Volvo Ocean Race - Mark Chisnell - Leg 8 Report 1- Half-Way Done

by Mark Chisnell on 10 Jun 2015 Top Volvo Ocean Race correspondent, navigator and sailing analyst, Mark Chisnell writes a regular report for B&G on the current race and trends he sees developing. This week he reviews Leg 8.

Mark Chisnell – Leg 8 Report 1- Half-Way Done

Leg 8 of the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race is just 647 nautical miles long, a drag race north from Lisbon in Portugal, to Lorient in France. It’s a more-or-less straight-line charge northwards that splits into two sections at the north-west tip of Spain.

The teams have just completed the first section up the Portuguese coast to Cape Finisterre, and Team SCA has done a terrific job in the dominant conditions of lighter wind and flat water. Now the game has changed completely though, and they have sailed out into some seriously rough conditions, facing a heavy upwind beat in 30+ knots most of the way to the finish.

Weather:

Let’s start with an overview of the weather, since the big picture is a largely static situation for much of this short leg (and not far off what we described in last week’s preview). At start time the Azores High was centred west of Ireland, dominating the North Atlantic. The clockwise circulation around the bottom of the high was creating an easterly or north-easterly breeze across Spain and France.

A few small and slow-moving low pressure systems were and still are hovering around the south and west of the Azores High, like moons to a sun. The one that’s important for this leg started out from North Africa, and has been steadily moving northwards to now cover much of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s a pretty weak trough, and has set up a generally light, and mostly northerly wind down the Portuguese coast.

The clockwise (easterly) circulation around the bottom of the Azores High is now compressing against the anticlockwise (also easterly) circulation around the top of this low pressure, and creating a strong north-easterly to easterly wind blowing across much of the Bay of Biscay.

For the rest of this preview click here