| At sea. Multi Cup 60: Fleet is heading for the Balearic Isles |
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| Sunday, 14 May 2006 | |
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Event media: The fleet's entry into the Mediterranean is as expected with moderate headwinds, a choppy but easier sea, and wind which alternates from steady breezes to unpredictable zones of calm. Options are reduced. Right now, the priority is to head for the Balearic Islands as soon as possible make the most of every wind shift. When you sail in the Mediterranean, you have to play the game. Position your boat well without making too many compromises, take risks but not pushing thing too far. You have to be one step ahead, but keep cool. The five boats still in the running in the final stages with under 500 miles to go to Nice, the aim is not to loose track of what’s going on in the match overall. Strike to score. For all the hierarchy is well established, the gaps are so small that the position polls do not give the whole picture. It cannot be denied that head to wind, in slightly choppy seas, the first five boats sail almost as one. No-one is likely to make a getaway in the hours to come as the wind has stayed NE all afternoon, bang smack in the middle of the race track at around 15 knots – and will be staying that way until sunfall. Night time might be a little different though. As the crews make way towards the Balearic Islands, the wind will drop and boat speeds along with it. The perfect occasion for the boats following the trio of Cammas-Bidégorry-Desjoyeaux, to reduce the gap. Gitana 11 and 12 may be able to close in on the leaders and reduce the 30-50 mile gap they’ve had since this morning. There have been no real tactical options to speak of open to the trimarans since they passed Cape Gata off the SE tip of Spain. The band of steady wind remains localised sixty miles below Ibiza and NE close to the Spanish coast veering E in the middle of the Mediterranean. The fleet will have to go in search of this wind shift before changing tack some time before the sun goes down. The first five trimarans are on the same course and there will be no marked difference in the positions until they start to make a move north. Antoine Koch and his crew on Sopra Group are just plain unlucky. Whereas the leaders had made good speed across the Bay of Cadix, they are becalmed off Cape Trafalgar ! At less than five knots, the red trimaran will not be through the Gibraltar Strait before night time. But, they may be able to pick up speed on Sunday when the first five are stopped in their tracks off the Balearic Islands. Tomorrow is another day… Patience is a virtue as the saying goes. And this weekend nothing certain can really be said before the start of the Lord’s day. It is likely that the famous five find themselves within ten miles of one another beneath Majorca trying as best they can to make progress in very light winds. They’ll have to head east as the zone is still devoid of wind. The other option is to put some west into their heading and stay with the wind. If one of the five makes a break, strategy will spring to life. You can well imagine comments such as : « Has he got a weather file we haven’t ? », « What does he know about this area that we don’t ? », « Why does he want to cross the calm area before anyone else ? ». Nerve racking stuff for skippers and navigators. Break the contact with the others and run the risk of getting stuck in a calm zone, or stay together hoping that the last few miles will make a difference ? With only four position polls issued to the competitors per day (7h, 11h, 15h, 19h), crews can imagine all sorts of scenarios. When sailors don’t know what is going to happen next, they tend to stay close to the direct route. But when you are playing to win, then it is sometimes best to make a move ! Who knows ? http://www.multicup60.eu/ |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 14 May 2006 ) |
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