A race of all seasons

madforsailing looks at what's up on leg eight of the Volvo Ocean Race

illbruck meteorologist Chris Bedford comments:
Leg 8 is for the navigators. Some of the most complex navigation problems of the race will be encountered on the route between La Rochelle and Gothenburg, as the Volvo Ocean Race crews dodge tricky geography, major tidal current flows, and heavy shipping traffic areas. These navigational challenges will be made extra difficult thanks to a huge low pressure area just west of the Ireland and the UK. This low is generating a lot of strong winds and unsettled weather for much of the leg.

Winds at the start will be between 15 and 20 knots from the west-southwest. The course takes the boats northwestward from La Rochelle toward Ushant at the northwestern corner of France.

Fairly soon after the start, the low will send a cold front toward the fleet. Winds will increase very quickly in the early evening hours on Saturday to be 30 knots with gusts over gale force from the southwest. The boats will be moving into a huge ocean swell that has built up over the Bay of Biscay for the last couple of days.

Initially on a relatively fast, tight reach, the cold front will move through and cause the wind to shift more toward the right, heading the boats before they reach the first turning mark at Raz de Sein off northwest France. The winds will continue fresh, but should ease a little bit following the front.

From Raz de Sein, the boats turn north toward to round the island of Ushant before entering the English Channel.

In the Channel, the boats are expected to run almost all the way to the Dover Straits off southwest England in a fast breeze of 20 knots.

After leaving the Dover Straits, winds will become more southerly and maintain running conditions in to the southern part of the North Sea. Finally, winds are expected to get lighter approaching the southern Norwegian coast, where a turning mark is located before turning to head toward the finish in Gothenburg. Currently, it looks like it could be another light air finish giving an opportunity for significant position changes and mixing up the fleet.