For the past three days, the pace has really picked up at 47° South. Indeed, despite remaining cautious, the crews are virtually racking up 500-mile days as they skirt across the top of the ice field. This big straight trajectory is set to start bending around this Saturday evening (local time) once they're past the Central Ice Limit. At this very point, away from the austral storm, the crews are likely to put the pedal to the metal once more as the road to Cape Horn reopens!
Straight ahead, or almost! For over 1,000 miles, the four leaders have been carving out a wake parallel to the ice limit (at 47° South between 150°W and 130°W), pushed by a powerful south-westerly wind of 30 to 35 knots, gusting to over 45 knots. With two reefs in the mainsail, staysail and storm jib (J-4), the VO-70s are devouring the South Pacific at an average speed of nearly 20 knots, a speed which remains "reasonable", because all the skippers agree that it's not this phase of the leg which will make a difference. The most important thing right now is to stick together, remain in contention, monitor the gale, preserve the gear and prepare for a descent towards Cape Horn, which promises to be extremely fast, with a brutal finale...
Saturday night fever
Thus far, everything has been under control, even though the duration of this storm has left in its wake an increasingly heavy sea state, with the fatigue beginning to set in. The extreme conditions are coloured by cold, wind, waves and squalls, which are physically testing and, most significantly, create high levels of psychological tension. The big question for all the navigators at the moment is whether they're carrying enough sail aloft given the sea state (a consideration which seems to be mirrored across the fleet, even though they're holding their passions in check somewhat). Another concern is how they'll have to tackle the descent towards Cape Horn. Indeed, as soon as they're around the Central Ice Limit, they'll have to dive down towards 50°S. The powerful wind from this austral depression will shift round to the West, gradually easing to 25 knots from tomorrow, Sunday.
Before all that though, in this stalling wind, which will paradoxically cause the boats to accelerate, there's a tricky phase to negotiate at around midnight this Saturday (European time). As they close on the Central Ice Limit, the boats will also be less than 500 miles from the centre of the disturbed system, which has split into two cells. A study of the weather indicates that this system of secondary depressions, which spin around themselves, cause the isobars to rotate and thus compress. The resulting wind is more violent, flukier, stronger and more irregular. On Saturday evening (at around 2300 UTC), the breeze will go up another notch to reach over 40 knots, and most importantly there will be gusts of over 50 knots beneath the cumulonimbus. Fortunately the phenomenon is only set to last a few hours and then the situation will calm down once night falls in the southern hemisphere at 47°S...
Sea, salt, surf...
Franck Cammas and his men, who have been leading the fleet since Friday evening, are holding course between the New Zealanders, 40 miles to leeward (who broke their forward bulkhead on Friday evening) and the Spanish, 18 miles to windward, who are just 25 miles above the ice limit imposed by the Volvo Ocean Race organisation. Strategically it would seem preferable to just skirt this imaginary `mark' so as to get South more quickly in favour of the westerly wind shift. As such Camper won't be in a favourable position once the fleet change course, a move which should be followed by a gybe at around 50°S once the breeze clocks round again to the North-West. This particular manoeuvre will be very important for the next stage, which will involve a rather special landfall, that of Cape Horn! Indeed, this new breeze will accompany the boats as far as Drake's Passage. In this way, the sailing angle will be crucial as the gale will be fleshed out as the disturbed system dropping down off the Andes cordillera is compressed...
In the meantime, the crews will get a real pasting from the wind, the sea, the spray and even the rain, the hail and maybe the snow beneath the squalls! The waves combined with the swell of the Southern Ocean are increasing all the time, reaching over eight metres and as high as ten metres at times. For a 22-metre VO-70, this translates as a pretty good time for a spot of surfing. However, it should be remembered that there are times when a descent down a wave at nearly 30 knots rounds off with the boat slamming into the waves with a violent, grinding halt and above all a torrent of icy water on deck... It's hard to imagine getting changed or even washed in these conditions, and the salt gets everywhere: irritating eyes, bottoms and areas where the foulies are in contact with the skin (neck, cuffs). Franck Cammas and his men will have to pay close attention to their hygiene, as these violent, downwind conditions are set to continue after Cape Horn, which they should get around on Wednesday. Indeed there is no let-up in view before Friday...
Standing for the 5th leg from Auckland - Itajai 24 March 2012, 1600 UTC
1 GPMA 4418.3 milles du but
2 TELE 21.10 milles du leader
3 PUMA 44.20 milles du leader
4 CMPR 96.60 milles du leader
5 ADOR 672.80 milles du leader
6 SNYA
From Groupama
Credit : Yann Riou/Groupama Sailing Team/Volvo Ocean Race
Straight ahead, or almost! For over 1,000 miles, the four leaders have been carving out a wake parallel to the ice limit (at 47° South between 150°W and 130°W), pushed by a powerful south-westerly wind of 30 to 35 knots, gusting to over 45 knots. With two reefs in the mainsail, staysail and storm jib (J-4), the VO-70s are devouring the South Pacific at an average speed of nearly 20 knots, a speed which remains "reasonable", because all the skippers agree that it's not this phase of the leg which will make a difference. The most important thing right now is to stick together, remain in contention, monitor the gale, preserve the gear and prepare for a descent towards Cape Horn, which promises to be extremely fast, with a brutal finale...
Saturday night fever
Thus far, everything has been under control, even though the duration of this storm has left in its wake an increasingly heavy sea state, with the fatigue beginning to set in. The extreme conditions are coloured by cold, wind, waves and squalls, which are physically testing and, most significantly, create high levels of psychological tension. The big question for all the navigators at the moment is whether they're carrying enough sail aloft given the sea state (a consideration which seems to be mirrored across the fleet, even though they're holding their passions in check somewhat). Another concern is how they'll have to tackle the descent towards Cape Horn. Indeed, as soon as they're around the Central Ice Limit, they'll have to dive down towards 50°S. The powerful wind from this austral depression will shift round to the West, gradually easing to 25 knots from tomorrow, Sunday.
Before all that though, in this stalling wind, which will paradoxically cause the boats to accelerate, there's a tricky phase to negotiate at around midnight this Saturday (European time). As they close on the Central Ice Limit, the boats will also be less than 500 miles from the centre of the disturbed system, which has split into two cells. A study of the weather indicates that this system of secondary depressions, which spin around themselves, cause the isobars to rotate and thus compress. The resulting wind is more violent, flukier, stronger and more irregular. On Saturday evening (at around 2300 UTC), the breeze will go up another notch to reach over 40 knots, and most importantly there will be gusts of over 50 knots beneath the cumulonimbus. Fortunately the phenomenon is only set to last a few hours and then the situation will calm down once night falls in the southern hemisphere at 47°S...
Sea, salt, surf...
Franck Cammas and his men, who have been leading the fleet since Friday evening, are holding course between the New Zealanders, 40 miles to leeward (who broke their forward bulkhead on Friday evening) and the Spanish, 18 miles to windward, who are just 25 miles above the ice limit imposed by the Volvo Ocean Race organisation. Strategically it would seem preferable to just skirt this imaginary `mark' so as to get South more quickly in favour of the westerly wind shift. As such Camper won't be in a favourable position once the fleet change course, a move which should be followed by a gybe at around 50°S once the breeze clocks round again to the North-West. This particular manoeuvre will be very important for the next stage, which will involve a rather special landfall, that of Cape Horn! Indeed, this new breeze will accompany the boats as far as Drake's Passage. In this way, the sailing angle will be crucial as the gale will be fleshed out as the disturbed system dropping down off the Andes cordillera is compressed...
In the meantime, the crews will get a real pasting from the wind, the sea, the spray and even the rain, the hail and maybe the snow beneath the squalls! The waves combined with the swell of the Southern Ocean are increasing all the time, reaching over eight metres and as high as ten metres at times. For a 22-metre VO-70, this translates as a pretty good time for a spot of surfing. However, it should be remembered that there are times when a descent down a wave at nearly 30 knots rounds off with the boat slamming into the waves with a violent, grinding halt and above all a torrent of icy water on deck... It's hard to imagine getting changed or even washed in these conditions, and the salt gets everywhere: irritating eyes, bottoms and areas where the foulies are in contact with the skin (neck, cuffs). Franck Cammas and his men will have to pay close attention to their hygiene, as these violent, downwind conditions are set to continue after Cape Horn, which they should get around on Wednesday. Indeed there is no let-up in view before Friday...
Standing for the 5th leg from Auckland - Itajai 24 March 2012, 1600 UTC
1 GPMA 4418.3 milles du but
2 TELE 21.10 milles du leader
3 PUMA 44.20 milles du leader
4 CMPR 96.60 milles du leader
5 ADOR 672.80 milles du leader
6 SNYA
From Groupama
