La Vagabonde's crossing

[Cherod]

Now yes , but they had to cross it at some stage , or did they jump over it ???

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Cherod

Now yes , but they had to cross it at some stage , or did they jump over it ???

their initial jump south was to cross the gulfstream as fast as possible,the gulfstream is really not an area you want to get caught out in in N-NW winds off of the us coast where you risk getting wind against current,the waves become enourmous with very short intervals,which can literally swallow small vessels!

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by atoll

next thing you know they will be blaming the storm on global warming.......
who would have thought they might have a hurricane during hurricane season

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

I thought this was off-topic. We can make this topic part of the thread if you wish!

How can that be unrealted? Its hurricane season and they've got Greta aboard...very much related. Nice tie in to Climate Change which I had not thought of by Atoll.

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by atoll

their initial jump south was to cross the gulfstream as fast as possible,the gulfstream is really not an area you want to get caught out in in N-NW winds off of the us coast where you risk getting wind against current,the waves become enourmous with very short intervals,which can literally swallow small vessels!

And was there N NW erlies at that time ?

[Cherod]

[QUOTE=belizesailor;3020986]How can that be unrealted? Its hurricane season and they've got Greta aboard...very much related. Nice tie in to Climate Change which I had not thought of by Atoll.[/QUOTEi I thot that most observers were questioning the increasing severity and frequency of hurricanes and other storm systems , not just in this area but all over the world , surely it does not take Greta to highlight that .

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Cherod

I am wondering why they went so far south initially , I would have thot jumping in the Gulf Stream might have been useful for north and eastings , was
It dictated by wind / weather systems ? I tried checking on the early link for predict but can only get current one

The GS turns pretty dramatically E along 40N, with lots of eddies and meanders which are not well predicted the further E you get. In May/June we caught a 4 knot favorable GS current near 40N! But this time of year I would want to limit my N'ing as much as possible and make it as far E as possible to avoid severe fronts spinning off the USA.

We even took that strategy (SE out of NYC, then NE to Azores) in May as there were still very strong regular fronts thundering across 40N.

Taking full advantage of the GS would mean basically paralleling the USA E coast and then heading E near 40N (~NYC).

A downside to using the GS for a push, esp further N with strong fronts, is that you could find yourself in a strong winds against strong current situation...not good...that far N could be very nasty.

[belizesailor]

[QUOTE=Cherod;3020994]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

How can that be unrealted? Its hurricane season and they've got Greta aboard...very much related. Nice tie in to Climate Change which I had not thought of by Atoll.[/QUOTEi I I thot that most observers were questioning the increasing severity and amount of hurricanes , not just in this area but all over the world , surely it does not take Greta to highlight that .

But it does make for a rather obvious publicity opportunity.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Cherod

And was there N NW erlies at that time ?

they had southerly winds and had to beat into it for the first 4 days.
if there were northerly winds they would not have left.
the area is not called "The Bermuda Triangle" for nothing!
every year numerous yachts are lost or disabled trying to cross the stream

[Cherod]

[QUOTE=belizesailor;3020996]

Originally Posted by Cherod

But it does make for a rather obvious publicity opportunity.

Well of course , got to get the message out

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by atoll

their initial jump south was to cross the gulfstream as fast as possible,the gulfstream is really not an area you want to get caught out in in N-NW winds off of the us coast where you risk getting wind against current,the waves become enourmous with very short intervals,which can literally swallow small vessels!

But in fact they had southerlies ( reportedly ) which would not have caused the wind against tide thing but ( seemingly ) favourable wind with tide which should have produced a swift crossing of or run with the GS , was it then just a precautionary move ?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Cherod

But in fact they had southerlies ( reportedly ) which would not have caused the wind against tide thing but ( seemingly ) favourable wind with tide which should have produced a swift crossing of or run with the GS , was it then just a precautionary move ?

the weather at the time was a low that moved off the coast if i remember correctly.
winds on the front side of the low were S-SW,on the back side were N-NW which passed over them 3 days later,giving them enough time to transit the area before the northerlies blowing against the current became an issue

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Cherod

But in fact they had southerlies ( reportedly ) which would not have caused the wind against tide thing but ( seemingly ) favourable wind with tide which should have produced a swift crossing of or run with the GS , was it then just a precautionary move ?

I think tactics are somewhat being dictated by their shore based weather guru.. the clawing South the first few days was to get them clear of the worst of the fronts coming across, and they still copped for some heavy weather.. would have been much worse up North running E with the Stream as it (the wind) went from NW to N to NE..

[Breaking Waves]

The routing news today is No News.

The crush zone/frontal is well in front of them, the sub-tropical low is looking even less threatening, there is some wind forecast for the 26th and 28th (low pressure which has long been forecast for them over Azores) on the fastest route but they can minimize that by staying a bit further south.

They are probably sighing a bit of relief - just settle in and enjoy sailing the boat.

There will be an ongoing routing balance between going north to chase more wind and speed, and staying further south to knock off the peak winds as the lows go overhead. I am guessing they will stay systematically more south than the optimal routing - but we will see - Nikki's racing drive may kick in, but they may also be able to get more out of this boat in somewhat lighter winds/flater seas.

My current routing eta is Dec 6th, but that ofc depends on boat speed which I still have not really gotten to grips with. Could be earlier.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

The routing news today is No News.

The crush zone/frontal is well in front of them, the sub-tropical low is looking even less threatening, there is some wind forecast for the 26th and 28th (low pressure which has long been forecast for them over Azores) on the fastest route but they can minimize that by staying a bit further south.

They are probably sighing a bit of relief - just settle in and enjoy sailing the boat.

There will be an ongoing routing balance between going north to chase more wind and speed, and staying further south to knock off the peak winds as the lows go overhead. I am guessing they will stay systematically more south than the optimal routing - but we will see - Nikki's racing drive may kick in, but they may also be able to get more out of this boat in somewhat lighter winds/flater seas.

My current routing eta is Dec 6th, but that ofc depends on boat speed which I still have not really gotten to grips with. Could be earlier.

seems like they sailed into a bit of a hole,boat speed is back down to 7and a bit knots.
could be the depression will produce big calm areas till it moves off

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by atoll

seems like they sailed into a bit of a hole,boat speed is back down to 7and a bit knots.
could be the depression will produce big calm areas till it moves off

no, they have 20ish knts, and speed on the tracker is back up.

They are in a pretty solid wind field.

There will (likily) be a pretty light spot on the 23rd (morning) - winds 10kts or under (especially if they stay south of route).

They can apparently fly some sort of spinnaker - which will help a lot if they stay southerly.

I have learned that you cant take the instantaneous tracker speed or course too seriously