Plenty on at RORC Transatlantic Race

(December 5, 2017; Day 11) – Ludde Ingvall’s Maxi CQS is expected to finish the 4th edition of the RORC Transatlantic Race tomorrow, and the overall leader under IRC – Eric de Turckheim’s French Teasing Machine – is under threat from two Maxis while a high pressure system is expected to create a conundrum for the majority of the fleet.

CQS suffered damage to their mainsail during a knockdown in heavy weather and has one big gybe remaining before pointing their bow at Grenada and the finish. CQS is reaching at top speed and expected to claim first to finish honors at approximately midday local time on December 6.

In the race for the RORC Transatlantic Trophy for the best corrected time under IRC, Eric de Turckheim’s French Nivelt-Muratet 54 Teasing Machine is still leading the race, but the margin has been reduced significantly. Teasing Machine is the most southerly of yachts in the fleet that have all been attracted to an area of increased wind strength accompanied by a significant sea state.

Teasing Machine is under threat by Jochen Bovenkamp’s Dutch Marten 72 Aragon and Canadian Southern Wind 96 Sorceress, skippered by Daniel Stump which are enjoying a high-speed Maxi match race. Last year’s overall race winner, Aragon gybed west this morning and looks to have the upper hand for the moment. As the most southerly of the dueling Maxis, she is benefiting from the increased pressure and sea state.

In IRC One, the two provisional leaders from Germany are 700 miles apart. Bjorn Woge’s Andrews 56 Broader View Hamburg has regained the class lead from the Kiel-based family members racing on Joh. Wilh. von Eicken’s Swan 56 Latona. Eicken’s ancestors were part of the founding members of NRV, the Hamburg club celebrating its 150th anniversary.

In IRC Two, Richard Palmer’s British JPK 10.10 Jangada, racing doublehanded with Rupert Holmes continues to dominate the class. However, an area of high pressure is forecast to affect the tactical decisions of the vast majority of the fleet. Below is a summary of the scenario from Jangada’s blog:

“We have mostly 15-17 knots of true wind speed which occasionally builds to 21 knots from the east north east. We are running deep to maintain our best speed towards Grenada. There’s a complex swell pattern – we’ve now left behind most of the big northerly swell that came from a low pressure in the North Atlantic, and the local wind-driven waves are growing in dominance. However, there’s an obstacle in the way – a large area of high pressure sitting right in the middle of where the tradewinds should be, around 700 miles to the west of us. That’s why the fleet is predominantly heading west-south-west, to stay in the stronger favourable winds to the south of the low.”

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: RORC