LG Flatron moves up the BT Global fleet

by Event Press on 18 May 2001 As the winds remain light and variable, the BT Global Challenge fleet’s progress towards La Rochelle continues slowly. Although Compaq NonStop has held onto the lead, Isle of Man and Quadstone, second and third yesterday, have dropped down to seventh and eighth respectively. Logica and LG FLATRON have taken over their positions, however both are being pushed hard by TeamSpirIT and Norwich Union. There is still much to race for as the top eight yachts are only separated by 30 miles. At the back, however, Spirit of Hong Kong’s luck worsened as they lost 58 miles to the leader.

Weather report
Wind: East force 2
Waves: Slight
Barometric Pressure: 1018mb
Air Temperature: 20C -- 68F
Sea Temperature: 20C -- 68F

Forecast
Light and variable winds are still dogging the fleet and are expected to last for another 24 hours. After this time the forecast is looking a little more positive with at least some wind, although it is likely to be from the wrong direction for the fleet to make good progress. An end to this unusual weather pattern is in sight and the fleet should finally reach the trade winds late on Saturday or early Sunday.

Today should see the wind temporarily steady from a mainly northerly direction and increase to a force 3 for a time before decreasing again and becoming variable tonight. The cause is a weak ridge of high pressure extending over the racecourse, which is battling with low pressure pushing in from the west. This low is deepening rapidly and is expected to fall to 972mb tomorrow - but it will be well south of the fleet at 40 degrees south. Its influence however will be felt tomorrow with the wind swinging at first to the north and then backing west late tomorrow or early Saturday.

Picking up early tomorrow morning to a north or north-westerly force 3, the wind may even reach a force 4 for a time before slowly backing towards the west. As the yachts sail north however they are likely to sail out of the wind into a lighter more variable zone on Saturday before they pick up the trade winds late in the day or on Sunday.

This slow start to the leg is likely to push the expected arrival time in La Rochelle back 3 or 4 days. Unless unusual weather patterns are experienced once the fleet reaches the Northern Hemisphere there are few places along the route where there will be the opportunity for this lost time to be caught up.

Latest Race Update
Compaq are still in the lead by 16 miles over 2nd placed Logica. The last 24 hours has seen the boats in the middle of the fleet, following closest to the rhumb line, make inroads into their lead with Logica doing the best by catching up 17 miles and jumping 2 places. The rest of the pack in the middle all gained between 11 and 16 miles whilst the yachts on the extremes lost out.

Spirit of Hong Kong had the worst day again losing another 58 miles and now lie 128 miles behind the leaders. They seem to be particularly unlucky with the wind and managed another low run of 35 miles for the last 24 hours.

Compaq and Isle of Man are looking increasingly vulnerable to the northeast as they follow a high gain but high-risk strategy. If they can reach the trade winds first then they could get a leg winning lead, however the same could have been said about Quadstone two days ago when they had a similar lead out to the west of the fleet. They have now dropped to 8th place, 30 miles behind and are still the most westerly boat. Until a clear weather pattern becomes apparent the yachts following the most direct line are following a lower risk strategy, although it could allow one or two boats to gain an advantage by reaching the trade winds first.

LG FLATRON and TeamSpirIT are match racing each other a few yards apart with LG FLATRON just having the edge. This should help both the yachts sail at the maximum speeds possible for the conditions with any adjustment to the sails quickly being rewarded or punished by an increase or decrease in distance from the other yacht.

The first yachts to reach the steady south-easterly trade winds will gain an advantage and the fleet is likely to stretch out. This is not expected to happen until late on Saturday or more probably Sunday, by which time a lot more place changes are likely to have occurred.

Quotes from the Fleet
Lin Parker, Skipper, Isle of Man
At this rate it is going to be a long slow ride to the doldrums, there is no significant amount of wind on the weather maps or the satellite pictures for the next few days - we all have to stick with the belief that we have chosen the right place and wind will come eventually. La Rochelle is 5000 miles away, and we have to visualise the town and getting there first, and we must do this all the time we are going slowly (often at the moment) to keep us going. There was so little wind today we even tried the spinnaker up with the main down to see if we could get it to fill, not bad idea but wind would be better.

Race Positions:
As at 0800 GMT (distance to leader in miles)

1. Compaq
2. Logica (16)
3. LG FLATRON (20)
4. TeamSpirIT (21)
5. Norwich Union (22)
6. Olympic Group (29)
7. Isle of Man (29)
8. Quadstone (30)
9. BP Explorer (59)
10. Save the Children (83)
11. VERITAS (98)
12. Spirit of Hong Kong (128)