Southern routing advances in Transatlantic Race

(November 29, 2017; Day 5) – The majority of the remaining 22 boats in the RORC Transatlantic Race have yet to cross a long ridge of high pressure extending from the Canary Islands across the Atlantic to reach the northeast tradewinds.

Over the next day or so, one of the biggest tactical decisions will play out in the 3,000 mile offshore race; crossing this area of light winds as quickly as possible will be richly rewarded.

In the early hours today, Eric de Turckheim’s French Nivelt Muratet 54 Teasing Machine and Bo Teichmann & Thomas Jungblut’s German Elliott 52 Outsider were the first to alter course south to cross the Doldrums. In the leading Maxis, Jochen Bovenkamp’s Marten 72 Aragon was the first to dive south, followed by Canadian Southern Wind Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump.

At 0800 UTC today, Sorceress was the closest yacht to the finish, 2,092 nautical miles from Grenada. However, Ludde Ingvall’s Australian 98ft Maxi CQS, which had made the decision to go south immediately after rounding Tenerife following the start, was fully into the tradewinds with a VMG of over 10 knots, compared to Aragon’s VMG of just over six knots.

The YB trackers estimate the positions of the yachts on handicap, based upon its distance from the finish, and its average speed from the start and distance sailed over the last 24 hours. It currently has Teasing Machine leading overall under IRC rating. Outsider is second overall and Aragon third. In IRC One, Bjoern Woge’s German JV53 Broader View Hamburg is leading the class and Richard Palmer’s British JPK 10.10 Jangada leads IRC Two and the Two Handed class. In the Class40s, Berthold & Tobias Brinkmann’s MarieJo was the first to turn south. Mathias Mueller von Blumencron’s Red still leads by 26 miles, but the move by MarieJo looks to have paid off.

Race details – Tracker – Entrants

The fourth edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race started November 25 at Marina Lanzarote, Canary Islands with a record 23 teams racing 3,000 nm to Grenada, West Indies.

Source: Louay Habib, RORC