VOR: Green Dragon Leg 6 Day 12 - Around the North Atlantic High

by Lucy Harwood

After twelve days at sea, the fleet has been through the SE’ly trades, the Doldrums and the NE’ly trades. Now they all are heading North at an average speed between 15-17 knots. After what has been a quiet time for the navigators it’s time for them to choose the best strategy to ride around the North Atlantic High. Bouwe Bekking, Telefónica Blue’s skipper had expected the chasing pack to hit the wall just as they had two days ago, but it didn’t happen, their lead has now been cut to just 22 miles.

Volvo expert Mark Chisnell fills us in, “Ericsson 4, Ericsson 3 and PUMA finally converged this morning to the benefit of Ericsson 4, who now has a tentative grip on second place, with her sistership and PUMA in her wake. Leverage closed out, the gain in the bank. There was much more resistance to giving up the leverage from the second row – still over 40 miles between Telefónica Black to the west, and Green Dragon in the east. Delta Lloyd has moved across to follow the same lane as the front three, with Green Dragon in her wake. Leaving Telefónica Black as the sole occupier of the western flank – but insolubly locked to Delta Lloyd on the leaderboard, glued to her side over the past 24 hours.”

Green Dragon’s bowman Justin Slattery is still positive the team can make inroads into those ahead of them. “Conditions are pretty good. It’s a bit damp, but it’s warm, we are going fast, we’re on course and we’re making some small inroads into our competitors. This is what it’s supposed to be like… none of that drifting around the world. You can see a lot of water coming over the deck, the guys are pretty wet.”

Jennifer Lilly, Race Meteorologist informs about the expected weather conditions “The winds have been steadily decreasing over the last two days, as the fleet compresses in a large Atlantic Ridge, but the conditions are expected to improve for the rest of this week. While some showers and squalls will continue north of the ridge, the fleet will begin to hook into the stronger SE’ly gradient associated with the North Atlantic High. Unfortunately this high is sliding quickly northeast, and two new weather systems, a high to the south and a low to the north, will dominate the conditions along the coast for the finish. Depending on where the fleet is when the front passes, they can expect gusty winds, possible squalls, and a rapid right shift to NW’ly flow. If they are near the Gulf Stream at the time, they may also see rapidly building seas.”

More information about the Gulf Stream:
The warm water and temperature contrast along the edge of the Gulf Stream often increases the intensity of cyclones, tropical or otherwise. Tropical cyclone generation normally requires water temperatures in excess of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F). Tropical cyclone formation is common over the Gulf Stream, especially in the month of July. Storms travel westward through the Caribbean and then, either move in a northerly direction and curve towards the eastern coast of the United States, or stay on a north-westward track and enter the Gulf of Mexico. Such storms have the potential to create strong winds and extensive damage to the United States’ Southeast Coastal Areas. Strong extratropical cyclones have been shown to deepen significantly along a shallow frontal zone, forced by the Gulf Stream itself during the cold season. Subtropical cyclones also tend to generate near the Gulf Stream. 75 percent of such systems documented between 1951 and 2000, formed near this warm water current, with two annual peaks of activity occurring during the months of May and October.

Leg Six Day 12: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 1,273 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +22 nm
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +26 nm
4. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +42 nm
5. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +65 nm
6. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +70 nm
7. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +116 nm

8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Green Dragon Racing
Volvo Ocean Race