{"id":136617,"date":"2022-02-03T09:07:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-03T09:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=136617"},"modified":"2022-02-03T10:09:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T10:09:35","slug":"transat-jacques-vabre-lessons-from-the-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/races\/transat-jacques-vabre-lessons-from-the-experts-136617","title":{"rendered":"Transat Jacques Vabre: lessons from the experts"},"content":"An Atlantic crossing or Atlantic circuit has often been seen as a year-long adventure, crossing the ocean<\/a> in late November or December to the Caribbean<\/a>, with a return to Europe starting in May.\r\n\r\nThere are good reasons for this timetable, the overriding one being the hurricane season. This runs from the beginning of June through to the end of November. Hurricanes can happen outside of the \u2018official season\u2019, but they are rare \u2013 although the last few years have all seen named storms in May.\r\n\r\nBy departing towards the end of November, with the bulk of the crossing in December, we maximise the Caribbean season, often coming back to Europe after Antigua Race Week in May.\r\n\r\nThe Caribbean winter season now begins with two major events starting in January; the RORC Transatlantic Race, and for this year an additional January departure for the ARC. Both are scheduled to depart early January from Lanzarote and Gran Canaria respectively.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_134945\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Not much to split them? Using reanalysis data and routing software the routes in green show late November departures and those in red January[\/caption]\r\n\r\nInterestingly, for the actual crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, statistics show that the wind tends to become stronger as we get into January and February \u2013 so there may be some truth in the Christmas trade winds that we hear about starting to blow around Christmas and lasting well into the following months.\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n
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\r\n\r\nWhen departing the Canaries the prevailing wind direction is from north through to east-north-east. These are the trade winds found on the eastern side of the semi-permanent high pressure which we know as the Azores high. The wind blows from this direction for 55-65% of the time with little variation from November to March. However, averages do not tell us everything and we do get a number of days when the Canaries are affected by low pressure passing close to the north.\r\n

Winter winds<\/h2>\r\nThis is important for a pleasurable passage; few people enjoy headwinds when supposedly on a downwind passage or race. Near the Canaries the wind is between south and west for around 10% of the time in December and higher at 14% in January. That is not a huge difference and the variability between years makes it hard to make firm predictions.\r\n\r\nThere are lots of statistics from different sources and although they roughly agree the older pilot charts and routing charts tend to indicate a higher incidence of trade winds, while winds derived from newer satellite observations show more variability.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_133423\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Harry Scott leaving the Canaries.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen looking at reanalysis data we see an even greater variation in the wind patterns, and this is consistent with a greater variability in the weather which we expect with climate change.\r\n\r\nAdditionally, if the wind becomes south-westerly, the average strength tends to increase from November and December through to February. This is an indication of deeper winter depressions passing closer to, and affecting the Canary Islands.\r\n\r\nOn the way across there will remain a small chance of south-westerly winds which decreases the further south and west you get; mid-Atlantic adverse and light winds are generally linked to the tail of cold fronts splitting the Azores high or more rarely areas of low pressure.\r\n

When to go?<\/h2>\r\nTo compare conditions between months, I ran some weather routing for a late November and an early January departure. This was from the Canaries to St Lucia using 11 years of reanalysis data from 2010-2020 departing in late November and early January. By using the polars from a cruiser-racer production boat some of the results were quite surprising.\r\n\r\nThe earlier departures gave a greater range of routes with the January departures slightly closer to the direct route and to the south; this reflects the expected stronger winds (from historical data) with shorter courses following closer to the great circle route.\r\n\r\nHowever, the main surprise came with the timings as the late November departures were on average 10 hours faster than the January ones. This didn\u2019t make a great deal of sense because historical data, as well as anecdotal evidence from the Caribbean, suggested the later crossings should have stronger and steadier trade winds.\r\n\r\nBut by looking at the routes and weather patterns a little more closely, I found that on four of the January routes there was low pressure in the central and eastern Atlantic that was further south than usually expected and impacted on the first part of the route. This gave moderate to strong headwinds and a slow start to the passage which was followed by light winds until the trade winds filled in after the lows had moved away.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_134946\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" An unusually large low in January, completely disturbing the trade winds[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSo a January passage on a \u2018good\u2019 year should, given long term average conditions, be faster with stronger wind particularly on the latter part of the passage. But, rather significantly, there is a greater chance of low pressure affecting the Canary Islands and delaying the start if cruising, or giving a period of beating\r\nif racing.\r\n\r\nPlanning our sailing is rarely as simple as deciding a date on which we are leaving. Something that should be taken equally seriously is the weather expected on the passage to the Canary Islands. This is more important when heading south from the UK and north-west Europe, although it must also be taken into consideration when departing from the Mediterranean.\r\n

Head south early<\/h2>\r\nThe usual advice is to get south as early as possible, as an easier passage will be had in September rather than leaving it until November or December. If crossing the Bay of Biscay, once into September the likelihood of gales increases, as does the probability of south-westerly winds.\r\n\r\nIn September pilot charts indicate that gales in northern Biscay are likely 3% of the time, which increases to 7% in October and 9% in November. We also get a significant increase in south-westerly winds; this reflects the passing of lows to the north-west which tend to pass further south during autumn and winter.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_127615\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"sailing-autopilots-ARC-2016-credit-TimBisMedia\" Classic tradewind setup for an Atlantic crossing. Photo: TimBisMedia[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThere are some breaks in the weather as cold fronts rattle through veering the wind to the north-west and occasionally to the north. As the season progresses so does the likelihood that the Portuguese trade winds will fail, giving a beat south down the Portuguese coast only picking up the trade winds south of the latitude of Gibraltar.\r\n\r\nAs we\u2019ve seen from the start of races from France in the autumn, there can be a high attrition rate before the yachts have even left Biscay. It\u2019s not that you can\u2019t cross Biscay in any month, but the later it\u2019s left the longer the time between weather windows and the shorter the weather windows tend to be. This can lead us to make choices based on necessity rather than prudence.\r\n\r\nOnce south of Portugal we should get into the start of the trade winds \u2013 but we still need to watch for lows further south than normal.\r\n\r\nWhile most yachts arrive in the Canary Islands having had a good sail, there are always a number that get caught out and end up beating for some of the way \u2013 usually yachts that have left it late and are on a tight schedule. This is also true for yachts leaving the Mediterranean and it\u2019s not uncommon for yachts to have to wait in Gibraltar for strong westerly winds to diminish.\r\n\r\nWhether intending to start your transatlantic in November or wait until later, I prefer to see boats south of Biscay well before the end of September and would not be far behind if leaving from the Med.\r\n\r\nA crossing in January will generally have stronger winds, but there\u2019s a greater chance of headwinds particularly when getting away from the Canary Islands. Whenever you decide to cross, getting to the Canaries early is important and the later you leave it to get south the more chance there is of having to wait for a weather window.\r\n\r\n
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Two boats achieved stunning victories in the latest edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre, establishing leads before the halfway mark that they extended to the finish: the 30-metre Ultim trimaran Maxi Edmond de Rothschild and the IMOCA 60 LinkedOut. LinkedOut eventually finished a full 20 hours ahead of their nearest rivals (by comparison, in the Vend\u00e9e Globe, the leaders finished within a single evening). Both were remarkable wins in the famous double-handed transatlantic race, in which many of the biggest stars of offshore racing were competing, including Charles Caudrelier, Amel le Cleac\u2019h, Yannick Bestaven, Thomas Colville, Kevin Escoffier and Brian Thompson. LinkedOut\u2019s success, and that of co-skippers Thomas Ruyant and Morgan Lagravi\u00e8re, came as a surprise to some, as the 2019 foiling design had not appeared to reach her likely potential in previous races. Yet she held a lead of almost 200 miles at the finish in Martinique. So what factors lay behind their success? The starting point was a change of mode to better suit two-handed racing after the 2020 solo Vend\u00e9e Globe, in which Ruyant finished less than 12 hours behind winner Bestaven. The 2021 season had presented a new opportunity and challenge for the IMOCA class in the form of The Ocean Race Europe, though few teams took up the gauntlet. Speaking in Le Havre before the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre, Ruyant hinted this had been an important element in his boat\u2019s preparation, even though LinkedOut finished 3rd out of the five entries. \u201cThe pre-season crewed races have given us tremendous progress in the micro details of the definitive understanding of our boat,\u201d he noted. LinkedOut team manager Marcus Hutchinson confirmed that the crewed event was a key part of their boat development. \u201cThis was a great opportunity for us,\u201d Hutchinson told me after the Transat Jacques Vabre finish, explaining that the boat-on-boat speed comparisons most racing sailors are accustomed to, whether competing in one-design or IRC fleets, are next to impossible for solo and double-handed IMOCA sailors to achieve. They simply have too many other priorities to juggle and, in any case, on a long race the lateral separation of the boats quickly becomes too big to make meaningful comparisons. However, short two- or three-day legs with a team of four, on a race with little opportunity for the fleet to rapidly spread out, are a different matter. \u201cHaving other boats around gives reference points against which to measure your performance and try different settings \u2013 that\u2019s rare in IMOCA racing,\u201d Hutchinson added. One of the most important outcomes was a big jump in downwind VMG speeds, especially in light and medium winds. This would prove decisive on the final stage of the Transat Jacques Vabre from the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha to the finish in Martinique. Before the start Ruyant had been clear that he expected LinkedOut to have an advantage on this leg: \u201cWe expect downwind VMG conditions \u2013 the boat\u2019s favourite point of sail.\u201d But no one outside their …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3971,"featured_media":136640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,972],"tags":[208,1469,919,1633,857],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136617"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136655,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136617\/revisions\/136655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136617"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=136617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}