Tactical Reports
Ice Gate B: 14/12/2007
The leading boats are through ice gate B , set south west of the Kerguelen Islands.
There has not been a lot of change between the leading three over the last couple of days although HUGO BOSS has managed to take some miles out of the two boats in front of her over the last 48hrs, and Veolia has now diverted into the Kerguelen islands for engine repairs, moving HUGO BOSS into second place. For some reason unknown to Alex and Capey HUGO BOSS seams to be faster at night then her two rivals Alex commented “now we are deep in the south and the nights are short only 4-5hrs of darkness... we sail the boat in the same mode during the night as the day and always seem to gain some miles in the night.“
With the boats deep into the southern ocean and with South Africa over their left shoulder the skippers mentality and approach to the way they sail the boat will have changed somewhat, more so than when they were charging south through the Atlantic. This is driven by a few factors.
Cold - The sea temperature is down to 3c and the ambient temperature in the boat will be a couple of degrees higher, when the wind starts blowing from the south straight from Antarctica the wind chill factor outside can easily hit minus double figures with rain clouds turning into blizzard clouds This makes working outside hard, painful and slow - long gone have the days of having one man driving constantly - for now a lot of it will be down to their new best friend the auto pilot.
Isolation – Currently the nearest piece of land to HUGO BOSS is the Kerguelen Island 450 miles away. Kerguelen's weather is harsh, with rain and snow most days of the year. Winds blow continuously from the west, as the islands lie in the path of the "Furious Fifties". Winds of 150 kph are common, and gusting up to 200 kph has been known. As Kerguelen lies on the Antarctic Convergence where upwelling cold water from the Antarctic mixes with the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean, birdlife and marine mammals are abundant. The state of the sea reflects the high wind speeds, with wave heights of 12 - 15 m being common. The island is occupied by scientists and a bunch of people from the CNES (French national space centre). This would not be an island that would be able to launch a rescue if it were needed, only if you had no other options would you attempt to use this island as a safe haven.
Next closest land would be either Australia or south Africa, both around 1800 miles away, With the range of a helicopter being around 300 miles, a fixed wing aircraft could always come out and locate you, but it would never be able to pick you up.
What I am trying to say is that for the next couple of weeks they are alone down there and that thought will be going through their minds every time the opportunity comes up to push a bit harder or put a bigger sail up and will definately influence their decisions.
Stamina - It’s a marathon not a sprint - the boats have still not reached the half way mark yet and the southern ocean and sailing in general can bring lots of unforeseen surprises, therefore in these times its healthy to sail the boat at 90-95%, making sure that you and the boat are not burnt out early and always have something in reserve to handle what is thrown at you.
The unfortunate hand that was dealt to PRB, Delta Dore and Esralla Damm, will have reminded the skippers how quickly the situation can change and that most of the time there is very little you can do to stop it, you just have to manage with the out come the best you can. One can only feel sorry for PRB, Estrella Damm and Delta Dore - their race has been ended so cruelly, but unfortunately that’s the nature of the game.
The current weather models are showing the high pressure of SW Australia to be well established and moving SE over the weekend, into early next week. The boats have to pass through a security gate south of the western tip of Australia, the high pressure looks like it will effect the leading boats trying to get through this gate, at the moment it is so far away it is hard to say tactically what would be the best way to approach the high, think we can safely say the lead boats will slow down as they approach , giving the trailing boats there long awaited chance to catch up some miles. It will also mean the temperature will go up, making living conditions a bit more bearable.
For HUGO BOSS this could bring them the chance to put some pressure on the boat ahead of them and launch the attack that they have so patiently been waiting for.
Ross Daniel
There has not been a lot of change between the leading three over the last couple of days although HUGO BOSS has managed to take some miles out of the two boats in front of her over the last 48hrs, and Veolia has now diverted into the Kerguelen islands for engine repairs, moving HUGO BOSS into second place. For some reason unknown to Alex and Capey HUGO BOSS seams to be faster at night then her two rivals Alex commented “now we are deep in the south and the nights are short only 4-5hrs of darkness... we sail the boat in the same mode during the night as the day and always seem to gain some miles in the night.“
With the boats deep into the southern ocean and with South Africa over their left shoulder the skippers mentality and approach to the way they sail the boat will have changed somewhat, more so than when they were charging south through the Atlantic. This is driven by a few factors.
Cold - The sea temperature is down to 3c and the ambient temperature in the boat will be a couple of degrees higher, when the wind starts blowing from the south straight from Antarctica the wind chill factor outside can easily hit minus double figures with rain clouds turning into blizzard clouds This makes working outside hard, painful and slow - long gone have the days of having one man driving constantly - for now a lot of it will be down to their new best friend the auto pilot.
Isolation – Currently the nearest piece of land to HUGO BOSS is the Kerguelen Island 450 miles away. Kerguelen's weather is harsh, with rain and snow most days of the year. Winds blow continuously from the west, as the islands lie in the path of the "Furious Fifties". Winds of 150 kph are common, and gusting up to 200 kph has been known. As Kerguelen lies on the Antarctic Convergence where upwelling cold water from the Antarctic mixes with the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean, birdlife and marine mammals are abundant. The state of the sea reflects the high wind speeds, with wave heights of 12 - 15 m being common. The island is occupied by scientists and a bunch of people from the CNES (French national space centre). This would not be an island that would be able to launch a rescue if it were needed, only if you had no other options would you attempt to use this island as a safe haven.
Next closest land would be either Australia or south Africa, both around 1800 miles away, With the range of a helicopter being around 300 miles, a fixed wing aircraft could always come out and locate you, but it would never be able to pick you up.
What I am trying to say is that for the next couple of weeks they are alone down there and that thought will be going through their minds every time the opportunity comes up to push a bit harder or put a bigger sail up and will definately influence their decisions.
Stamina - It’s a marathon not a sprint - the boats have still not reached the half way mark yet and the southern ocean and sailing in general can bring lots of unforeseen surprises, therefore in these times its healthy to sail the boat at 90-95%, making sure that you and the boat are not burnt out early and always have something in reserve to handle what is thrown at you.
The unfortunate hand that was dealt to PRB, Delta Dore and Esralla Damm, will have reminded the skippers how quickly the situation can change and that most of the time there is very little you can do to stop it, you just have to manage with the out come the best you can. One can only feel sorry for PRB, Estrella Damm and Delta Dore - their race has been ended so cruelly, but unfortunately that’s the nature of the game.
The current weather models are showing the high pressure of SW Australia to be well established and moving SE over the weekend, into early next week. The boats have to pass through a security gate south of the western tip of Australia, the high pressure looks like it will effect the leading boats trying to get through this gate, at the moment it is so far away it is hard to say tactically what would be the best way to approach the high, think we can safely say the lead boats will slow down as they approach , giving the trailing boats there long awaited chance to catch up some miles. It will also mean the temperature will go up, making living conditions a bit more bearable.
For HUGO BOSS this could bring them the chance to put some pressure on the boat ahead of them and launch the attack that they have so patiently been waiting for.
Ross Daniel