Classic Final Sprint Over A Classic Route

Classic Final Sprint Over A Classic Route
Classic Final Sprint Over A Classic Route

Video: Classic Final Sprint Over A Classic Route

Video: Classic Final Sprint Over A Classic Route
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The long strokes through the lonely Southern Ocean, at most around Cape Horn, are considered to be the "queen's stage" of the regatta. The distance from the new back to the old world is also much shorter than that between the few landmarks in the southern hemisphere. Nevertheless, if you had to find a worthy title, the seventh stage of the race could easily be described as the "classic ocean finals".

In theory, the curved course, reverently called "The Great Circle" (the shortest distance between two points on a sphere is also a great circle for Volvo Ocean Racer) spans the North Atlantic like a bridge that has long furrowed the surface of the North Atlantic. The first section of the "Furrow Bridge", which has seen thousands of boats, runs almost 1000 miles to the northeast, almost parallel to the New England coast. Towards Newfoundland banks, fog and ice. The Cape Race, the southeastern corner of Newfoundland, the notorious weather and land trap corner and the last physical, rock-hard course obstacle in the New World, is mostly avoided by means of an "ice point" that is only announced shortly before the start.

That is also necessary, because the geographical peculiarity and the second section of the "furrow bridge" is the meeting of the Labrador and Gulf Streams on the banks of Newfoundland. In fact, the Arctic Labrador Current sometimes drives ice unusually far into regions normally reserved for commercial shipping (old handbooks contain reports of ice drifting off Ireland). The area around the "cold wall", the meeting of the cold Labrador and the warm and humid Gulf Stream, in which sea fog, storms and ice are likely to be encountered, are avoided by the racers from the start. If this sea area, forbidden by the race control, is behind the racers, they have less to sail to the Azores than back to the cities on the east coast of the USA, for example New York. Visually: The "ice point" forces a dent in the "furrow bridge"

Statistically speaking, westerly winds usually prevail in the North Atlantic. After all, the route already leads through moderate, cold latitudes - if there was usually a headwind there, no sensible person would tackle the route. Statistically, the North Atlantic is also one of the areas of the world where ice is most likely to occur. Nobody is surprised when the word ice is pronounced in the same breath as the word Southern Ocean. The chance of hitting ice on the Atlantic, almost just before the gates of Europe, is significantly higher.

So much for theory. However, the temperate latitudes with their migratory weather systems and fronts are known for volatile winds. In hardly any other sea area are the navigators more wild after current weather information than on the "return trip" across the Atlantic. In practice, it looks like a few days more hard cross just before the start to prove it. Conditions in which the fast Volvo Open 70s turn into bone breakers and are uncomfortable - and dangerous - to sail even for professional crews. Conditions that seemed to be in the wake of the runners once and for all after the sixth stage: The expectations that the sixth stage from Annapolis to New York would be the lightest wind of the race were blown by northeast winds of up to 40 knots. Jennifer Lilly, assistant to racing meteorologist Chris Bedford, confirms the forecast for the first days of racing

If the navigators on the Atlantic have to ponder tactics and strategy more intensively than, for example, on the trade fair stages, the crews may also have to work hard. This is because the Gulf Stream sets a little less volatile than the westerly winds with ape-like speed (at times almost four knots) to the east. With the support of the Gulf Stream, it is likely that the Volvo sailors will set a new Atlantic record on the official route between Ambrose Lighthouse (New York) and Lizard Point (England). The fact that the seventh stage allows the fast yachts to try their hand at the magical record was an important criterion in the selection of the stage ports. However, it will not be easy. After all, the gigantic two-master "Mari ChIV" holds the record for monohull yachts. The skipper of this monster, which can casually maintain an average speed of over 20 knots, will probably recognize the route. Because that is Mike Sanderson, skipper of the Dutch "ABN Amro One", and at the start in New York he is vastly superior to his colleagues from the Volvo fleet on points.

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