Elisa's Journey - Highs and Lows

Highs and lows do not refer to our best and worst moments today. Focus of the race revolves around the high and low pressure systems of the South Atlantic. They dictate our wind, or lack thereof, and we plan our course according to their patterns.

Early in the Leg 2 race, we positioned ourselves in the middle of the fleet – some boats were north of us, some were south. Both groups got better wind, especially the more southerly boats. They hooked into a low pressure system moving across towards Cape Town.

Our team sailed well, but continued to fall behind given the light winds. The view from the back of the fleet was not a pretty one. We were doing our best, and it was frustrating to see the other boats pulling ahead.

The next low pressure system was our chance to gain some mileage. The low moves in an easterly direction across the South Atlantic, and was approaching just south of us. It is a clockwise pattern of revolving wind, with the top section bringing the right wind direction. It was not preferred to take a more northerly route because there was a large high pressure system reaching all the way from Brazil to South Africa – this meant lighter winds and less boat speed.

Being in the back of the fleet, we were the first ones to catch the wind, and managed to have a great run over the past 24 hours. At one point, the wind was too strong to keep the heavyweight spinnaker flying – top boat speed was 20 knots, with sustained 16 knots for a short period! Our mileage was up there with the other Clippers, but the winds of the low were now catching up with them as well. We all had a similar advantage again.

Last night, my midnight to 3 am watch had some action as the low pressure system began to pull ahead of us. We started on a downwind run, and got ready to put the spinnaker up again. The winds and sea state were settled since our big day yesterday.

Just as we were about to hoist the spinnaker, after an hour of preparations, the wind shifted about 50 degrees in 5 minutes. Next thing we knew, we were going upwind. The spinnaker would have taken us back towards England with the new wind direction!

We’ve been carrying on with good speeds since. The fleet in front of us are still in good winds remaining from the passing low. We are working hard to gain miles. It is not an easy task without a significant wind advantage over the other boats.

We’ll await the new weather report today and see how things are shaping up over the next few days. It looks like a new low pressure system is developing off South America, so hopefully it will offer us a fast ride to Cape Town. If it reaches us first, we could get a chance to make up some miles. One thing for certain about the weather – one report usually looks a lot different than the next. We’ll keep working out the best options to get ahead.

Keeping our heads up, and sailing our best – will report again in a few days!