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The Azores High: One last hurdle Desjoyeux and MacArthur joust for the lead as they leave the doldrums behind and focus on how to tackle the volatile North Atlantic in its wildest season Meanwhile, that determined skipper, Yves Parlier, has captured the hearts of his people with a bold repair job in New Zealand and subsequent sail towards the Horn February 1, 2001 This is it. The doldrums are over and there is only one major meteorological hurdle to jump: The North Atlantic High. Like its southern counterpart, this phenomena is also named after the islands it typically finds itself sitting on: The Azores. In summer, you can expect the bubble of high pressure to neatly surround these islands, with winds revolving clockwise around its edges. Now, however, it is winter. And February is a windy month for the North Atlantic. The number of storms brewing along the east coast of the US reaches its peak right now, and this year the number of nor'-easters appears to be high. The result? Powerful front, after front is sweeping the Atlantic from their source about 60 degrees north all the way south to 20 degrees. Expect winds to race from the south-west along the eastern edge of these fronts, squeezing the Azores High into a cigar-shaped bubble of high pressure. With strong winds on one side of a high, you can usually expect strong winds on the other. Powerful north-east trade winds are the result of these strong, frontal systems. For Vendee Globe race leaders, this will be the hardest upwind bash yet. The trick on this last leg is to keep gear from failing. But with the two leaders so close - and so determined - expect each of them to take their yachts, and their selves, to the limit. Considering that MacArthur and Desjoyeaux were within five miles of each other in doldrums, and now remain less than 50 miles apart - it is incredulous that they have survived more than 22,000 miles and three months of hard ocean sailing. Will ocean racing ever compete with this year's Vendee Globe? Upwind, or ease sheets? Whether skippers will sail east and upwind all the way to Cape Finisterre, or slacken sheets and sail north over the top of the Azores High, remains to be seen. Certainly, in the last Vendee Globe, Marc Thiercelin and Herve Laurent chose different routes around the high on their approach to the finish, and while Thiercelin had better sailing conditions, the extra speed wasn't enough to justify the longer distance. Laurent - skippering a boat better-suited to upwind sailing - beat him through the high pressure centre and emerged on the other side ahead of his rival. However, Theircelin overtook Laurent in the Bay of Biscay to finish second-pace, 45 minutes ahead of Laurent at Les Sables d'Olonne. At the moment, models point a low forming over the Azores and tracking south-east beginning February 3, with the result being northerly winds within the north-east trade wind belt. Crossing the doldrums The return leg, up the Atlantic, gave Vendee Globe yachts the opportunity to cross the inter-tropical convergence zone further west than on their journey south last November. With winds lightest in the east, thanks to a shadowing effect from the African continent, it should be expected that trades would come closest together towards the Brazilian coastline. Of course, too far west and winds end to swing around to the north. Neither Desjoyeux nor MacArthur made that mistake, both choosing wisely where they crossed, and Desjoyeux confident that his position further west of MacArthur would pay dividens. When you look at their position on the chart, it is almost ludicrous to think that the little distance between 'the professor' and 'Joan d'Arc' would have mattered. But it did. Desjoyeux caught the north-east trades a few hours before MacArthur and glided ahead. At the time, MacArthur was leading by five miles. MacArthur has not forgiven herself for placing Kingfisher to the east of Desjoyeux. She blames it on sleeping for too long, after an exhausting climb up the mast for yet another halyard repair job. Secrets of the ITCZ To repeat from last week - here are some tips for crossing the doldrums from legend weather routers: Ken Campbell, Commanders Weather (Team Adventure): "In equatorial regions, I do not know of any way of forecasting cloud development. Basically, we look for a spot with a narrow or narrowest band of concentrated clouds and go for it. To a certain extent it is hope and pray, but that is weather forecasting anyway!" Do you take into account upper level winds carrying moisture from the "I use all the high resolution satellite pictures (infra red, water vapor and visible) for the mean inter-tropical convergence zone position, real time satellite derived winds and model-predicted winds. "We try to skirt all the major cumulonimbus (there are light winds directly underneath these thunderstorms) and use the edges (where downdrafts flow outwards), especially at night. Upper level winds and jet-stream cloud to the north are not used at all." So there you are: All that science and training, and still the doldrums are something of a mystery! Just a note on thunderstorms in the tropics. Weak winds at upper levels generally prevents these boiling blobs of moisture from spinning, or rotating, so downdrafts and updrafts have no way of remaining separate. Warm air updrafts feed these storms and without them they die. As a result, cumulonimbus in the tropics typically explodes high into the sky during the heat of the day only to collapse down on itself. © weather-wise.com 2001 Fleet positions With 2681 miles to Les Sables d'Olonne, just 75 miles separates Desjoyeux from MacArthur. Pretty incredible, but the pair were just five miles apart in the Doldrums. In this position report, the two leaders are shadowing each other, with Marc Thiercelin in pursuit, while Roland Jourdain has opted to stay west. We look forward to the result! Fleet positions Michael Desjoyeaux and Ellen MacArthur are just 16 miles apart at this point - after three months and 22,000 miles of flat-chat ocean racing! Pictures courtesy of Virtual Spectator. Five day wind forecast for the
North Atlantic
Image courtesy of NOAA. Being winter in the North Atlantic, the north-east trade winds are much more powerful than those to the south of the doldrums, and the weather systems are much more routine - one powerful front after another crosses the north Atlantic from the eastern US to the west coast of Europe. As a result, the North Atlantic High, otherwise known as the Azores High, is compressed into an elongated strip of light airs. However, look closely at NOAA's four day model and you can see a low created out of a frontal cloud band, and tracking south east towards the Canary Islands. Will leading Vendee Globe skippers choose an upwind slog all the way to Cape Finisterre, or ease sheets stay on a northerly heading, travel faster but further ... Keep an eye on that low and the moves these talented skippers make! North Atlantic animated
infra-red cloud image Image courtesy of Intellicast. This animated image shows the speed of weather systems crossing the North Atlantic right now. It is pretty hard to see a clear 'Azores High', Instead there are pockets of high pressure, appearing as dark blue blobs, between the frontal systems. January 30: What a relief. The last 2 days were so hard. We touched the Trade Winds finally towards the end of yesterday. Mich's move to the west certainly paid for him as he got the wind first, once I lost my westerly position I never had the opportunity to get back there. I think he got the breeze about 10 hours before me - our exit ticket from the frustrations of the Doldrums. So I'm not surprised that he has got away, but I'm still kicking myself for my mistake 3 days ago when I fell asleep after climbing the mast, and let the boat head further east. I always wanted to be west, but that moment of fatigue lost me that advantage. At least the repair was done, but I can't help thinking where I would be if I'd held that more westerly position going in to the calms. January 31: Right now I have to gain miles to the North as quickly as possible. In 3 4 days time we¹ll know more from the weather files and then adopt a strategy for the Azores anticyclone. The forecasts aren¹t so reliable that far ahead. I never lost the lead (to MacArthur in the Doldrums), as I was always
further North and to the West and the route was always to go North towards the
Azores. The way out was to be in the North and West of this phenomenon and that¹s
why I got out first! I¹m sure the Doldrums are behind me now. I¹ve been
sailing at more than 9 knots for a whole day. Time for a change and it¹s
happened, we¹re off again! Did I feel threatened (by Ellen)? No! Stressed? Yes!
We were in such a tricky zone, where you cover as many miles in one hour under a
squall as you do in several hours in the light airs." Yves Parlier: The man versus the mast Thierry
Martinez has a full complement of photos from Yves' self-enforced stay in
beautiful Port Pegasus, Stewart Island. Parlier applies an epoxy mix to bond a sleeve connecting the two broken sections of carbon-fibre mast. Raising the mast after bonding two broken sections together: Not an easy task, but what a beautiful anchorage! Images © Thierry Martinez A determined man Yves Parlier is one determined man, and refused to let a little thing like a dismasting put him out of the race. After losing to top six metres of his carbon-fibre spar south-west of Australia, the former fleet leader set a jury rig and sailed to Stewart Island, at the south-west tip of New Zealand. There he repaired his spar with an epoxy mix and a lot of ingenuity. French marine photographer Thierry Martinez happened to be in Australia for the Sydney to Hobart when he got a call to help his mate Thierry Dubois with repairs to his Open 60 in Bluff, New Zealand at the extreme southern tip of the south Island. Dubois continued his journey on January 4 and a few days later Parlier showed up at Port Pegasus, Stewart Island - just across the notorious Foveaux Strait. " I was there for 12 days with Christophe Buchard Paris Match's journalist," Martinez recalls. "Yves Parlier's goal was to fix his broken mast himself and officially remain in The Vendee Globe. He did it! We never touched his boat nor touched him. It was very special to meet somebody, that you know, in the middle of nowhere and just be a witness. "I had just to do photos, day after day (tough life Thierry!). We were on a fishing boat next to Aquitaine Innovations and watching Yves working very hard." To prove just how passionate thee French are when it comes to solo sailing - and and their love for solo skippers who choose the difficult path - Paris Match published a whopping 10 pages on the Parlier's trial by epoxy! Only the Kiwis would be that keen. Image © Acres image Gallery. Beautiful Stewart Island as seen from space. Just look at all those protected anchorages on the east coast! They are necessary considering the violent westerly changes that roar overhead every three days on average. But if you don't mind the changeable weather, there are many rich rewards - scallops, abalone and lobster just to name a few! Towards the Horn Parlier is currently on a course for Cape Horn, and last report was propelled by a strong force 7 wind. "I've tried fishing by fashioning a fish hook with the end of an antenna," he told race headquarters. "I'm not really succeeding right now, the pot¹s still empty!" One word of advice, Parlier: You won't catch a surface fish in the deep Southern Ocean. Try drop lining on some sub-surface sea mounts and you might snag a Patagonian Toothfish! More great reading: Catch up on all the past action in our race archive. Follow the action between the world's fastest multihulls in The Race Vendee Globe Race headquarters Re-live the Sydney to Hobart yacht race! Break ice in the Ross Sea! |
