The drag race continues
10:30, 25 January 2003
by Tim Hedges

The Pacific drag race continues, but today sees some movement with both Bristol and Glasgow moving up a place. What is particularly interesting about this is that they are virtually at opposite sides of the fleet with Glasgow being the most northerly boat and Bristol just inside Jersey on the southern flank. This matters because as the boats head north they will begin to loose the affects of the equatorial current, the 1 and a half knot boost they have been enjoying for the last several days. It would seem reasonable to assume that Bristol and Jersey would loose this last, and there has been much speculation around the office as to when the northern boats would start to slow down in comparison. That Glasgow’s run over the last 12 hours has been equal to that of their southern competitors rather knocks this argument out of the ring for the time being.

What will be increasingly relevant is the wind. Whilst holding steady at around 15 to 25 knots from the east north east, the forecast shows the possibility of it decreasing and moving round more to the south as the boats head north over the next couple of days. Interestingly Duty Skipper Richard Butler also reports that it has been getting colder, especially at night, and that wearing jackets for the night watches has become the norm. I suspect they will get little sympathy from those watching from northern Europe.

If the wind does as forecast we could start to see the renewal of tactical decisions creating movements in the fleet positions as for a while the boats will no longer be able to sail directly for the island chain. They will instead be faced with a decision on when to jibe to put the wind on their port quarter (left hand corner). As the wind begins to veer the boats will initially follow it round more to the north before jibing back to the west. If they go too early they risk initially sailing too far to the south of west which will add miles, but if they go too late they risk sailing into the area of lighter winds above them. It is all a case of timing and the prudent skipper will above all avoid sailing too far off the rhumb line, the direct route to the finish.

Tim Hedges

Source: Official Site