Volvo Ocean Race - Inshore wind

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 8 Jun 2015 Volvo Ocean Race - Thirty degrees, tasty food and cheap beer! The Portuguese coast is a paradise for lovers of beach holidays. Today, a mob of children is vainly building a sandcastle at the water’s edge while their mothers keep a watchful eye on them from behind their glossy magazines. Meanwhile, their husbands are enjoying the view while pretending to read the newspaper. What do they all have in common? They’re enjoying the burning Portuguese sun. And this same sun is crucial for a select group of sailors not far from here.

The Volvo Ocean Race boats are finally sailing in European waters. After sailing tens of thousands of miles over the open sea, they will spend the last weeks of the race constantly close to land. And that has a big influence on the wind.

On the beach, the temperature is now climbing to extreme heights – and we’re not just talking about Dad’s temperature either. The sun is burning down relentlessly. The tourists are rubbing in thick layers of suntan lotion. The beach is getting hotter and hotter. And this heat is rising because that’s what warm air does. The result on land is an “air shortage”.

Meanwhile, about 15 miles away from the packed beach, the boats of the Volvo Ocean Race are sailing in an area with a wind surplus. And this wind is thinking, “It’s time to hit the beach! Not only are there girls in skimpy bikini bottoms there, but there’s also more room for us”. We call this movement of air inshore wind. It covers an area from 10 to 15 miles off the coast and is extremely important for the sailors because this wind is slightly stronger than the winds further out to sea.

I can see you thinking, “Sounds simple. A nice cruise northwards up the coast in your swim shorts. You sailors have an easy life.” Well, that’s not exactly true. Suddenly a mass of cloud is driven towards the beach. The beachgoers glance anxiously at the sky. Mother makes her first attempts to drag the kids out of the water. Parasols are taken down. One by one, the girls playing beach tennis put their T-shirts back on, to the annoyance of Dad who has just ordered his fourth caipirinha and was far from ready to leave. But it’s also a pity for the sailors. The clouds have stopped the air from circulating. The inshore wind has dropped. Now there is an area of calm along the coast and suddenly it makes sense to be further out to sea.

The inshore wind is crucial in the first days of this leg. All the navigators will want to benefit from this coastal wind but nobody will want to find themselves parked on the water if cloud is driven shore wards. So the knack is to find the perfect balance - close to the coast but not too close so that you can always sneak out again if it clouds over. The team that can best find this balance has a good chance of being the first to lie on the beach in France. And maybe enjoy a game of beach tennis?