ARC News - Day 4 - Head South 'til the Butter Melts

November 30, 2006 by World Cruising | 0 comments

Head South ‘til the Butter Melts
Go South is the advice from the ARC meteorologists, and those yachts which opted for the longer southerly route are now in a position to benefit from this knowledge. A long cold front ridging from a deep depression off Ireland is running across the central Atlantic and giving an area of lighter winds on the rhumb line course to St.Lucia. Lead yacht, the Italian maxi Capricorno (at 26N/30W) is having to sail north, trying climb around the wind hole and into better winds beyond. However, to the south second placed Fantasticaa (at 18N/27W) and The Blue Pearl (at 17N/25W), the two yachts leading the charge south, are in stronger stable winds and can alter course towards St.Lucia, benefiting from the better trade winds down at lower latitudes.

Smaller Racers Chasing Hard
A battle is also developing between leading Division II racing yachts, the 52 footers Brave (Farr 520) and Nisida (GY52) both heading south for wind, whilst the smaller DK46 Dark & Steamy, is slightly to the north of their track and pressing hard, hoping to catch the larger yachts.

Sloppy Seas as the Wind Dies in the North
For yachts north of the rhumb line, easing wind meant a night of rock’n’roll in the Atlantic swell, without the trade wind to keep their sails filled. Julian Sincock, skipper of British Swan 51 Northern Child explains: “As well as quite a large swell from the north-west we have had a choppy sea running, which resulted in the boat being rocked from side to side and the sails flogging away on each roll. It wasn’t until this morning that the sea calmed down enough for us to at least have the sails full all the time.”

Early Morning Rescue
Away from the front pack, life at sea for the majority of cruising yachts has been mostly uneventful. One exception was for British yacht Flying Start, which was involved in aiding the Spanish Authorities rescue a rickety immigrant boat, in the early hours of this morning (Thurs 30 Nov). Having alerted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Las Palmas, Flying Start stood by the small fishing boat for 12 hours, until a Spanish hospital ship was able to evacuate the 15 souls onboard.