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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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Upwind all the way! There's not much choice: Fog and south westerlies look like the only item on the Grand Banks menu June 11, day 7. With 600 miles now separating the multihull and monohull fleets, they are travelling in very different weather systems. Approaching the south coast of Newfoundland, the trimarans will again sail under that same cloud band - in reality a long wave trough - that has been hanging around east of the Grand Banks for a few days. In the last 24 hours the cloud band has moved, becoming separated from its roots in the Gulf Stream and re-connecting to another path of the moist, high-level air flowing north from the US Gulf States over the Great Lakes and east over the Canadian Maritimes. It looks like more light weather - and fog - for the trimarans (but they love it!), while further west the leading monohulls are contending with gusting south-westerlies. However, the monohulls will also run into calm conditions in the north and with greater wind to the south of this cloud band, circulating around a high pressure cell which crosses most of the Atlantic, some rear guard might do well to choose a southerly route here. As Jean Yves Bernot pointed out in our interview with him recently, now is the time to make some serious tactical decisions whether to go north or south. Certainly for Dominique Wavre, aboard Union Bancaire Privee, his decision to leave the pack and sail way north yesterday will prove a huge mistake. Perhaps he thought he could circumvent the cloud band yesterday and gain stronger winds closer to that developing low east of Labrador. But with the relatively scant weather information aboard his yacht (race rules demand it) there was no way he could have predicted how that long wave trough - or cloud band - would snake its way around the western north Atlantic. High times ahead With the Bermuda High now developing over the US east coast, it certainly looks like lots more upwind sailing - perhaps all the way to Newport! Giovanni Soldini has pointed out that this race appears to be more upwind than previous events. Perhaps La Nina has something to do with it? For a detailed look at how La Nina and the jet stream affects winter weather in the North Atlantic, take a look at this article by Joe D'Aleo of Intellicast. This composite cloud/pressure map courtesy of Intellicast, shows a region of lighter winds west of Newfoundland approaching Nova Scotia. With multihull leaders located just south of Newfoundland on the Grand Banks, they appear to be entering yet another area of changeable conditions. The monohulls, meanwhile, are much further east, in a region of gusting south westerlies. The narrow isobar lines at the top right corner indicate stronger winds.
Race headquarters comments: Out of the calm and back into the bellows ... Michel Desjoyeaux has spent the majority of the night in a patch of calm, the same zone which cost Ellen MacArthur her first place. "The wind has returned: 25 knots from the SW. In the next 24 hours to come we should have 35/40 knots even if the weather is forecast to be less. I am under 1 reef in the main sail and staysail up front. I¹ve seen that Ellen has gone further South and that Roland is a little ahead of me. Last night I had some time to rest, perhaps a little too muchŠ but after this front, there will be a lot of work to do & I shall have to dodge the icebergs too, which are descending to 41°N. Soldini reckons it's an uphill battle ... The sucession of depressions encountered by the skippers of the Transat Europe 1 New Man Star have exhausted the boats and the skippers. Yesterday Giovanni Soldini battled for several hours trying to recover his staysail halyard which had come off the mast after the snapshackle broke. He had to climb the mast in quite a big swell. The night was no better as in an unstable wind Soldini had to keep tacking. "On my third transat, this is the first time which has had to sail so much of it upwind. Lalou hopes to save capsized tri ... Banque Populaire capsized yesterday (Saturday) morning at 0730hrs (French time). In permanent contact with his shore team, Lalou Roucayroll originally had not set off his distress beacon, as he is determined to save his boat. The ‘CROSSA Etel’ (sea rescue services), informed from the first moment, have warned all the cargo ships in that area so that they will avoid colliding with the trimaran. If he was to launch his Sarsat distress beacon, rescue services are obliged to assist him but not to rescue the boat. Lalou absolutely wants his boat to be salvaged ad told the Press Centre: “ I am quite safe on board the boat, the cabin floats above the water and I am dry. From what I can see, the foreward starboard bridge has broken, I can’t tell if it’s intact still or if the stern bridge may soon break too. In any case, I am not too stressed, the bulkheads are watertight and working fine. Late news: Lalou Roucayroll has set off his distress beacon after coming to an agreement with his shore team and Belgacom is heading towards the capsized Banque Populaire to offer assistance. Even later news: Lalou has been picked up by a cargo ship and is in good health. MacArthur loses lead in changeable conditions ... Advancing in the fog with 23-8 knots of wind, now in 2nd place and approaching the halfway mark across the Atlantic, Ellen knows that the race has a long way to go: "It’s good to have these changes for the competition," she said. "Last night I had no sleep watching the weather. The front came through and after the first tack, I had to get to the back of the boat to sort out an autopilot problem, when a shift came and I wasn¹t quick enough to react to it, so that was annoying. My knee is giving me some pain, too, when I’m on deck." Ellen’s sleep regime has been hard to maintain: " I haven¹t managed more than 2-3 hrs sleep every day. My active echo alarm disrupts me, for instance when a ship was on a collision course earlier, but the 10 minute naps make the world of difference. I can keep this pace for another week no problem." Ellen and fellow “petite Anglaise” Emma Richards both encouraged the other over the radio chat as they take the limelight from the French in this Transat let’s hope it’s a trend ! Jean-Yves
Bernot comments on race conditions "On Sunday, the depression forming over the Labrador coast advances to the Atlantic and its cold front will come down on the fleet during the day. "For the multihulls, a Westerly 25 knot wind is forecast with 30 – 35 knots with the passing of the front, then a NW 20 knot breeze, with squalls which will lessen to 15 knots in the day. "For the monohulls, the games continue: a West to South West 25 – 30
knot wind, gusting 35…the cold front will reach the fleet over the night of
11th and 12th June. Squalls of 30-35 knots, then a NW wind will come across
quickly next Monday. In the days after these, a high pressure system will follow
the depression through 48° N. The conditions should become better for all then." Read our interview with Jean-Yves as he talks Atlantic tactics. 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. |