Volvo Ocean Race – The fleet finally heads for Newport
by Volvo Ocean Race on 20 Apr 2015
The start of leg six in Itaja’; The fleet have passed the start line,Team Alvimedica make a good start - Volvo Ocean Race 2015 Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race
Volvo Ocean Race – After a painfully slow start, the fleet finally got going. Team Alvimedica led the way out of Itajai. The Turkish American team must be spurred on and fired up for a good result for this homecoming leg back to Newport, Rhode Island.
It was slow work northeast, moving more and more offshore and away from the land effect. At 22:00 UTC the fleet was dogged by some frustrating rain clouds that challenged some teams more than others.
SCA and Alvimedica fell foul of a shift that went against them while MAPFRE and ADOR made the most of it stretching their lead North before tacking with the fleet east at around midnight.
All the teams are now sailing incredibly similar speeds East with only 0.02 of a knot separating the fastest and the slowest. There is still only 12 nm separating the fleet north to the south and eight nm east to west.
The fleet is not expecting much change in the conditions for the next 12 hours.
Today's weather
1) High pressure this morning is near 27 30s/26 30w, far off to the E of the fleet
- the high is ridging WNW
2) The high will be moving off to the E during the day
3) Weak low/trough is near 31s/38 30w while other front dying out close to Rio
4) NE winds will prevail
5) Next cold front is down around Uruguay
- this will push ENE
6) The front will be around 35s/42w to 30s/44w then to Praia Grande around 1200utc Tues
- showers and t-storms along the front
7) Backing winds for the fleet
- wind speeds increase later Mon night and Tues
8) Front will be just SW of Vitoria Wed
- N flow 12-18 kts likely for the fleet out ahead of the front
Leader: MAPF
Wind speed: 12-14 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 10 knots
Wind direction: 24º - 46º
Lowest boat speed: MAPF (10 knots)
Highest boat speed: ALVI, BRUN (10.2 knots)
Lowest wind speed: SCA, ADOR, ALVI, DRFT (12 knots)
Highest wind speed: MAPF (14 knots)
Position report list
| YACHT |
LAT |
LON |
DATE |
DTL |
DTLC |
avgSOG(3h) |
avgSOG(15') |
TWS |
TWD |
HDG |
| MAPF |
-26.27433 |
-46.8945 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
0 |
0 |
10.4 |
11 |
15 |
24 |
84 |
| ADOR |
-26.27417 |
-46.94033 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
2 |
0.0 |
10.1 |
11 |
13 |
30 |
80 |
| ALVI |
-26.314 |
-46.9165 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
2.3 |
0 |
10.3 |
10 |
13 |
38 |
76 |
| SCA1 |
-26.43 |
-46.87583 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
4.7 |
-1.0 |
9.9 |
10 |
12 |
31 |
78 |
| DFRT |
-26.40567 |
-46.91283 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
5.4 |
-1.0 |
10 |
10 |
12 |
16 |
72 |
| TBRU |
-26.31233 |
-46.99833 |
20/04/15 06:40:00 |
5.9 |
-1.0 |
10 |
11 |
13 |
31 |
80 |
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