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Day 106 Hugo Boss between the Rock and a hard place?
They are too far ahead of the gradual evolution and movement of the
cut off low pressure which is centred to their WSW to gain from the
pressure fields it generates while to the south of it
Forum Maritim Catala are coming in on a direct course
towards Gibraltar in SW'lies and SE'lies, so essentially downwind
and reaching in good pressure. Gerard Marin and
Ludovic Aglaor are making nearly 14 knots this
Saturday morning directly towards the cut, the Straits, while the
Hugo Boss duo have been making less than
that overnight.
The low is what is known as a cut off low - such as we have seen
quite regularly in this corner - it becomes cut off from the jet
stream, its energy source and end up aimlessly meandering around
until it eventually dissipates or moves off. In this case over the
next 48 hours it tracks south, east and then north. And only really
by tomorrow does the flow on the eastern side of it starts to
organise into a more regular flow which is when Hugo
Boss's Meiklejohn and
Verbraak will start to see some more constant breeze.
Otherwise today they have a trough developing which leaves them with
headwinds to the north of the latitude of Gibraltar and to their
south and east light SW'lies, SE'lies.
And the more that they track to the SE just now then the more they
end up in the worst of the light, variable breezes - especially
tonight. So it is looking quite complicated still, and doubtless
very, very frustrating for the duo who really just want to be
finished."Light winds this morning. lots of focussed helming to
keep her moving east. new wind tomorrow." reported
Wouter from the boat.
They are certainly going to see their margin to FMC
reduce considerably, but have no reason to panic, but they will
certainly have to keep working hard all the way into the
Mediterranean. With 440 miles to go to Gibraltar they should be
there by Monday, but by then it is possible FMC
will be just over a day behind them.
Meantime for We Are Water they are still
in the SE'ly trades making 10 to 11 knots and are four days from the
Doldrums.
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