TJV: RAIN SQUALL AND WIND SHIFTS...FIRST REAL SIGN OF DOLDRUMS
Absender: "Team Cowes"
Datum: 14. Nov 2003 16:58
TEAM COWES Transat Jacques Vabre campaign is supported by Skandia and Cowes
Waterfront
REACHING PORT GYBE - 15-17 KNOTS OF ENE WIND - 8.7 KNOTS BOAT SPEED - 380 N
OF EQUATOR - TEAM COWES 5TH 171 MILES BEHIND LEADER VIRBAC (1500GMT)
IN BRIEF:
* TEAM COWES EXPERIENCE FIRST SIGN OF DOLDRUMS..."Today we are just seeing
first signs of Doldrums...our first rain squall that was a bit tricky... You
have to change sails, work the boat harder to find best way through the winds
and its pretty tough..."
* CAT & MOUSE GAME FOR 4TH PLACE...at 1300GMT positions TEAM COWES edged into
4th ahead of PRB...now 1500GMT put TEAM COWES 1.3 miles behind. Nick and Sam
hoping for fast transition of the Doldrums as furthest boat west: "It is
going to be a psychologically tough time over the next 2 days and we've just
got to sail the boat through it and hope we have a good passage and have a
better crossing than our competitors in the east..."
* FRONT RUNNERS ALL indexTAINING GOOD SPEEDS and Virbac keeping firm hold on
her lead extending to 102 miles ahead of skippers Mike Golding and Brian
Thompson who revealed that on Tuesday night they last their last reindexing
spinnaker. They will be praying that the sout-east Trades delivers the normal
genoa/gennaker reaching conditions to the finish in Brazil.
* FORECAST...tonight wind forecast to stay in the ENE 13-16 knots with squall
risk. Tomorrow wind staying in same quadrant although greater risk of squalls
in the morning bringing potential gusts of 23 knots but may veer more east in
the afternoon averaging 12 knots. German weather router, Meeno Schrader,
told TEAM COWES: "there will be difficult to deal with nerve-rubbing light
air patches in between"! A tense time for all over next 24-48 hours...
AUDIO CALL TEAM COWES 1400GMT - 14.11.03 - SAM DAVIES:
Last night was a really good night on Team Cowes...we managed a bit more wind
in the west compared to our competitors and had more consistent breeze and
were able to push the boat quite hard. We kept the big spinnaker up and we
did really short watches on the helm to keep our concentration at a maxiumum
and just pushed, pushed really hard. And its worked out as we've gained
another place...!
Today we are just seeing first signs of Doldrums...just seen our first rain
squall that was a bit tricky... You have to change sails, work the boat
harder to find best way through the winds and its pretty tough. Sometimes
you get patches of no wind and you just have to do everything to keep the
boat going and try not to think that everyone else around you has got wind
and you're stuck there. It is going to be a psychologically tough time over
the next 2 days and we've just got to sail the boat through it and hope we
have a good passage and have a better crossing than our competitors in the
east.
It's really hot, especially in day time and its hard to sleep but,
personally, I like the heat so not too much of a bother for me. We are
pretty chilled, no stress and nice warm sea water for a shower - you can just
grab a bucket and throw it over your head plus remembered to bring the salt
water shampoo so that's really cool.
We decided on the westerly strategy a couple of days ago when we had a
conversation with Meeno [Team Cowes weather router] and he said, "okay, you
have 2 options, go with the fleet and be safe, hold your place but there are
no obvious passing lanes" or "take the westerly option which may have more
risk but there may be opportunitites to pass the others". He sounded
confident but he made it our decision...at the time it was a big risk but as
we've gone along it's got better and better.
We are really sailing in a straight line and if we had followed PRB and VMI
on the same track we would have never got passed them going into the
Doldrums. Our only option to get passed them was the westerly option which
means we had to risk separating from the fleet but hoped we would get better
winds through the ITCZ.
Luckily the depression passed quickly with no headwinds and we ended up
sailing freer with our big spinnaker and more wind - sailing directly to the
finish along the rhumb line and not going any extra miles.
We actually haven't really got into the Doldrums yet - we've still got 15
knots NE Trades but experiencing the first big rain squall and big wind
shifts mean we are close. We are now expecting more squalls in next 48 hours
and we will have times with wind just going in wrong direction and having to
put different sails up...
Our position [west] looks better on the models and grib files [than those in
the east]. But the Doldrums are so unpredictable and it is a risk but we are
still confident. Whether we can be in a better position coming out of the
Doldrums depends on the wind angle of the south-east trades. Normally, you
have to go on the wind for half a day then the wind frees off. So the
difference in wind angle to the guys to the east of us is quite small and if
we are sailing a direct line to the finish a 5 degree difference makes no
real difference overall.
Audio transmissions are supported by BT YAHOO, http://www.btyahoo.com
TOP 10 OPEN 60 POSITIONS AT 1500GMT 14.11.03:
Pstn/Boat Name/Long/Lat/Speed/Course/DTF/DTL
1 VIRBAC / 2 12.80' N / 27 38.12' W / 11.3 / 206 / 1121.8 / 0.0
2 ECOVER / 4 15.20' N / 27 55.40' W / 12.6 / 187 / 1224.1 / 102.3
3 SILL / 4 06.64' N / 27 12.08' W / 13.7 / 199 / 1237.8 / 116.0
4 PRB / 5 22.56' N / 27 25.96' W / 11.6 / 191 / 1291.8 / 170.0
5 TEAM COWES / 6 19.52' N / 29 51.00' W / 8.8 / 210 / 1293.1 / 171.3
6 VMI / 5 42.20' N / 26 53.16' W / 11.3 / 198 / 1330.6 / 208.7
7 CARREFOUR PREVENTION / 7 29.60' N / 26 43.16' W / 11.7 / 203 / 1429.8 /
308.0
8 ARCELOR-DUNKERQUE / 9 28.88' N / 22 42.52' W / 8.9 / 183 / 1644.1 / 522.3
9 GARNIER / 12 44.84' N / 26 49.68' W / 13.0 / 193 / 1709.6 / 587.8
10 LOIRE ATLANTIQUE / 13 15.52' N / 22 19.48' W / 13.0 / 185 / 1851.7 / 729.9
For TJV race information go to http://www.jacques-vabre.com
NOTES:
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