RORC Transatlantic Race Day 4: MOD's flying & gone fishing on Nomad IV

MOD's flying west & gone fishing on Nomad IV

Day Four of the RORC Transatlantic Race and the MOD 70s are heading west at alarming speed. Zed 6 is about to have it all on to the north and the IRC fleet is experiencing light winds in the high pressure off the Western Sahara.

Lloyd Thornburg's Phaedo3, skippered by Brian Thompson and Tony Lawson's Concise 10/Ms Barbados, skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield gybed west as the sunset yesterday. Concise took a more southerly line than Phaedo3, recognising the low pressure system to the south. Phaedo3 responded by gybing further south, giving up precious miles to cover the potential advantage. Phaedo3 still holds the upper hand but Concise 10 are still very much in striking distance. Concise 10 sent in this video via satellite link.

The three Maxis racing in the RORC Transatlantic Race have experienced light winds for the last 24 hours. Southern Wind 94, Windfall, skippered by Irish Olympic sailor Timothy Goodbody fell back after leading IRC overall on Day Three. Will Apold's Canadian Swan 78, Valkyrie cashed in on their southerly route through the Canaries and added to the bank via their tall rig and narrow hull shape, to glide into the lead on IRC corrected time from the other two Maxis. Jean-Paul Riviere's French Finot Conq 100, Nomad IV used the slow going to good measure with their Russian guests casting a line for 'the catch of the day'. Nomad IV should get into better pressure today and significantly, before the other two Maxis, which should see the team extend their lead on the water in the monohull fleet.

Gerald Bibot & Michel Kleinjans Belgian catamaran, Zed 6 gybed south yesterday afternoon after reaching a latitude of 33 degrees north which is further north than all of Florida. No doubt the Belgians will be reaching for the hot chocolate today. The wind direction is predicted to strengthen and turn to the south. This will put the 42ft catamaran into strong headwinds and the potential for big confused seas. "The boat is fantastic!" exclaimed Gerald by satellite link. " It's very fast and very sensible to any bad tuning. We stay very safe, sheets off the self-tailing and mostly in hands all the time. So it is a bit more exhausting than a Class40. We got the news this morning that the MODs are 200 nm closer than us to finish. It will be interesting to see how many days they will lead on us in the end. And who knows? I just heard that Gonzalo (Tales II) stopped in the Canaries for a rudder repair and re-started. That's good news. We have similar speeds on some angles, so it is important for us to have her as a benchmark on both sides of the pressure ridge."

With the light winds experienced yesterday and last night the clutch of 40ft yachts have come to the fore after IRC corrected time. Provisionally, J/120 Nunatak raced Two Handed by Chris Frost and Elin Haf Davies is leading the IRC fleet after time correction. Not wishing to dampen Nunatak's fireworks, this may be due to the fact that Nunatak has taken a more westerly route, closer to the rhumb line. In doing so Nunatak has stayed in the high pressure vacuum but by tomorrow morning fresh winds are likely from the east, which will improve their position.

Mike Gascoyne, skipper of Class40 checked in with the RORC media team via satellite and sportingly said he was pleased to see their rival Tales II back in the race: "We had always planned to head for the southerly route and the weather files during the first night confirmed that choice," confirmed Mike. "We gybed south between Tenerife and La Palma but a couple of tactile errors meant we lost a few hours in some light patches before breaking free from the islands and heading south. We re-passed Aloha early this morning having clearly lost some miles between the islands. It was a shame for Tales II to have the rudder problem as they were really flying off the start. I'm sure with the crew they have on board they will be looking to catch us but we will do our best to make life hard for them. Life on board is good, currently pushing south west with A3, staysail and full main in 15kts of breeze and contemplating a full English breakfast for the crew, not easy to do on a jet-boil."

Latest news, blogs from the boats and photos at rorctransatlantic.rorc.org

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Blog from Brian Thompson, Phaedo3 on the "Master and Commander" race

It's pretty incredible sailing here, 2 MOD70 trimarans tearing across the Atlantic Ocean at 30 knots, spray flying everywhere and long streaks of white wake shooting off our transoms.

It's 'Master and Commander' stuff across the high seas - playing cat and mouse with each other, dodging and fencing as we zigzag downwind. Not to fire cannons and capture each other but to be the first in to Grenada and to have beers ready for the second boat to the finish.

Right now there is just 30 miles between us which is hardly more than an hours sailing,,. so its incredibly close at the halfway mark of the course. We are now 1500 miles from both Lanzarote and Grenada.. Don't look down - its a long way to the bottom!

Conditions are great - 19-23 knots of wind, puffy trade wind cumulus clouds, 2m waves, which we are punching through at 30 knots.

When we first got into these conditions when we gybed at Mindelo in the Cape Verdes it was pretty full on.. Spray everywhere on deck and it was hard to even stand up down below and it was impossible to sleep. But we adapt and now this is the new normal. Water shrieking off the propeller leg, boat jumping around as we bounce from wave to wave, and now we are sleeping fine in our off watch, until its time to go on watch again or we gybe...

We had better be used to it, and this is just what we are going to have for the next 1500 miles, which is a little less than 3 days.

Everyone great on board, loving driving this machine downwind in these conditions.. Its a challenge to keep if fast and safe, and its full concentration on the helm day and night.

Flying fish are everywhere, and every hour or so one will land on the tramp and jump around before using one of the holes in the netting to dive headfirst back into the sea...Some of them are as big as a good size trout.. But not such good eating.

Anyway, better get out the sextant for the noon site, break out all sail, holystone the decks and stay ahead of the pursuing Royal blue ship to the line!

Bye for now from Brian and the Phaedo crew..