATTERED TSTMS OCCASIONALLY LOWERING VSBY BELOW 1 NM. MON...WINDS BECOMING E TO NE 10 TO 15 KT THROUGHOUT. SEAS 3 TO 5 FT. RAIN ENDING AND VSBY IMPROVING. MARINE EXTENDED OUTLOOK: MON NIGHT THROUGH THU... HIGH PRES WILL BUILD TOWARDS THE COAST MON NIGHT...MOVE OFFSHORE TUE...AND THEN PASS E OF THE WATERS TUE NIGHT AND WED... WITH LIGHT WINDS. A WARM FRONT WILL LIFT NE ACROSS THE WATERS WED NIGHT...FOLLOWED BY A COLD FRONT APPROACHING THE COAST THU...BRINGING LIGHT TO MODERATE WINDS. WINDS LEGEND: LIGHT...20 KT OR LESS. MODERATE...21 TO 33 KT. GALE...34 TO 47 KT. STORM...48 KT OR MORE. Photo: Gilles Martin Raget Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) is no more than 180 miles from the finish and should reach Newport at around 22 hrs UT today Sunday. God willing, and unless there is some unforeseeable circumstance to stop her, the yellow bow of her new Open 60 ‘Kingfisher’ should cross the line first. In her wake, wars are being lost and won for the podium still.Roland Jourdain (Sill Beurre Le Gall) had a scare when his forestay broke upwind in 25 – 30 knots and he had to sail off on the wrong heading without the best sail up for the conditions he was in. Mike Golding (Group 4), sure of his game plan, caught him to within 0.1 of a mile at 2220hrs (Fr time) last night. Mike Golding definitely had the most fortunate conditions over night, further North and with more wind from the NW. However, the wind shift didn’t come soon enough and as he predicted, if it didn’t move round early on, he wouldn’t get round the coast of Novia Scotia. In the early hours of this morning Mike had to tack on to his bad side to avoid taking up‘rock-climbing’, recalling his starboard dagger board and casing damage of late. ‘Bilou’ has since fixed the forestay and has gained 17 miles on Mike on a more comfortable heading this morning. We should see more action between these two though, as the countdown in to the last hours begins today. Last night has also seen a strong comeback from Catherine Chabaud (Whirlpool), who waited patiently to attack Thierry Dubois (Solidaires) when the right moment came, and after covering the most miles last night, this morning finds herself a little mile ahead of Solidaires and back into 4th place. From now on, their course will resemble more a greyhound race as they come into the final stretch to Newport, as the two are on the same starboard tack and on practically the same axe. We shall see no doubt some good battles still ahead. Rankings on18 June 2000 at 0320 UT: In the smaller classes, Andrea Gancia (Nastro Azzurro) has yet again not been positioned, frustrating for Emma Richards (Pindar) still in second place and unable to estimate where or how far away he is. In the multihull class 2, Hervé Cléris retains 9 miles lead over Franck Yves Escoffier. The other main news is that Pieter Adriaans of Class 4 boat ‘Syllogic’ has decided to abandon the race due to multiple problems on the boat which he is unable to fully repair and is on route to the Azores.
June 17 The race out of the troughs has had a victim or two yesterday: The low situated at 38 N seems to have taken Whirlpool in its grip. A few miles further along, Catherine Chabaud was left at stand still for a lot of the day, when her rivals managed to escape the trap. Golding (Team Group 4) in the North has gained miles over night. However when the wind stabilises over the US coast from the SW, he may not be in such a good position. June 18 Strategy Seahorse : It’s time to just go for it. With a bit of luck, the best could still come to pass. Sea Lion: Don’t dream too much, you are already in a good position, and leave those lazy frogs behind ! Lone Albatross : What energy ! Use your renewed power to redress the past battles with those cousins across the channel ! Penguin : Have courage ! Don’t be succumbed by the charms of the ‘Disco Latino’. Neptune is in your sign… Team Kingfisher and Ellen MacArthur report: Saturday, June 13, 07.30 gmt KINGFISHER has increased her lead to 82 miles as the leaders touch new south
westerly winds and thick thick fog. 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. |