Positions and weather at 19:56 GMT
 

Positions and weather at 19:56 GMT

Bumpy ride

The Velux 5 Oceans boats encounter wind against Gulf Stream conditions as Graham Dalton pulls into Bermuda

Thursday April 19th 2007, Author: James Boyd, Location: Transoceanic
Image courtesy of Expedition Navigation Systems
 
Positions at 19:56 GMT
 
Pos
Yacht Skipper
Latitude
Longitude
Spd
Crs
Spd
Crs
Spd
Dist
DTF
DTL
Inst
4 hr aver
24 hr
1
Cheminees Poujoulat Bernard Stamm
37° 09.60 N
069° 34.80 W
11
84
10.48
86
12.09
290
2992
2
Spirit of Yukoh Kojiro Shiraishi
37° 26.44 N
069° 56.72 W
12
86
11.13
89
11.52
276.4
2999
7
3
SAGA Insurance Sir Robin Knox-Johnston
36° 50.92 N
070° 51.32 W
9.2
91
8.91
87
9.8
235.2
3054
62
4
PAKEA Unai Basurko
36° 52.00 N
071° 25.00 W
0
0
8.53
204.8
3077
85
5
A Southern Man-AGD Graham Dalton
32° 22.80 N
064° 40.56 W
0
252
0
0
3.26
78.3
614 to leg start
899
 
And so the final onslaught begins in the Velux 5 Oceans with the third and final 'sprint' leg between Norfolk, Virginia and Bilbao, Spain. Already the trend we have seen so far in this race is becoming evident: Bernard Stamm on Cheminees Poujoulat has inevitably pulled into the lead and while it appears he is only seven miles further down the course than second placed Kojiro Shiraishi on Spirit of Yukoh, the reality is more like 17 miles based on the pretty much due east course the boats are sailing. Still Koji is putting in a top performance and if there were a dailysail award for who has shown the most improvement on this race it would certainly go to him.

He would also come a close second behind Sir RKJ for a communication award. Koji has just sent this:

"The waves are terrible. The temperature of the water is 18C, it appears we’ve started to ride on the Gulf Stream. Therefore the boat is being carried by the strong current but the opposing winds are making the waves quite hard to sail through. Even adjusting my course slightly did not let me escape from having to punch through the waves. It’s tough going from day 1! Right now, I’m not suffering from sea sickness but my head is feeling a little groggy. I actually want to be traveling a little further north. However I don’t want the boat to take on anymore unnecessary punishment from the punching waves so I’ve stayed on this course. So without a choice I’m having to sailing onwards to the east.

Typing is quite difficult, so I can’t write anymore today!"

While the start was delayed allowing an intense depression to pass through, they have left in its wake, into stiff northeasterlies and these, as Koji says, are opposing the Gulf Stream which flows in a northeasterly direction here. So while he heads due east, the set should be taking him north. Looking ahead at the forecast the northeasterlies look pretty established. Over the next 24 hours the depression to their east is set to elongate along a NE-SW axis and eventually form a double centred low, a giant system, the effects of which will be felt all the way between Iceland and the Caribbean, while an area of high pressure is developing over the eastern US. Hence why the northeasterlies look set to remain, in fact the forecast has them intensifying, until the depression decides to trundle away to the northeast causing the wind to back north.

So, in short, conditions are set to remain lumpy for the next two days and the skippers will be trying to head east to get themselves out of the worst effects of the Gulf Stream. The present forecast is indicating that it will only be on the morning of 23 April (ie three and a half days' time) that the wind will finally turn favourable, allowing the boats to start putting in some impressive runs. It will then be a case of keying into the strong easterly flow between another depression tracking east to the north of Newfoundland and the Azores high which will have re-established itself.

While it may not have too much effect on the boats, because thankfully by this time it will be well on its way to Iceland, the low currently to their east is set to turn into a real bastard in about four days time with a pressure at its centre an ear popping 962mB.

This morning Sir Robikn Knox-Johnston sent his daily missive from Saga Insurance: "The start in Hampton Roads was into the wind and I quickly realised that with some short tacking to do, ports rot ships and men. I was softer than on arrival. The wind had been predicted as a northerly but was from the north east, so we were closehauled down the channel and stayed that way. This does not suit Saga Insurance and the other
boats were soon hull down ahead of us. A Royal Navy Merlin Helicopter from HMS Ocean escorted us part of the way...

"Norfolk had been magnificent as a host port and I was sorry to leave new friends but hopefully will meet them again before too long.

"Once clear of the coast I decided we had a headland and celebrated with Old Pulteney and a large slab of Aunt Aileen's fruit cake which is still as good as it was when I rounded Cape Horn two months ago.

"Dinner was a curry presented to me by Commander Vikram M...., I don't have Vikram's card so cannot remember his surname, but he is a class mate of Dilip's who came and visited from an Indian Naval ship in port.

A bumpy first night back at sea but one quickly gets back into the routine. Just now I can tell by the rising sea water temperature that we are entering the Gulf Stream and with a north easterly wind it is likely to get more rough for a while."

Dalton - is it over finally?

The run of bad luck continues for Graham Dalton who has been forced to make another pit stop while still attempting to complete the second leg of the Velux 5 Ocean. His Open 50 A Southern Man AGD has now reached Bermuda and officially suspended racing at 07:00 local time (11:00 UTC). Dalton not only has problems with his autopilot systems, but ended up with a shredded genoa. Personally he has bad bruising sustained while battling through tough conditions with 35-45 knots of wind, gusting to 50 knots.

Dalton must respect a 48 hour time penalty in Bermuda for receiving assistance before continuing towards Norfolk, meaning he can re-commence racing at 07:00 local time on Saturday April 21. Under race rules, Dalton must arrive in Norfolk by 12:20 local time on Sunday April 22, as skippers are required to spend a mandatory 72 hours in a host port and then re-commence racing on the next leg within 7 days of the official re-start.

A number of yachts have pulled into Bermuda to seek shelter from the storms ravaging the Eastern seaboard of the United States and Dalton will work on making the necessary repairs to continue in the race.

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