sailseaplymouth: It’s been busy in the Southern Ocean!…
It’s been busy in the Southern Ocean! Spindrift and Banque Pop’s ghost have been fighting for the lead for a few days now. Spindrift didn’t manage to beat the record from Equator to Good Hope, missing it by something like 16 minutes, which is pretty annoying. They’re currently 36 miles behind BPV and only moving at 17.5 knots, as apposed to BPV’s 33.2, so they’ve hit a light patch.
IDEC Sport are a whole 613 miles away, a little over a Fastnet’s distance, but something that these boats can cover in 24 hours. I don’t think they’re going to have much of a chance to catch up unless they make some pretty smart moves near Cape Horn where BPV had some issues in their record attempt, or when the boats head North again and the lighter, more maneuverable boat will come out on top, who knows? For the moment, the Southern Ocean has been pretty boring for both boats, no 24hr speed records here!
Reblogging partly for the excitement of whether or not Spindrift can stay close enough to the 2012 run to have a chance at the record, and partly for the awesomeness of “Banque Pop’s ghost”, which sounds like a character from an updated version of Macbeth:
Can such things be,
And overcome us like a summer’s cloud,
Without our special wonder? You make me strange
Even to the disposition that I owe,
When now I think you can behold such sights,
And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks,
When mine is blanched with fear.
It’s all about the wind at this point. When the Southern Ocean depressions track over them the boats can fly straight east at 30+ knots. When it gets light, as it is now for Spindrift, they slow down and have to start gybing back and forth.
Spindrift is caught in a lull, with better wind ahead of them. To have a shot at the record they need to catch up with it.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1TLGl1n.
Tags: spindrift 2, jules verne trophy.
