Velux 5 Oceans - Leg3, Day 5 - Where's the Wind Now?
April 23, 2007 0 comments
After four or five days of sailing in head-banging conditions as hard into the wind as possible, Leg 3 is entering a new tactical phase. The two leaders, Bernard Stamm and Kojiro Shiraishi, have been sailing the shortest course possible up to now, holding as north as possible without tacking. Progress has been hard in the strong adverse winds and washing-machine seas kicked up by the Gulf Stream.
After four or five days of sailing in head-banging conditions as hard into the wind as possible, Leg 3 is entering a new tactical phase. The two leaders, Bernard Stamm and Kojiro Shiraishi, have been sailing the shortest course possible up to now, holding as north as possible without tacking. Progress has been hard in the strong adverse winds and washing-machine seas kicked up by the Gulf Stream.
However, they have now moved into a ridge of high pressure, which for the time being has knocked the wind out of their sails and a frustrated Stamm will be trapped in the light airs he foresaw prior to leaving Norfolk. Forty miles astern of CHEMINÉES-POUJOULAT, Shiraishi has yet to let Stamm break away or to experience drifting conditions, although the Japanese skipper can already detect a significant change in the weather
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston is also experiencing calmer conditions and has managed to bail 41 buckets of water from his bow. He will be reassured to know that Stamm and Shiraishi share his thinking over getting as north as possible in this first week of Leg 3. While the late morning position report revealed that SAGA INSURANCE had yielded further miles to third-placed PAKEA – now almost 200 miles ahead – RKJ is sticking to his guns in the belief that his more northerly route will come good when the new westerly winds arrive.
Sir Robin needs to make up a deficit of 2 days and 9 hours on Unai Basurko from their combined times in Legs 1 & 2 – so he is gambling that this will pay off for him in the long run. Basurko has provided RKJ the opportunity to make some gains against the Basque skipper if the new wind from further south arrives with SAGA INSURANCE before it reaches PAKEA as the weather models are suggesting.
Bernard Stamm, CHEMINEES POUJOULAT:
“At the moment we are in very unstable conditions, very changeable winds, both in direction and force. Now I’m making the transition between the north-easterly winds we had before and the new pressure. I’ve been trying all night to find wind. Progress is very slow at the moment, it’s very shifty.”
Kojiro Shiraish, SPIRIT OF YUKOH:
“The sea surface has finally calmed down. The forecast is of a northerly wind of 10 knots but the reality is a 20-knot north-easterly. I need to get more north but we are pointed as high as I can get. We have been on the same one tack, closed hauled, since the start. The barometer shows the pressure is gradually rising and we will soon be overtaken by a high pressure system. Once through that we will have some good following winds. However the differences between the forecasts and reality have been big lately, so we will have to see.”
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, SAGA INSURANCE:
“Sitting becalmed at the moment between two systems, hopefully awaiting a south westerly wind later. Things quietened down yesterday afternoon so I was able to do some serious baling from the fore part, 41 buckets in total, some 800 pounds of water, which have raised the bow a touch.”
