Big wind, little wind and two retirees

News from the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge

Positions at 1600GMT

Boat	Cl	Position	DTF	DTL	Crs	Spd	Poll time
MARI-CHA IV	GP	40°30' N 58°09' W	2302.4		96	10.3	16:00h
MAXIMUS	GP	40°22' N 58°45' W	2324.6	22.2	97	9.9	16:00h
ATLANTIC (1905)	P1	40°45' N 60°37' W	2364.5		95	8.7	16:20h
SOJANA	P1	40°36' N 62°23' W	2428.7	126.3	98	7.6	16:00h
LEOPARD	P1	40°20' N 62°06' W	2429.9	127.5	100	7.7	16:38h
WINDROSE	P1	39°10' N 62°33' W	2493.8	191.4	111	7.8	16:00h
STAY CALM	P2	40°39' N 64°56' W	2516.5	214.1	101	5.9	16:37h
DRUMBEAT	P1	39°12' N 63°24' W	2519.7	217.3	113	7.3	16:00h
WHISPER	P2	39°26' N 65°16' W	2574.1	271.7	118	6.1	16:00h
TIARA	P1	38°18' N 63°54' W	2575.4	273	123	7.4	16:00h
TEMPEST	P2	38°29' N 64°53' W	2599.3	296.9	126	6.8	16:00h
SARIYAH	P2	39°38' N 66°29' W	2610	307.6	123	5.4	16:00h
OCEAN PHOENIX	P2	40°17' N 67°16' W	2615.8	313.4	118	4.6	16:00h
ANEMOS	P1	39°20' N 66°20' W	2616	313.6	126	5.6	16:00h
PALAWAN	P2	38°20' N 67°04' W	2680.9	378.5	143	5.9	16:00h
SELENI	P2	37°28' N 66°05' W	2682.6	380.2	142	6.9	16:00h
MARIELLA	CL	38°18' N 67°15' W	2688.9	386.5	145	5.8	16:00h
NORDWIND	CL	38°38' N 67°53' W	2698.1	395.7	149	5.4	16:00h
SUMURUN	CL	38°23' N 67°51' W	2706.8	404.4	151	5.6	16:00h
Retired
CARRERA	GP	40°06' N 64°31' W	2521.9		107	7.6	04:00h
STAD AMSTERDAM	CL	38°13' N 67°16' W	2692.7		146	6.3	12:00h

The third day of racing in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge has seen the race's two first retirements.

The race is over for the biggest boat in the fleet, the Storm Trysail Club-chartered 250ft clipper ship Stad Amsterdam. A delayed start and a prolonged period without wind has forced the captain to turn on the engine.

"This night we have taken the decision to retire. That is because we came into an area with not much wind and our charter will end on 8 June in Cowes," explained Captain Pieter Brantjes. "To be there in time, we have to use the engine. At 0130 GMT we started the engine, and we are under power heading towards Cowes. It is a bitter disappointment as you would imagine, but we have no choice. There have been too many lulls and not enough wind for the vessel. This vessel needs wind and if we have no wind or headwinds, it is difficult for us."

This afternoon news came through that Carrera, owned by Joe Dockery, has pulled out too. In an email skipper Simon Davidson talked of "a catastrophic mainsail failure while beating upwind in 40 knots of wind and very large seas in the Gulf Stream." The yacht is heading back to Newport, R.I., and does "not require outside assistance". " Carrera's crew has made the unfortunate decision that it would not be prudent to head farther into the North Atlantic with a mainsail that was so badly damaged in the first storm".

Meanwhile back in the race after a high-mileage Tuesday, the pace has slowed for race leaders Mari-Cha IV and Maximus as they negotiate a warm front that will see the wind filling in from the east. Both boats are heading just south of due east and making a more modest 10 knots compared to the high 20s they were seeing yesterday.

"Picking our way through some pretty rotten weather out here," commented Mike Sanderson from on board Robert Miller’s 140-foot schooner Mari-Cha IV. "We’ve got some really light airs this morning, and so lost a bunch to Maximus…. We’ll have to fight to get those precious miles back." Unfortunately Maximus has managed to close up some more. From being 32 miles back at 0800GMT this morning, the latest position update shows her being 22 miles astern.

"We are pootling along, no problems," reported Maximus’ veteran navigator Mike Quilter, in jovial mood. "We are leaving the low pressure, which we’ve been having a lot of fun with, and we are heading off across the squeeze between the high off of Newfoundland and the low pressure over by America. We are just cracked off. Expecting a reasonable amount of wind tonight, nearly upwind, 25-30 knots for 12 hours or so, and then we get over into the high pressure by Newfoundland, and it will be holiday time!"

This is confirmed by the wind radar chart below:



This is the first major test of the New Zealand maxi, which has a state-of-the-art rotating wing mast and a retractable canting keel. "It is a brand new boat, and there have been an endless number of small issues on board, but we have overcome them all," said Quilter. "We have a good ‘Mr. Fix-it’ on board in Jeff Scott, so we are in reasonable shape."

Other boats have been experiencing extremely big winds today. The Swan 80 Selini has been taking the most southerly route of all the competitors and is this evening still more than half a degree of latitude further south than the reset of the fleet. In return for tonight's Champions League result crewman George Skuodas reported from on board: "Yesterday was very frustrating as we drifted for what seemed like the whole day desperately trying to break out of the centre of the low pressure and into the southerlies we had been promised that would make up for two days of sailing away from home. last night at 2300 EDT we picked up the first sniff of the southerly and it has continued to build since then to the 30 knots we have right now. now cruising along heading due east with full main and jib at 12 knots.

"Had three hours of thunderstorms this morning, got nailed by an angry one with 46 knots, biblical rain and a full spectacular light show. were a bit more carefull after that and the radar got us around the worst of the others."

Similarly the crew of Drumbeat have been taking a caning, feeling the effects of 50 knot winds. "It’s blowing out here," reported navigator Adrienne Cahalan. "We’re seeing 50 knots. We are down to our third reef. With 360 tons we are handling a lot better than some of the smaller guys. We’re on the southern edge of the fleet and it is pretty rough out here.

"The low is to the north of us. We are in southeasterlies of 50 knots. It has been gradually building this morning and it will probably stay that way overnight. You can’t turn north too quickly otherwise you’ll run into some really bad sea. So we are being conservative because we have got to preserve everything. We might turn a little north shortly, because so far we have been sailing south of the course".

At the front of the Performance Cruising 1, Mike Slade’s Leopard continues to have a close battle on the water against Peter Harrison on Sojana, the two boats just one mile apart in terms of distance to finish at the noon position update, a position still the case four hours later.

"We’re doing okay," commented Sojana’s skipper Marc Fitzgerald. "We’re hammering along at 12 knots right on course, right down the great circle at 075 degrees true. There are quite a few small issues on board. Some of the electronics aren’t working as well as they used to, but we are reasonably happy. We haven’t seen much of Leopard, but we have never been far from them. They went to the south of us first and then went off to the north of us." Yesterday afternoon, Sojana was ahead of Leopard on the water, but this morning they are just behind, but Fitzgerald says they are still easily ahead on handicap.

On the water at present, Stay Calm continues to hold a decisive lead in Performance Cruising class 2. From on board Mike Broughton writes: "We are now hoping that we have escaped the grip of the soggy central part of the low pressure and we are exiting close to the southern side, which hopefully will give us an advantage as we head north east towards Newfoundland.

"A ‘warm core’ eddy that has spun off from the main Gulf Stream axis that is some 60 miles to the south, and is helping our progress east. Like a hot hosepipe in a bath, the Gulf Stream snakes up from the Gulf of Mexico close to the continental shelf and turns east towards Europe. Here the main part of the hot hose opens to sixty miles across with a temperature of 22-24°C. Just over one hour sailing time to the north the sea temperature plummets and further towards the Grand Banks the water temperatures are down to one degree centigrade.

"The ‘hot’ waters of the Gulf Stream create a microcosm of volatile air above it, with the edges marked by cumulus clouds, like steam rising from boiling water. The sea being less dense, is relatively much more choppy, especially when the wind is blowing against the current that can see speeds in excess of four knots. In the last Volvo Ocean Race, illbruck, utilised the positive current from the Stream in her record-breaking 24 hour run".

On the water Stay Calm is a handy 57 miles ahead of Hap Fauth's Whisper. Meanwhile Dr Hans Albreicht's Nordwind is just six miles ahead of Sumurun among the Classics.


100 years ago on board the schooner Atlantic , Frederick Hoyt wrote:

"At 5 p.m. another steamer was made out ahead, which later proved to be the Minnetonka. She also acknowledged our number and in answer to our inquiry said she had seen no ice, but had thick fog, giving the latitude and longitude where it was encountered. Towards sunset the southwest began to look black and as the wind was all letting go we were afraid that there would be some disagreeable weather before long. We were not disappointed for at 9 o’clock as pretty a little squall as one often sees came whirling out of the south and backed to west. It blew hard enough to take in both spanker and mainsail but the worst was over in half an hour and by 11 the sails were again hoisted and the ship on her course. Just at the end of the squall a large White Star Line steamer passed close ahead. We exchanged signals and she gave us three blasts of the whistle."

The Rolex Transatlantic Challenge is sponsored by Rolex and also by Moran Towing Corp., Sandy Hook Pilots, P&O Ports North America, and MedLink. The race is supported by the City of New York and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Showboats International is the event's official marine publication; program sponsors include Rolex, North Fork Bank and Holland Jachtbouw.