Tropical depression to affect first 24-hours of Atlantic Cup

by Julianna Barbieri on 28 May 2016 2016 Atlantic Cup - Less than 16-hours to the start of the Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing and a tropical depression developing off the east coast will present an interesting challenge for the teams in the first 24-hours.

However, the heavily experienced and highly-skilled sailors will develop a strategy to navigate the conditions. Currently top winds are perceived to be 25-30 knots with a confused sea state, especially in the Gulf Stream, but the system should be short-lived and the second half of the race may present the opposite challenge.

Race tracking, provided by GeoRacing, will update every ten minutes throughout the race and can be found here and through the GeoRacing app. The teams provided insight into strategy and the weather earlier today.

Libby Greenhalgh, Oakcliff Racing:

'Everyone's been looking at this low pressure that's been approaching for the start-- some calling it a storm. I don't think it’s quite storm level, but it does look like it's becoming more of a key feature for the first 24-36 hours.

That low is basically going to be to the southeast of Charleston, so I think the start will be quite moderate and northerly to north-easterly. So a bit of a wizz around the harbor, bit of downwind reaching and then out we go!

Then I guess one of the big decisions is how you decide to play the front and with that front comes a building breeze. Some of the files are showing 25 knots, which is normally a good five knots below what you'll probably see. Then I guess the big decision is whether you push out and try and break through the front first and therefore effectively don't head towards your finish but you put yourself at a better faster reaching angle. Or whether you just push upwind and let the front go over the top of you. So I think you could well see a split in the fleet to begin with and I think it will be pretty interesting.

Obviously quite a few maneuvers and potential sail changes to happen through that process so a pretty tiring and tough 24 hours I'd say... for us it's a bit of a baptism of fire.'

Pablo Santurde, Tales II:

'The first night will be tough, especially because we will be going upwind on port tack. Then the wind will shift to the right side so we will tack I think close to the gulf stream. So with the current and the wind blowing against each other it probably will be big seas. It will be difficult conditions and easy to break something so we'll have to watch it carefully.'

Tristan Mouligne, Toothface 2:

'I've been watching the weather for the past couple of days and the general trend has been pretty consistent but now the details are starting to develop. Looks like it'll be a little bit rough, there'll be somewhat of a northerly flow to the wind the first night and when that matches up against the Gulf Stream it’s gonna be pretty bumpy until the southerly fills in, so the first 36 hours will be uncomfortable, it’s going to be wet, it’s going to be loud, the boats will be banging and I think it'll be important to make sure that you don't break anything that first night because the waves will be pretty large.'