23
Jun 23
Two different roads - tactics and weather update
With the three IMOCAs now neck and neck there is a restart after Gibraltar and a lot of skill, concentration and energy needed in order to bring the boat into Genoa in first place!
by Holly Cova
“Nico and I said that if we cross the Strait of Gibraltar with only 50 nm to the lead we are still in the running. We are only 5 nm behind so we are really happy with how we have caught up!”
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BH
As the IMOCA fleet passed through Gibraltar, there was a big compression and now the three boats are really even regardless of their position on the tracker. Last night, Team Malizia seemed to be able to sail much higher angles for a period of several hours in their slightly more north position from Biotherm and Team Holcim-PRB and this really helped to get them right back in touch with the leaders as they all tacked back onto starboard in the early hours of this morning.
Nico Lunven navigator and Will Harris Coskipper discussing the tactics and weather for this complex leg 7!
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The fleet will be sailing upwind into the Mediterranean Sea for the next 24 hours or so in up to about 20 knots of wind. It is nice for them to finally have some breeze but it will really be VMG upwind so still not fast sailing and with the boats so close together they will be in sight at times. The sailors on all the boats will be fighting for every little bit of speed and height in these conditions as the gains are small and hard to get in these upwind conditions.
The weather models are not totally in sync though with the GFS (Global Forecast System, the American model) road probably being the safest option because it stays along the coast, which allows you to have some consistency with the sea breeze. It is risky to stay without wind to the south of the Balearic Islands, however, sometimes fortune favours the brave and we never really know in the Mediterranean Sea!
Rosalin Kuiper looking into the sunset as the boat enters the Mediterranean sea
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
The first two tacks look the same on both routings: upwind and you have to play with a left and right shift. Sometimes it prefers to keep on one side to avoid crossing twice against the current but Nico will no doubt be aware of this and will play with it.
As the fleet approaches Ibiza, there won’t be any time to stop for a party. The wind will get very light again and then both the GFS and ECMWF (European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast) models show a band of southerly wind to take them north between the Balearic Islands and mainland Spain tomorrow night and into Sunday morning. There is another fight for them through some light wind as they come across the top of the Balearics before hopefully they FINALLY get into some actual fast sailing. Monday day, they should cross the Gulf of Lion in 15-18 knots of NW wind so a nice downwind reaching angle that should give them some fast foiling but it is short lived!
Technical Advisor Jesse Naimark-Rowse commented:
“As soon as they get south of Toulon, it looks like the breeze turns off again and for the moment it seems the last 150 nm to Genoa will be a slog in light variable wind. The routing shows something between 36 and 48 hours to cover this last 150 nm or so - it is still anyone's race to win and we can probably expect a close finish in Genoa!”
Both ECMWF and GFS show arrivals into Genoa on the 28th of June.
Boris Herrmann onboard Malizia - Seaexplorer during leg 7 of The Ocean Race
© Antoine Auriol / Team Malizia
