Sal's Ocean Globe Race Analysis: Pen Duick is set for a line honours victory
Pen Duick VI, the 73 ft powerhouse of a boat, looks set to come storming in for a convincing line honours victory in the 4th and final leg of the Ocean Globe Race. All being well, they are due to arrive in 2 to 3 days at the finish off Cowes, having sailed an impressively consistent leg, managing to stay one step ahead of the problematic weather systems that have plagued much of the rest of the fleet. L’Esprit d’Equipe have really showed form on this leg and are currently second, though 400 miles behind Pen Duick.
Neptune has kept out to the West and are in good breeze as they pass the Azores.There is a High pressure sitting off the North end of Biscay giving the leaders good following winds. The system extends out South West, with some lighter wind which Maiden has found. On the plus side, all the weather systems are moving quickly so they look set to see their speeds improve.Further back in the fleet, attention is turning to Triana who, until this leg, had a very convincing lead in the overall IRC handicap position. Having had poor speeds in the High pressures, now both Maiden and Pen Duick are in with a chance of a win. It is going to be something of a slow motion process to find out who the winner is, as Triana currently still has 1700 miles to sail and we won’t know who has won until they finish. They are running out of food with a considerable distance still to cover, bad for health, morale and efficiency. They are currently eating flying fish but the supply will diminish quickly as they head north.
Back to the front of the fleet, the navigator on Pen Duick VI will be coming up with a plan for a landfall. After sailing unconstrained by land for the last 5 weeks things are going to get busy. The English Channel is the busiest shipping route in the world and is governed by Traffic Separation Schemes to keep shipping safely going in one direction or the other, effectively, a system like a road. There is one off Ushant, the Island out to the West of Northern France, then Lands End and English Channel. The OGR boats must decide where they want to find a landfall and navigate across one or more traffic separation zones to get to the south coast of England. Like a road the quickest way to cross is a 90 degrees to the traffic.
As there are up to 500 ships a day in the channel, it is a stressful time. Although they have radar, they do not have AIS on receive, though they are transmitting AIS so ships can see them. It is going to be a busy time for everyone on watch, keeping the boat sailing well and constantly looking under the genoa for ships. Eyes out the boat is the order of the day on the home straight!
IMAGE: Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) areas in Dover Strait AIS Screenshot from MarineTraffic.com, via https://www.researchgate.net/.../Traffic-Separation...
