Friday night into Saturday was exhilarating: "Allagrande Mapei" held averages above 25 knots and ran downwind with the full power of the foils.
Night and day from the onboard fixed cameras
Yesterday, though, was a day of calm: the ridge of high pressure stretching up to northern France brought light winds, sunshine and temperatures that finally felt mild. Ambrogio used the time to tidy the boat, bail out the water that had got in during the previous days, and think through the next moves.
On board during the lull
In the end, "Initiative Cœur" and "11th Hour Racing" followed his choice and went west of Ireland, while "Association Petit Prince – Quéguiner" opted for the channel between Ireland and Great Britain alongside Sam Goodchild. A choice that, as Ambrogio predicted, is paying off thanks to the shorter route and the strong favourable winds currently in play.
This morning also brought a few tense moments on board "Allagrande Mapei". South of Ireland the wind dropped almost completely and Ambrogio chose to pass inside the Blasket Islands to stay close to the shore — a delicate situation, with little wind, strong currents, poor manoeuvrability and rocks just below the surface nearby. Fortunately everything went well and Ambrogio was able to resume his race south.
"Allagrande Mapei"'s track inside the Blasket Islands
Ambrogio helps us map out the incoming weather scenario:
"Once we've cleared this ridge, an east-south-east flow will set in, linked to the same ridge that will in the meantime shift north-east. The tricky thing is that as we come out south of Ireland, the wind should rotate slightly to the left, so I want to be as close to the coast as possible to be on the right side of the shift. After that there are several options: we can stay close-hauled in this east-south-east flow between the Celtic Sea and the Channel, or go further south to catch another transition. In practice there's another ridge arriving driven by a low, and at that point we'd have north-west wind — in theory staying ahead of the ridge all the way to the finish. It also seems like it's very hot in France right now: on Monday a thermal low is forecast over the French coast, roughly in the middle of the Bay of Biscay, which could make reading the weather very complicated."
Diagram of the two ridges at play in the final phase of the race
A thermal low is a zone of low pressure generated by intense heating of the land surface, rather than by the passage of a weather system or frontal system as in classic Atlantic lows. These phenomena are often associated with weak, unstable winds that can make reading the weather particularly difficult and, for Ambrogio, choosing the route in the final phase of the race all the more complex. The fleet has split — but the Bay of Biscay will bring them all back together. That's where we'll find out who bet right.
Fleet tracker — 14 June 08:00
