Kirsten Neuschafer Cape George 36 @ 7.9 knots

[notoldbilbo]

They're both winners as far as I'm concerned.

[notoldbilbo]

I'm intrigued by the following, from GGR's HQ....

"Racing yachts around the world use computerised weather routing programs to optimise courses against satellite weather data. It’s the norm! Both are banned in the Golden Globe but the current leader and only woman in the race, South African Kirsten Neuschäfer, found the perfect solution for her best route home to Les Sables d’Olonne after rounding Cape Horn.

She consulted Ocean Passages of the World with its 200-year-old weather routing charts, historical weather and suggested routes from the original clipper sailing ships. Following that advice is now paying strong dividends."


I have had a copy of that British Hydrographic Office publication on my bookshelf for some years. It's a 'treasure trove'....

[El Pinguino]

Square rigged ships didn't go to windward as well as Rustlers but yes, I think Abhilash has backed the wrong horse. Has Kirsten had anything break yet?

[boatman61]

I don't think she's had any hardware gear failure but I seem to remember her saying something about one of her light weather sails.. but I could be wrong..

[Panope]

If I remember correctly, she lost one of her poles, thus making her "twin headsails" unusable. This was her secret weapon for the Down hill stuff in the Southern ocean.

The rest of the race seems to be more of a reach or upwind, so the above may be of little consequence.

[NaClyDog]

I wonder how much time she gave up when she helped out that other sailor. Do these things ever get accounted for in this type of race?

[notoldbilbo]

Yes, NaClyDog, it was announced some time back she'd be 'credited' with about 30 hours for her going to the assistance of the distressed/liferaft-bound competitor, Tapio Lehtinen, whose boat had sunk beneath him.

[markcouz]

Amazing how Simon seemed to reposition his boat into a powerful favorable current over the last few days without detailed weather data available to him.

[Bowdrie]

As of ~hour ago Tomy has come about, heading E to work out of the corner he was getting into.
Kirsten had made a little jog to the W but is now heading ~NNE, still looks like reasonably favorable winds for her.

[notoldbilbo]

Originally Posted by markcouz

Amazing how Simon seemed to reposition his boat into a powerful favorable current over the last few days without detailed weather data available to him.

There's quite a lot can be deduced from keeping a frequent, regular plot of ambient goings-on - not just Baro and AirTemp, but also SeaTemp.


I understand this is a common practice on races such as Newport-Bermuda which cross the Gulf Stream.

Of course, in another incarnation, one could stop the boat to zero motion relative to the water and see what motion the GPS was picking up.....

[El Pinguino]

This piccy of the sea temperatures - from Predictwind - may help re the currents, a bit confusing as they run through the spectrum twice.

The purple at the bottom is under 12ºC, the yellow at the top is about 29ºC

What is obvious is the purple tongue of the north going Falklands Current while close northeast of it is a solid southerly stream. A few small north going fingers a bit further to the east.

Of course in the Falklands Current you have to deal with the near solid mass of chinese squid jiggers.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

As of ~hour ago Tomy has come about, heading E to work out of the corner he was getting into.
Kirsten had made a little jog to the W but is now heading ~NNE, still looks like reasonably favorable winds for her.

Dunno, the wind may be on the nose for him but it does seem to keep blowing for him. Kirsten on the other hand?

This is what it may look like on Monday morning their time.

You can also see Jean Luc's track ( pale blue ) from four years ago.

The chickens haven't started hatching yet.

[markcouz]

Jeremy looks like he has a really tough time in his future - it seems like his best option would be to pull into the nearest Motel and start again on Monday!

[Bowdrie]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Dunno, the wind may be on the nose for him but it does seem to keep blowing for him. Kirsten on the other hand?

Between now and Monday is a long time.
Meanwhile, Tomy is heading E. at ~ 3Kts with winds ~ abeam.
Kirsten is heading almost due N. at better than 5Kts with wind on the beam.
She's also increased her lead to almost 400NM.
This is from ~25 min. ago.

[El Pinguino]

This is Sunday, the area of light winds keeps on growing in all models.
Pin is on her latest position.