Calais Round Britain Race - Day 7

Homeward bound!

• All the fleet into the descent of the North Sea as Dee Caffari (Aviva) makes her rounding of Shetland this evening. The leaders, PRB, VM Materiaux and, for the first time this race, Delta Dore, are now level with Aberdeen, Scotland.
• The bulk of the original eleven Imoca monohulls are now snaking downwind through the oil fields East of the Scottish mainland in an average of 10/15 knots of breeze, playing the wind rotations under gennaker or spinnaker; manoeuvres and sail changes the order of the day.
• Forecasts indicate a reduction in speed for the leaders as they hit their first zone of light winds and suffer a likely compression of the fleet.

The eleven Imoca monohulls in this Calais Round Britain Race will all be safely around the top of the racecourse by this evening, homeward bound on their descent of the North Sea. The frontrunners have now stretched out a lead of nearly 300 miles ahead of the backrunner Aviva but light patches dotted randomly across the path of the leaders suggest a likely compression of the fleet as the backrunners continue for a while in more breeze. The leaders will have to position themselves according to what they consider to be the best route around the windless zones, whilst staying along the axis of those coming up with more pace behind so that they retain a position of control.

With a 33.8 mile lead today, Vincent Riou (PRB) was amidst the oil fields of the North Sea, East of the Scottish mainland when contacted at the lunch time radio session. “We can see the platforms really well and we’ve just had to gybe to avoid one of the rigs. Conditions are not too bad. The wind is very variable in both strength and direction and we have between 2 and 20 knots. We had just two knots for a good half hour so we're having to weave around playing the wind rotations. We're making lots of manoeuvres and sail changes. The forecasts are not favourable for the next 12 hours. We'll have to keep an eye on what's going on behind us as well as in front so vigilance is the order of the day. For our descent we're planning on keeping as direct a course a possible.”

Still 30 miles off the pace on a more offshore option, Jean Le Cam couldn't be contacted today, but clearly thinks there may be a more interesting course closed to the Norwegian coastline. Jeremie Beyou on Delta Dore was sailing even further offshore, happy with his lot after pulling up two place into third overnight. He was all too aware of how quickly that can change however. "We're third...for the moment! It was absolutely great to see Temenos yesterday. We looked at her thinking 'watch your back! We sailed a little higher than her and may well have had different wind. For now we're looking ahead and working on making the boat go as fast as possible. We have 10/15 knots of wind, downwind, slipping along well on flat seas."

In 4th Dominique Wavre (Temenos) confirmed that they did indeed has different wind as they round Muckle Flugga last night: “We saw Delta Dore sneaking up behind us last night. He luffed a little more than us whilst we stayed more inshore and fell into zones of light winds on two separate occasions. On the bright side we've got good visibility of 15 miles and we can see an oil rig downwind of us. The battle is far from over though. Anyone can fall into a windless zone whatever boat they're on. There seem to be light patches all over the race zone, but at least we can do some sunbathing now we're out of the fog! Our foulies are drying on deck and we're getting some air through the boat now which feels great now we’re on the way back."

In 5th position after losing a place in the rankings and some 50 odd miles on the leader in their inshore climb up to the summit of Shetland last night Artemis Ocean Racing are hungry for revenge. "Muckle Flugga was renamed something else, which I shall leave to your imagination, but needless to say we were glad to see the back of it and to ease sheets, and make for home down the North Sea!”, wrote Graham 'Gringo' Tourell earlier. “We’re making 13 knots of headway and good speed’ said skipper Jonny Malbon at the radio session. “There are some very light patches further along so we hope we can find the corridor of breeze with light winds either side of it that is forecast on our charts and stay where it is supposed to be. The guys up front have done an amazing job and PRB hasn’t put a foot wrong so far, but if he does we’ll be there,” he said defiantly.

At the head of the chasing pack Maisonneuve are leading the onslaught, the Roxy girls skippered by English skipper Sam Davies just a mile astern in 7th position. “It’s going fantastically well" said an excited crew Jeanne Gregoire. "We have Maisonneuve right on the axis of the wind and we’re on the hunt, racing well. It's been such fun! We spoke with the Shetland coastguard and this morning we had a fisherman on the VHF, but we haven't reached the oil platforms yet. The situation ahead looks pretty tortuous so we can but hope we can get back with the others.”

Closing the door on the North this evening, Dee Caffari and her 4 crew on Aviva now have nearly a 300 mile deficit this evening on the leaders, after an unfortunate inshore option a couple of days ago off NW Scotland. Spirits were still high onboard however when we spoke to Dee earlier: “We’re still upwind, which is not one of Aviva's favourite points of sail. It's still light but we’re making progress and we’ve got sunshine for the first time since the start and we've seen land for the first time. The visibility is good, we have flat seas and it's warming up! The boys were getting a bit worried about the food situation so I've checked and we'll be ok. Our initial target is to round Shetland this evening and then we’ll see what we can do!”

Tomorrow may see a real shake-up in the positions, the backrunners still with everything to play for...

Update from Aviva:

No overnight improvement for Aviva

As predicted, the situation has unfortunately not improved for Aviva. The tactical mistake 48 hours ago has forced the team to battle upwind to the most northerly point of the course. In the meantime the rest of the fleet have rounded the Shetland Islands and have started to accelerate downwind. Dee Caffari and the crew are incredibly frustrated that one error has cost them so much time, however despite the slim chances of making up ground the team are not giving up. Aviva is much better suited to downwind sailing than heading upwind in light winds and the team are hoping the North Sea is kinder to them.

Dee Caffari’s latest diary:

“It has been frustrating for the last 48 hours and each member of the team has displayed their frustrations differently. The most important thing to remember is that the weather changes constantly and gains can be made as well as losses all the time. We will not give up but will keep on pushing upwind until we get the chance to turn the corner and benefit from the downwind sailing that Aviva is much better designed to do.”

“We are free of the fog and have now found some decent pressure to sail in so we continue now to tack our way to the mark.”

“The atmosphere onboard has been fun. Inwardly, we have all been disappointed with the polling [positioning] but equally we are all determined to push all the way to the finish. It is strange to think that two years ago in the last Calais Round Britain Race the boats arrived tonight. I do not think that any records are in danger this year.”

“We are now sailing in clear skies and flat seas with some pressure despite it being inconsistent. We are keeping the boat moving and trying to sail the best angle to close the distance on the corner that will then allow us to sail south where the weather can be warmer. Even though we have finally cleared the fog and found the sun we are unable to feel much warmth from its rays. Numerous layers of clothing and warm hats are still the order of the day.”

“Looking ahead at the weather for the North Sea, to say it looks interesting is as far as I can go. You never know what will turn up and we have found ourselves in conditions that have not been seen on any weather files we were looking at so we will keep our fingers crossed.”

“I now have the envious task of checking the food supplies. The snacks that proved popular are long gone and we are left with the sensible food. We will definitely not go hungry but the first choice options may not be available anymore. I think the team are hoping that I will find an extra bag of chocolate hidden away somewhere.”

Dee, Chook, Frog, Pants and Hugo

Team Update from Weather Expert Mike Broughton:

“Light winds look set to continue to dominate the race track as the fleet heads south. We have a weak high pressure to the north and a weak low pressure over the North Sea and frankly very little wind blowing between the two. This makes for very difficult and frustrating conditions for the crew, not helped at all by the amount of fog they have seen.”

“Conditions will eventually change quite dramatically on Tuesday as a cold front moves down the North Sea, propelled by fresher northerly winds that will be relatively cold. The polar winds, will clear away the fog in minutes and improved visibility will be much welcomed by the team. Prior to the arrival of this front, there are still big areas of light wind and even calms, which hopefully will create a few chances for Dee and the team to get back in contention.”

Update from Artemis:

Chance doesn’t pay off onboard Artemis Ocean Racing

“We're on our way home!!!

At around midnight last night, we finally rounded the northern most tip of the race course, Muckle Flugga. The last couple of hours of our approach were very painful, as we had taken a decision to tack early, and try to recoup some miles back from the leaders, hoping for a lucky lift in to Muckle Flugga. And with Mr Lucky onboard, who could blame us for not giving it a shot?

With a 30 miles lead over the next boat behind us, it was worth the risk to try and get back alongside Delta Dore, as the wind was due to go light a few hours later, and the last thing we wanted was the front boats to get away and leave us behind!

The long and the short of it, as you have probably seen, is that we have lost a few miles to the front runners, and our cushion reduced to about 15-20 miles..... Unfortunately, we didn't get what we were hoping for, and we had to put a couple of short tacks in to get us around the rock. It was frustrating for us, but we knew what the pros and cons were. C'est la vie.

Muckle Flugga was renamed something else, which I shall leave to your imagination, but needless to say we were glad to see the back of it and to ease sheets, and make for home down the North Sea! Our final approach to the rock was a very civilized affair, as Chef Larsen had cooked up a beautifully prepared curry (in a plastic bag!!!) and to wash it down, we had a lovely drop of vin rouge. Normally, any meal on these boats is a bit of a blur. It's like watching a chimp's tea party, as you're always worried about getting a call for a sail change or do a maneuver, which means you have to drop your food and let it go cold as you get on with the priority of racing, and making the boat go fast. So this was a nice change for us.

After a civilized dinner, it was time to ease sheets and prepare the gennaker to see the light of day again. We hoisted the Fractional 0 bore away, and waved goodbye to land again as we headed South East down in to the North Sea, with our eyes firmly set on the guys in front.

We waited with anticipation for the 0400 poll, to find out how painful our loss was. When it came, we were not too gutted. We knew it would be a loss, but it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

To be where we are in the fleet at the moment is awesome. We are the new kids on the block, and we are really mixing it up with the big boys at the front with their new boats. But, we aren't settling for this yet, we want blood! We're pushing to see if we can get back up there, and upset someone else. The weather ahead looks pretty unpredictable with a few possibilities for compression, so look out...

Anything can happen though, and we have to watch our backs, as the guys (and girls) will be thinking the same about upsetting us! Paul and I are off watch now, and have handed over to nipper and Fraser to carry on the charge. Keep your fingers crossed for us, as we continue to pull out all the stops.

I bid you sweet dreams

Cheers, Gringo”

Update from Temenos:

A meteorological brain-teaser

With the Shetland Islands in their wake, the fleet are finally closing in on Calais. The Imoca monohulls are slipping along quietly, seemingly too quietly for the skippers' liking, as they have quickly had to accept that the downwind conditions are becoming lighter.

The passage of Shetland by TEMENOS yesterday evening was a little tricky. "The counter current on the approach to Shetland cost us some ground. The wind had shifted into a favourable position as forecast but we were still obliged to make a short 300m tack to round the last rock, which wasn’t a very comfortable layline.

Apart from that, the rugged islands in the sunlight were a real sight to behold and the crew were happy to finally be able to hoist the spinnaker" said Dominique when contacted in the middle of the afternoon.

However, the skies have been rather a disappointment. The 20 knots forecast in the grib files, were set to accompany the leaders for several hours after their passage around Shetland, but that’s not quite the real picture.

"We have had 15 knots at the very most and the wind has dropped away a lot quicker than forecast.

We’ve had to make a lot of manœuvres and we’re continuing to do so as the wind is very shifty, which means that we have to do a lot of work on deck.

Right now the conditions are really stormy… we have 7 knots", joked Dominique, visibly resigned to seeing this Calais Round Britain Race end on the same note as it began over a week ago. "We’re in a system of light winds until the finish, and the ETA is extending ever more. It's not very clear how to put a strategy in place with the grib files constantly changing."

The boats will have to wend their way along in light, unsteady and shifty winds, or even no wind at all for the really unlucky ones. The weather forecasts are certainly pushing back the ETAs (estimated time of arrival).

"I don’t even dare to look at the ETAs!" (laughs…) "a finish on 13th seems increasingly utopian, but whilst we’re on the subject, we're tending more towards 14th, or why not 15th!" joked Dominique. When you like what you’re doing you don’t count… except for skippers who instead of the number of days racing prefer to count the number of knots gained on the speedometer.”

"In fact it’s very hard to have a reliable forecast, it doesn't take much and then you can be stuck for hours in a windless zone."

During the variations, the shifty wind sweeps across each boats' heading and course in a different way. In these random conditions, Delta Dore and VM Matériaux are aiming for a higher course whilst TEMENOS, like PRB, is making its descent towards Calais by sailing as close as possible to the direct course. "The wind is massively varied. We have a 30 to 40° shift, which makes things difficult. We are finding it hard to find the right course. It’s yours, it’s mine, it’s the least bad strategy shall we say!"

A complicated weather situation, which means essentially that anything is possible, including seeing PRB’s 30 mile disappear. The suspense of this Calais Round Britain Race is clearly set to last.