Osaka Cup-News from aboard 16.4.13

The 'Big G' Gusto is on the move again. VMG of close to 11 knots at the 1400 Tracker update has them continuing to make big ground on 'The Escapee' Escapade, 'Freight Train' Optimus Prime and 'The Hounds' pack Wasabi, Cadibarra 8, Spirit of Downunder and Turbulence who have all slowed, some more than others. With some very interesting weather ahead Funnelweb, Kiss Goodbye to MS and Southern Cross may be in for some good luck for a change. Game on.

From Southern Cross
This morning at 8am the wind suddenly dropped away. Last night from 20:00 the wind had picked up to 10 knots from the NE and by midnight we’d made good progress of 50 mile. The breeze probably came from a high pressure to our east.

A few things to mention today. About 30 meters off the starboard side I’ve seen splashes and ripples that spread out in the water. Haven’t really seen what’s there but its some type of animal and I heard a "pffft". A whale perhaps?

My image of a perfect sea here faces reality and crumbles when I see so much plastic and other rubbish in the water around me. However with the sun high above us here the water becomes transparent. In my photo taken from the bow you can see my shadow down into the water with a shine around my head like some sort of god. Seeing it for real is better than the photo though!

From here to the equator is another 210 mile and if we can get the trade wind we could do that in one day. If we can pick up the right current today we won’t wander about like yesterday.
Yasu

From Cadibarra 8
Great to see Funnelweb is up and going again in this morning's tracker update, it seems they finally have the wind in their favour. Nail biting tension watching them hanging on to Gusto's coat tail
Onboard update from Cadibarra 8 Co-Skippers Paul Roberts and Martin Vaughan, Tuesday 16 April, 2013:

Repairs and progress.

It's amazing the wear and tear on things during a long race like this. We are making good progress in these constant NE trade winds. We have had days of progress without many dramas but today it was wear & tear day.

It started with the main sheet giving way thanks to a shackle which broke due to fatigue (a bit like the Cadibarra crew). Paul jury rigged it quickly then put in a strong temporary strop. After reassembling we spent time discussing why the 20/20 (mast display units for the instruments) weren't working. Lots of mulling over, lots of fiddling and we figured it was power. Paul ripped into it, eventually identifying the power feed had failed, so temporarily wired in another power feed. Something to revisit in Osaka but for now we have most of the displays back working. One of them is still showing an odd display, tomorrow's job.

Did I mention the microwave wasn't heating again? Similar problem to that which dogged us on the Melb to Hobart race. Not a huge issue, we can do without it, if need be.

Then there were the solar panel wiring joints, where salt water had got in and corroded them to the point they no longer connected. Crimping terminals, tape and should be oayk to get to Osaka, hopefully.

Race wise it has gone a bit quiet. We are still chasing down 'Escapade' and are tussling with 'Wasabi', they are doing okay quite near us, have had their strong code 0 up all day, we think.

Less than 1500 Nm left to Osaka bay. (<10 days) Hooray!

From Escapade

The Cormorant who has seen better days- Escapade

Laundry day- Escapade

"Pop" at the Equator perhaps!

Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race 2013 160413

by Robin Hewitt

This mornings position schedule sees some some dramatic changes from overnight as Escapade has finally found one of the windless features that has plagued most of the fleet. Very light winds have allowed the 'hounds' to gain considerably. More analysis later.
I have drawn the route from the Solomons on this weather map and labeled the approximate position of Escapade. The question may be asked for evidence of the light winds she encountered overnight and today. The standard weather map has isobar spacing of 4 millibars but if we were to draw isobar spacing of just 2 millibars, we would see lesser features which may exist and do not show on regular weather charts. With smaller spacings as exist in the tropics, streamlines are mostly used but gauging wind strengths from these is difficult and using one’s barometer in conjunction with wind direction and Buys Ballots Law gives a better guide. If you google this law or have attended ORCV’s weather segments, you have /will better appreciate. The essence of this is a slowdown does not mean breakage.-RFH

And a word of wisdom from last evening..

Light weather is persisting in the next two days in the equator to Guam areas. Although some patches of respite are probable the outlook is for favourable but light breezes making life difficult for the back markers. At the other extreme are several weather systems north of Osaka with influence somewhat south of the finish. The challenge of this race is the allround capabilities of yachts and sailors to overcome weather extremes as the race moves through the seasons of Autumn, Summer and finally Spring. In addition to the sailing are the personal skills of dealing with frustrating calms and raging storms, isolation and meager diet.

At completion of the event, the effect on participants is not just the accomplishment but also the tolerance and wisdom gained. It is very interesting to be ashore and observe some-one picking at their food with a 'don't like this or that' and the want to argue or be difficult over some self imagined pettiness. One can only smile inwardly and ponder the self imposed angst that tortures their soul, they don't know they're alive.-RFH

Osaka Cup-Of Cormorants and Tactics

Update from Optimus Prime 14.4.13 at 0913hrs

Hi,
Day 17 (b) - Tuesday
Well while I was working on my last report and lamenting the fact that the fleet had gotten out from behind the Solomons without a real stop, they had one. Daniel checked yellow brick early afternoon and Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi had only progressed a mile for the morning. Now that is a bonus. Daniel must have been happy with it as well a because I got a tot of rum during my 1800 hour watch. Our first for the trip. Not bad either.

I had my first call up from the bunk when a monster hit us from out of the dark. Dan managed to pull away before anything drastic happened but we were heading south of west so we needed to reduce sail to get back on course. Luckily the number 3 jib was up so I furled that to half way in initially and then we proceeded to go straight to the second reef on the main. All fixed, so off we go again.

Day 18 – Wednesday
First light saw the breeze swing behind us a little so the jib was furled out to full size and then a little later on swapped out for the jib top. We also got both tucks out of the main and it too was at full size. Breeze now in the 15 knot range from ESE making the jib Top the prefect sail for the moment. This sail came with the boat when we bought it and so is now 5 years old. Along the foot is some signs of the outer layer of the sail breaking up in few places. Will need it for another 2500nm so hopefully it can hang in there until then.

Conditions where such early this morning that we were able to open some hatches, have a tidy up, a bit of a dry out and got a few chores done – topped up the fuel tank, adjusted the reef lines (got to them eventually Lyn), packed the kites and their lines away. A general tidy up before we hit the NE trades over the next day or so.

Lots of puffy Cumulous Nimbus towers around this afternoon and most with rain under them. Managed to dodge a few but eventually one was just too big to avoid and drowned us.

Constantly making good gains on Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi at the moment but Escapade is flying out in front of us to the point that we are going to have to work very hard from here on in if we want to catch her before they get to Osaka. Dan and I are always up for a challenge so lets see what we can do.

Crossed the Equator at 2115 and shared a champagne with King Neptune so hopefully he will keep an eye out for us as we head to Japan. We missed 160 00 E by 15 miles but figured it was close enough to our target.

Day 19 - Thursday
Breeze from the E now with lots of black clouds and rain squalls kicking around. Had a goody this morning when I got called out of my nice hot bunk (water temperature now up to 32.6 degrees) as Daniel was having trouble managing a particularly windy squall. Of course, in my own tactful way I was yelling "come away, come away" to which Daniel replied in the calm measured response he uses "I am trying, I am trying". Anyway, as I came up I noticed on the mast instruments that we were in 38 knots of breeze. That may explain his difficulty! Anyway, I got up and worked the main for him and we were able get the boat back under control. I had to stick with it for awhile as it stayed over 30 knots for a considerable period of time before slowly easing off to a more manageable low 20 knots or so.

We ran into a number of these throughout the day with 32 knots of wind in one and a couple of others up into the high 20s. As a precaution we put a tuck in the main for the night which proved to be a good call as the breeze freshened a little before midnight to 20 to 25 knots. In fact we had a great run doing 9 and 10 knots with the occasional 11 right through to dawn

It was all helping though as we continued to take miles out of the C8 and Wasabi and even overtook Spirit of Downunder.

Day 20 – Friday
Breeze is more North of East now so we put a second tuck in this morning so that we get some better height. This did the trick as we held our speed at the height needed to get us to the next waypoint at Tuuk Island. A lot of rain around though, with Daniel having to do most of his first 4 hour morning shift in the rain.

Something a little different to keep us amused today. Early into my 1000 watch I had a fly past by what I suspect is some form of Cormorant as it has a similar wing structure to the shags we have at home – torpedo shape body, black head and tail, white body with a pale blue beak and face for those that know birds. Anyway he did a few laps to size it all up I presume, before having a crack at landing on the bottom spreader of the mast. Now remember that it is blowing 20 odd knots and there is a bit of a seaway, so the mast is wobbling abut a bit. It didn't seem to phase our friend though, as he came in and did the perfect manoeuvre to complete a two point landing as easy as you like. Unfortunately for him the top of the spreader was a bit too slippery and he couldn't hang on, so he had to fly off. He must have been determined though as a bit later on he came back for another go with still no luck at being able to hold onto the spreader so had a go at parking on the top of my head. I saw him coming in and was waiting for him to come over the top and have another go at the spreader when I felt him land on me! Talk about persistent. After another couple of goes he got cunning and decided to land on the deck at the mast which again he performed with a minimum of fuss. Once there he sort of side stepped his way to the bow where there was spray going everywhere and it was very bumpy so he worked his way back to the mast and started preening him/herself the way birds do.

By now it was Daniel's watch so I left them to it and went down for a snooze. While I was sleeping apparently our friend worked his way back down the gunnel towards the cockpit and must have decided that his guts needed purging so he did…….twice (now I know it is a shag of some description), much to Daniel san's disgust. Eventually and with some effort apparently, Dan finally got rid of our passenger and cleaned up the mess. Soon after, I came up, had a bit of a chuckle at his dilemma only to see our mate doing another lap and getting ready to rejoin us. Well I wasn't having it and prepared to fend him off with the boat hook. It didn't matter though, he was moving in no matter what and just kept coming and coming. I gave him a light tap with the boat hook once to try and discourage him but he would't have it. He/she was coming aboard and In the end had more patience than I did so I let him land and take up station on the deck just above the nav table where he stayed until the next change of watch.

Now Dan has a head lamp and when he went up on deck he noticed that our friend had had another purge. Gross. Well enough is enough, he had to go. Again he wasn't going without a fight but eventually we where able to push him off the back with the boat hook where he flew off never to be seen again. I did admire his persistence and if he had just managed to keep is backside closed he could have stayed forever.

Less than 20 miles behind Wasabi and C8 now and loving life.

Day 21 - Saturday
Took out the tucks in the early hours and soon after the morning's radio sched we put up the genoa staysail – a small jib that sits back from the main jib – as the breeze had dropped to 15 to 18 knots. Still averaging over 9 knots though so not unhappy with the set up. We have been able to open a couple of hatches in the cabin whilst the breeze is like this and it makes such a difference downstairs.

For those of you that sail, you will know that it is one thing to catch a boat but something totally different for them to get passed you if you don't want them too. Well it would appear that this still holds true even when you are 200 miles apart. We have been lucky enough to make up the 3 and a half days we lost with the forestay going on us but now that we are inside 20 miles behind them, we can't seem to be able to get past. In fact they both took a bit out of us today. Still plenty of time to get passed them though with Escapade still the one to beat at this stage. And don't forget Gusto charging along behind us.

When I say we lost 3 and a half days that is obviously by my reckoning and based on my "logic" which goes something like this.
The number of hours between the forestay coming adrift and us re-entering the race at Sydney Heads was 87.75 hours
We gained 162 miles of northings and lost 142 miles of eastings.
The net gain of 20 miles would have taken 3 75 hours to complete at 5 to 6 knots of speed over the ground.
We started again in a NE so there was no advantage for either northings or eastings when we re-entered the fray
Therefore actual time lost is about 84 hours or 3 and a half days.
Again that is from our perspective and numbers are funny things, you can almost make them say anything. For now though and until a different logic is forthcoming that is what I believe to be the case.

Still in 15 to 18 knots with a full main, jib top and genoa staysail kicking us along at a healthy 9.5knot average. Goatta be happy with that. We passed the Tuuk Island Waypoint at about 5:00 am and are now heading a little higher towards the Northern Marianas Islands and on to Japan. The weather ahead looks a little unstable so we are trying to put as many miles as we can away, straight at the mark (Osaka) in the meantime.

That will have to do for now as the cabin is starting to heat up again as we have had to shut the hatches down since hardening up at Tuuk Island.

So until next time be good

TT and Dan

Osaka Cup - Weather comment from Robin Hewitt 14-4-2013

Bad luck seems to be dogging Gusto and the pack ahead with the vagaries of the weather gods frowning on them. It seems the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) has re-established just N of the equator after it’s sojourn south. Put another way, the doldrums has been moving such as to stay in their vicinity and moving along with them. It would be nice to congratulate Escapade on a brilliant strategic race but I fear that their being in the right place at the right time is a factor or rather that the others have been, are, in the wrong place at the wrong time. At the bar at the finish of every race is where the real race is run in words and I fancy this will be more so although it will be twice-once in Osaka, once back in Melbourne. All this said, there is still a long way to go and almost certainly some dirty weather before Osaka.

Looking at this streamline analysis, ‘C’ is cyclonic circulation as distinct from a low, and ‘A’ is anti-cyclonic. Above the ‘C’ on the equator and at 160°E is a structure known as a ‘Coll’. Further north at  20°N and from 135 to 162°E is a stationary front. These features are unusual to us southern latitude sailors but when sailing towards them, can be seen as a cloudy arc stretching along the skyline.  Robin Hewitt