GLOBAL OCEAN RACE 2011-2012

GOR: tough calls with gales forecast at Cape Horn

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For the two frontrunners in the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race (GOR) there has been a tactical dilemma over the past 24 hours as an intense low pressure system rumbles towards Drake Passage and Cape Horn. By Tuesday afternoon, both Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis had committed to their individual options and the next 24 hours will be the hardest sailing of the circumnavigation for the two teams.

Three options were available: Should Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis sail as hard as they can and attempt to outrun a gale that threatens Force 8-9 and pass through the shallow and treacherous passage ahead of the system? Should they battle on into Drake Passage towards a hostile coast with notoriously unpredictable conditions and hope their boats can withstand the punishment? Or should they slow down, judge the system’s track and – in theory - ride through the Felipe Cubillos Cape Horn Gate in the churning water behind the low pressure.

As the South Africans to the west on Phesheya-Racing deal with their own demons in the shape of a high pressure system forecast to frustrate progress to Cape Horn, for Conrad Colman and Adrian Kuttel on Cessna Citation at the front of the fleet and Marco Nannini and Hugo Ramon in second on Financial Crisis, a low pressure system building west of the Antarctic Peninsular to the south of the boats has been a major focus for the past two days. With weather files predicting that the low pressure system will sweep quickly north-east delivering over 40+ knots intercepting the two Class40s as they round Cape Horn.

Weather files notoriously under-predict the wind strength in the high latitudes and although the GOR fleet has already encountered conditions in excess of 40 knots in Leg 3, the nature of Drake Passage and Cape Horn dramatically increases the threat to boat preservation and safety. At the 600-mile wide channel between Horn Island and the Antarctic Peninsular the seabed suddenly rises from 4,000 metres to just 200 metres in a matter of miles, creating an underwater cliff face. Consequently, the winds predicted will create ferocious conditions as the large, rolling, Southern Ocean waves are driven hard against the world’s steepest natural gradient at the western entrance to Drake Passage.

On Monday night GMT, email traffic between the trio of boats increased as advice and opinions were traded with each skipper volunteering frank and honest views on strategy in the forthcoming maelstrom at Cape Horn. With the low pressure system beginning to gather pace off Antarctica, any decision had to be made rapidly and early on Tuesday, Cessna Citation and Financial Crisis made their calls.

GLOBAL OCEAN RACE 2011-2012

GOR: tough calls with gales forecast at Cape Horn

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