Osaka Cup. Escapade "Off to the Races". 19.4.13 0830

".. And as they come around the Marianas Islands and into the home Strait, its Escapade by 150,000 lengths to Optimus Prime and then a few thousand lengths back to the pack. They straiten for the run home and Escapade looks to be fading. What a gallant effort from the tiny boat by Farr out of Binks, she's led them all the way as the pace maker (plenty of pace makers on board as it happens) but looks to be tiring a bit now as the pack start to reel her in. The crew are riding her hand and heels (there's a glass of red in the other hand) and they've given her one last call ... yes, she's responding, look at her go! The pack seem to have lost their spirit (we're down to our last 2 rations of rum as well) and Escapade is showing them a clean pair of heels (finally had enough water for a wash - last week). Past the 700 mile post and its still Escapade. Can she hang on to the finish? ... stay tuned for the final exciting episode.

Yep, were flat to the boards,7 kts+ close reaching with the #2 and a reef which i'm about to shake out as the wind continues to ease from an overnight high of 19 kt down to 12s & 13s. Billy Joel has followed CCR on the Radio VKV short play list (shuffle, repeat on the ipad - 500 songs 33hrs). Watch the tracker to see what we do with the remnants of the low off Osaka as we play our final cards in an attempt to out fox the hounds. Our wind models are up to date as of last night and the next 24 hrs looks challenging.
Both the main and the #2 are starting to look very tired, the main is starting to look like a patchwork quilt and the #2 is delaminating along most of the foot section despite the chaffing protection we've applied. STill plenty of spinakers (all of them in fact) left for the run up Osaka bay and ample stock of 3 & 4s as well as the spare main which has already had a run.
Highlight of last night was the Trifle Joey whipped up for happy hour, which we finished off with the Deb/Andrew Muesli this morning, yep nearly 5 weeks of eating that muesli and it still tastes great."

Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race 19/4/13 –0600

At this mornings 0600 sked, Cadibarra8, Optimus Prime and Wasabi have all broken through the 1000nm to go mark and Spirit of Downunder probably also by the time this is posted. Of course Escapade is alredy through 750nm to go. She still has a lead of186 nm but there are plenty of unpredictables yet. For example, in 1999 it took Yoko 2 days to traverse Osaka Bay, just 9 miles, while Spirit of Downunder had 40 kts and took just hours. In the synoptic situation below I have shown three yachts as E-Escapade, W –Wasabi and KGMS- Kiss Goodbye to MS so that you can see their place in the broader synoptic scheme. Will Escapade meet the fog patch? In these northern parts, the fog can persist with up to 15 kts of breeze such that yachts can be charging at full speed with very limited visibility!-interesting! Tonights sked should be very interesting also as strategic maneuvers become more limited closer to finish-RFH

Osaka Cup. Onboard update from Cadibarra 8  Co-Skippers Paul Roberts and Martin Vaughan, Thursday 18 April, 2013. A consistent story as the light patch mother nature served up, engulfs another yacht:
"Flop, flop wallow wallow.
Flop, flop goes the sails as we sit becalmed. Its been almost 24hrs of this incredibly frustrating nothingness. Everything we try comes to nothing, the best option appears to be code 0 and try to point to where we want to go. 

Its important to keep motivated but when you are barely making 2 knots on average its really hard. Our opposition appear to be handling the conditions better or by fate are experiencing slightly more favorable conditions as we noticed from the last sched Wasabi have blitzed us being almost 60Nm in front and we lost time to both Spirit and Optimus Prime. 

Need to keep motivated, need to keep pushing ourselves. Its hard when you are so tired though."

Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race 2013 0600

Robin Hewitt

Thank goodness for the 0600 and 1800 skeds! The tracker is a wonderful tool but with the tracker reports at varying times it can be sometimes difficult to make detailed analysis, but certainly a picture is worth a thousand words as the saying goes and it all levels out at these two skeds. Funnelwebs position is updated manually on the tracker at sked times and has to be taken with a pinch of salt in between.

Kiss Goodbye to MS reports at this mornings radio sked that they retired at 0200 and are heading to Truck (sic-read Chuuk) island. They have been dogged by light weather for a long time now and require further supplies. Shelley reports that they would like some assistance if anyone has knowledge of supplies, fuel etc.

Light winds as the center of a weakish HP system centred about 20° N, 132°E passes through the fleet creating mixed fortunes and reports of ‘lovely day’ to ‘cloudy, overcast’ and ‘rain’, all the while low pressure near Japan giving good winds a little further North. Interesting that the winds shown on the tracker are ahead of this 24 hr forecast map from Japan which should be valid for 6am today  but the features are clear. As always the slight differences in forecasts are race winning stuff and it requires experience and knowledge to interpret plus a sixth sense from local observation.

17.4.2013 1800hrs Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Race

What is building excitement is not so much where everyone is placing racewise but rather with the staggered start how everyone is coming together. Escapade is still comfortably leading the charge and has broken the 1000 mile to go mark at the 1800 sked 17/4/13. Meanwhile Optimus Prime reports they found Escapade’s windless hole and paid their dues moving just 39 miles since 0600. They practiced some of the dreaded 360s and have battled hard to keep moving. Wasabi meanwhile is now 140 nm from Escapade. At the other end Kiss Goodbye to MS managed just 39 hard earned miles for the 12 hours but is advancing having reached 3°N which in the conditions he is encountering is welcome. In terms of progress Gusto has again moved up well with 90 nm but is well short of what she can do wind willing. Turbulence is right there making 86 nm for the 12 hours. The weather pattern ahead is changing but I suspect not record breaking and the possibility of something dirty much later, but may be losing it’s sting. Here’s hoping for them all-RFH

Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race. Latest from the 0600 sked 17/4/2013

Escapade has shaken off the calms to record a credible 71 miles overnight. Most of the yachts have had reasonable breeze of 8 to 14 kts but light weather still plagues Kiss Goodbye to MS and Southern Cross as Yasu sadly reports later of engine use. Optimus Prime is now just 93 miles behind Escapade-seems Escapade is the marker-Wasabi 132 miles, Cadibarra 146 miles and Gusto now 496. Comments have a definite feel for the finish is in sight and it seems to be developing into a thrilling finish. Really! just two Sydney-Hobarts to go!-RFH

Lozza from Spirit of Downunder reported early this morning (0130)"they were having problems with internet and email access so were using sms. "After a good three hours kip we are approx 130 miles NW of Guam which we passed about mid-day yesterday and enjoyed US-style FM radio. Tonight is a gorgeous starry night with 10-13 kts NNE. Mr moon has been and gone but is balmy with a warmish breeze and considerably reduced humidity making for very pleasant conditions.

Soon be there, only 1245 nm to Osaka Bay entrance." Laurie.

Yasu from Southern Cross reports 

"Yesterday the wind we’d been praying for had not arrived.
So at 00:35 this morning I’m afraid I started the engine. We are still in the Doldrums, yet to cross the equator and looking at the forecasts these current conditions appear to continue.

We’ll head north under power until we find the trade winds and once we find them we’ll commence sailing again.
Please continue to follow our progress."

Melbourne Osaka Double-Handed 2013  1900 16/4

A few jottings from the positions at 1900 which I am sure many others are playing with. I selected just three boats as representative of what is happening.

Escapade seems to have a bad day. At the 0600 sked she was 202 miles ahead of Optimus Prime, 228 ahead of Wasabi and 708 ahead of Gusto.

  At 1900 hrs she was 108 ahead of Optimus Prime, 151 ahead of Wasabi and 586 ahead of Gusto. The weather ahead in the next 3 days looks very interesting for the leaders and the systems are changing rapidly. Lots of technology on board but only as useful as the accuracy of the forecasts!  and this is Spring there! Longer term Spring forecasts here have a lesser reliability and similar in Japan with the added Continental influence. The closer to Osaka, the less options available! Very interesting-RFH

Osaka Cup-Satphones and Weather

Escapade16.4.13 2052hrs

One of the continuing frustrations is the tedium of accessing email. The inmarsat prepay system that we have is not user friendly. It works a bit like the pre internet era email such as compuserve dial up. But not so robust!

To send an email, you open a software system called Xgate which will give you access to the satellite. From there you open an email client, write your email, and "send" it, which in this case means it goes from the email client to Xgate. It cannot now be recalled. Then you go back to Xgate and hit "start". Xgate now slowly rumbles through many stages of connection, laboriously telling you what step it is at. Maybe 20 steps to see the phone, make it dial, find the right devices, get authorised and logged in etc. It can fail arbitrarily at any stage, and tell you something useful like "remote computer rejected your connection", which could mean "you've run out of credit".

The most common failures are at any stage after about two minutes into the connection when inmarsat comes back typically with "#10054 receive error", and shuts down the connection. Those two minutes of phone connection time are charged at the standard $ per minute. And nothing to show for it. Or worse, many of the errors leave the connection open, and you are continuously charged until you manually disconnect, often needing to remove the phone from it's holder to break the connection. We've run out all our credit before now by failing to check that disconnection has happened.

We think we know now what #10053 or 10054 really means. There is limited bandwidth on the satellite. So usage is prioritised. And at a guess, prepay data is at the end of the line. So 10053/4 means "Your low priority request didn't make it onto the scale. Try again later. And here's the bill for that attempt." By trial and error, we've discovered that the best time for access is after the US west coast has gone to bed, and optimum at around midnight to 3 a.m. But even then it can take half a dozen attempts to get emails sent and received. Emails are only received after any in the outbox are sent. If there's a batch of emails to receive, then they all come in one go, and either all succeed or all fail. However one good thing about the software is that if a failure occurs during email receipt, then the system remembers where it got to in the download, and picks up from there when you eventually fight your way to a new connection!

Given what we now know of the usability of Inmarsat in the version we have it, we would look for another solution. I wonder how the Iridium users are getting on.

So with that background, you'll understand the next step of this blog.

Six days ago, the weather was looking good and stable across this whole area, and was a good match for the expectation off the wind roses. So five days (nights) ago, we decided we didn't need the hassle of getting a fresh forecast. Four nights ago, we couldn't get a connection for love nor money. Three nights ago, we ran out of credit. Two nights ago we got the forecast, and there staring us in the face was the horror of a hole in the wind that we just could do nothing to avoid. And yesterday we fell in.

So that's why we stopped.

As I write this, we've just come round the bottom corner of Pagan, with it's active volcano belching steam and smoke, and picked up NE 6kts, so we're sailing properly again. There are more holes and variations in the wind over the next few days, so I'll send this now with my grib file requests, and then see wht the new gfs says.

Let me rephrase that. I've got some time in hand, so I'll sit and keep pressing the "start" button until we either get the connection or run out of credit again!

Joey

Osaka Cup-News from aboard 16.4.13

The 'Big G' Gusto is on the move again. VMG of close to 11 knots at the 1400 Tracker update has them continuing to make big ground on 'The Escapee' Escapade, 'Freight Train' Optimus Prime and 'The Hounds' pack Wasabi, Cadibarra 8, Spirit of Downunder and Turbulence who have all slowed, some more than others. With some very interesting weather ahead Funnelweb, Kiss Goodbye to MS and Southern Cross may be in for some good luck for a change. Game on.

From Southern Cross
This morning at 8am the wind suddenly dropped away. Last night from 20:00 the wind had picked up to 10 knots from the NE and by midnight we’d made good progress of 50 mile. The breeze probably came from a high pressure to our east.

A few things to mention today. About 30 meters off the starboard side I’ve seen splashes and ripples that spread out in the water. Haven’t really seen what’s there but its some type of animal and I heard a "pffft". A whale perhaps?

My image of a perfect sea here faces reality and crumbles when I see so much plastic and other rubbish in the water around me. However with the sun high above us here the water becomes transparent. In my photo taken from the bow you can see my shadow down into the water with a shine around my head like some sort of god. Seeing it for real is better than the photo though!

From here to the equator is another 210 mile and if we can get the trade wind we could do that in one day. If we can pick up the right current today we won’t wander about like yesterday.
Yasu

From Cadibarra 8
Great to see Funnelweb is up and going again in this morning's tracker update, it seems they finally have the wind in their favour. Nail biting tension watching them hanging on to Gusto's coat tail
Onboard update from Cadibarra 8 Co-Skippers Paul Roberts and Martin Vaughan, Tuesday 16 April, 2013:

Repairs and progress.

It's amazing the wear and tear on things during a long race like this. We are making good progress in these constant NE trade winds. We have had days of progress without many dramas but today it was wear & tear day.

It started with the main sheet giving way thanks to a shackle which broke due to fatigue (a bit like the Cadibarra crew). Paul jury rigged it quickly then put in a strong temporary strop. After reassembling we spent time discussing why the 20/20 (mast display units for the instruments) weren't working. Lots of mulling over, lots of fiddling and we figured it was power. Paul ripped into it, eventually identifying the power feed had failed, so temporarily wired in another power feed. Something to revisit in Osaka but for now we have most of the displays back working. One of them is still showing an odd display, tomorrow's job.

Did I mention the microwave wasn't heating again? Similar problem to that which dogged us on the Melb to Hobart race. Not a huge issue, we can do without it, if need be.

Then there were the solar panel wiring joints, where salt water had got in and corroded them to the point they no longer connected. Crimping terminals, tape and should be oayk to get to Osaka, hopefully.

Race wise it has gone a bit quiet. We are still chasing down 'Escapade' and are tussling with 'Wasabi', they are doing okay quite near us, have had their strong code 0 up all day, we think.

Less than 1500 Nm left to Osaka bay. (<10 days) Hooray!

From Escapade

The Cormorant who has seen better days- Escapade

Laundry day- Escapade

"Pop" at the Equator perhaps!

Melbourne Osaka Double Handed Yacht Race 2013 160413

by Robin Hewitt

This mornings position schedule sees some some dramatic changes from overnight as Escapade has finally found one of the windless features that has plagued most of the fleet. Very light winds have allowed the 'hounds' to gain considerably. More analysis later.
I have drawn the route from the Solomons on this weather map and labeled the approximate position of Escapade. The question may be asked for evidence of the light winds she encountered overnight and today. The standard weather map has isobar spacing of 4 millibars but if we were to draw isobar spacing of just 2 millibars, we would see lesser features which may exist and do not show on regular weather charts. With smaller spacings as exist in the tropics, streamlines are mostly used but gauging wind strengths from these is difficult and using one’s barometer in conjunction with wind direction and Buys Ballots Law gives a better guide. If you google this law or have attended ORCV’s weather segments, you have /will better appreciate. The essence of this is a slowdown does not mean breakage.-RFH

And a word of wisdom from last evening..

Light weather is persisting in the next two days in the equator to Guam areas. Although some patches of respite are probable the outlook is for favourable but light breezes making life difficult for the back markers. At the other extreme are several weather systems north of Osaka with influence somewhat south of the finish. The challenge of this race is the allround capabilities of yachts and sailors to overcome weather extremes as the race moves through the seasons of Autumn, Summer and finally Spring. In addition to the sailing are the personal skills of dealing with frustrating calms and raging storms, isolation and meager diet.

At completion of the event, the effect on participants is not just the accomplishment but also the tolerance and wisdom gained. It is very interesting to be ashore and observe some-one picking at their food with a 'don't like this or that' and the want to argue or be difficult over some self imagined pettiness. One can only smile inwardly and ponder the self imposed angst that tortures their soul, they don't know they're alive.-RFH

Osaka Cup-Of Cormorants and Tactics

Update from Optimus Prime 14.4.13 at 0913hrs

Hi,
Day 17 (b) - Tuesday
Well while I was working on my last report and lamenting the fact that the fleet had gotten out from behind the Solomons without a real stop, they had one. Daniel checked yellow brick early afternoon and Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi had only progressed a mile for the morning. Now that is a bonus. Daniel must have been happy with it as well a because I got a tot of rum during my 1800 hour watch. Our first for the trip. Not bad either.

I had my first call up from the bunk when a monster hit us from out of the dark. Dan managed to pull away before anything drastic happened but we were heading south of west so we needed to reduce sail to get back on course. Luckily the number 3 jib was up so I furled that to half way in initially and then we proceeded to go straight to the second reef on the main. All fixed, so off we go again.

Day 18 – Wednesday
First light saw the breeze swing behind us a little so the jib was furled out to full size and then a little later on swapped out for the jib top. We also got both tucks out of the main and it too was at full size. Breeze now in the 15 knot range from ESE making the jib Top the prefect sail for the moment. This sail came with the boat when we bought it and so is now 5 years old. Along the foot is some signs of the outer layer of the sail breaking up in few places. Will need it for another 2500nm so hopefully it can hang in there until then.

Conditions where such early this morning that we were able to open some hatches, have a tidy up, a bit of a dry out and got a few chores done – topped up the fuel tank, adjusted the reef lines (got to them eventually Lyn), packed the kites and their lines away. A general tidy up before we hit the NE trades over the next day or so.

Lots of puffy Cumulous Nimbus towers around this afternoon and most with rain under them. Managed to dodge a few but eventually one was just too big to avoid and drowned us.

Constantly making good gains on Cadabarra 8 and Wasabi at the moment but Escapade is flying out in front of us to the point that we are going to have to work very hard from here on in if we want to catch her before they get to Osaka. Dan and I are always up for a challenge so lets see what we can do.

Crossed the Equator at 2115 and shared a champagne with King Neptune so hopefully he will keep an eye out for us as we head to Japan. We missed 160 00 E by 15 miles but figured it was close enough to our target.

Day 19 - Thursday
Breeze from the E now with lots of black clouds and rain squalls kicking around. Had a goody this morning when I got called out of my nice hot bunk (water temperature now up to 32.6 degrees) as Daniel was having trouble managing a particularly windy squall. Of course, in my own tactful way I was yelling "come away, come away" to which Daniel replied in the calm measured response he uses "I am trying, I am trying". Anyway, as I came up I noticed on the mast instruments that we were in 38 knots of breeze. That may explain his difficulty! Anyway, I got up and worked the main for him and we were able get the boat back under control. I had to stick with it for awhile as it stayed over 30 knots for a considerable period of time before slowly easing off to a more manageable low 20 knots or so.

We ran into a number of these throughout the day with 32 knots of wind in one and a couple of others up into the high 20s. As a precaution we put a tuck in the main for the night which proved to be a good call as the breeze freshened a little before midnight to 20 to 25 knots. In fact we had a great run doing 9 and 10 knots with the occasional 11 right through to dawn

It was all helping though as we continued to take miles out of the C8 and Wasabi and even overtook Spirit of Downunder.

Day 20 – Friday
Breeze is more North of East now so we put a second tuck in this morning so that we get some better height. This did the trick as we held our speed at the height needed to get us to the next waypoint at Tuuk Island. A lot of rain around though, with Daniel having to do most of his first 4 hour morning shift in the rain.

Something a little different to keep us amused today. Early into my 1000 watch I had a fly past by what I suspect is some form of Cormorant as it has a similar wing structure to the shags we have at home – torpedo shape body, black head and tail, white body with a pale blue beak and face for those that know birds. Anyway he did a few laps to size it all up I presume, before having a crack at landing on the bottom spreader of the mast. Now remember that it is blowing 20 odd knots and there is a bit of a seaway, so the mast is wobbling abut a bit. It didn't seem to phase our friend though, as he came in and did the perfect manoeuvre to complete a two point landing as easy as you like. Unfortunately for him the top of the spreader was a bit too slippery and he couldn't hang on, so he had to fly off. He must have been determined though as a bit later on he came back for another go with still no luck at being able to hold onto the spreader so had a go at parking on the top of my head. I saw him coming in and was waiting for him to come over the top and have another go at the spreader when I felt him land on me! Talk about persistent. After another couple of goes he got cunning and decided to land on the deck at the mast which again he performed with a minimum of fuss. Once there he sort of side stepped his way to the bow where there was spray going everywhere and it was very bumpy so he worked his way back to the mast and started preening him/herself the way birds do.

By now it was Daniel's watch so I left them to it and went down for a snooze. While I was sleeping apparently our friend worked his way back down the gunnel towards the cockpit and must have decided that his guts needed purging so he did…….twice (now I know it is a shag of some description), much to Daniel san's disgust. Eventually and with some effort apparently, Dan finally got rid of our passenger and cleaned up the mess. Soon after, I came up, had a bit of a chuckle at his dilemma only to see our mate doing another lap and getting ready to rejoin us. Well I wasn't having it and prepared to fend him off with the boat hook. It didn't matter though, he was moving in no matter what and just kept coming and coming. I gave him a light tap with the boat hook once to try and discourage him but he would't have it. He/she was coming aboard and In the end had more patience than I did so I let him land and take up station on the deck just above the nav table where he stayed until the next change of watch.

Now Dan has a head lamp and when he went up on deck he noticed that our friend had had another purge. Gross. Well enough is enough, he had to go. Again he wasn't going without a fight but eventually we where able to push him off the back with the boat hook where he flew off never to be seen again. I did admire his persistence and if he had just managed to keep is backside closed he could have stayed forever.

Less than 20 miles behind Wasabi and C8 now and loving life.

Day 21 - Saturday
Took out the tucks in the early hours and soon after the morning's radio sched we put up the genoa staysail – a small jib that sits back from the main jib – as the breeze had dropped to 15 to 18 knots. Still averaging over 9 knots though so not unhappy with the set up. We have been able to open a couple of hatches in the cabin whilst the breeze is like this and it makes such a difference downstairs.

For those of you that sail, you will know that it is one thing to catch a boat but something totally different for them to get passed you if you don't want them too. Well it would appear that this still holds true even when you are 200 miles apart. We have been lucky enough to make up the 3 and a half days we lost with the forestay going on us but now that we are inside 20 miles behind them, we can't seem to be able to get past. In fact they both took a bit out of us today. Still plenty of time to get passed them though with Escapade still the one to beat at this stage. And don't forget Gusto charging along behind us.

When I say we lost 3 and a half days that is obviously by my reckoning and based on my "logic" which goes something like this.
The number of hours between the forestay coming adrift and us re-entering the race at Sydney Heads was 87.75 hours
We gained 162 miles of northings and lost 142 miles of eastings.
The net gain of 20 miles would have taken 3 75 hours to complete at 5 to 6 knots of speed over the ground.
We started again in a NE so there was no advantage for either northings or eastings when we re-entered the fray
Therefore actual time lost is about 84 hours or 3 and a half days.
Again that is from our perspective and numbers are funny things, you can almost make them say anything. For now though and until a different logic is forthcoming that is what I believe to be the case.

Still in 15 to 18 knots with a full main, jib top and genoa staysail kicking us along at a healthy 9.5knot average. Goatta be happy with that. We passed the Tuuk Island Waypoint at about 5:00 am and are now heading a little higher towards the Northern Marianas Islands and on to Japan. The weather ahead looks a little unstable so we are trying to put as many miles as we can away, straight at the mark (Osaka) in the meantime.

That will have to do for now as the cabin is starting to heat up again as we have had to shut the hatches down since hardening up at Tuuk Island.

So until next time be good

TT and Dan

Osaka Cup - Weather comment from Robin Hewitt 14-4-2013

Bad luck seems to be dogging Gusto and the pack ahead with the vagaries of the weather gods frowning on them. It seems the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) has re-established just N of the equator after it’s sojourn south. Put another way, the doldrums has been moving such as to stay in their vicinity and moving along with them. It would be nice to congratulate Escapade on a brilliant strategic race but I fear that their being in the right place at the right time is a factor or rather that the others have been, are, in the wrong place at the wrong time. At the bar at the finish of every race is where the real race is run in words and I fancy this will be more so although it will be twice-once in Osaka, once back in Melbourne. All this said, there is still a long way to go and almost certainly some dirty weather before Osaka.

Looking at this streamline analysis, ‘C’ is cyclonic circulation as distinct from a low, and ‘A’ is anti-cyclonic. Above the ‘C’ on the equator and at 160°E is a structure known as a ‘Coll’. Further north at  20°N and from 135 to 162°E is a stationary front. These features are unusual to us southern latitude sailors but when sailing towards them, can be seen as a cloudy arc stretching along the skyline.  Robin Hewitt

Shaking off the Doldrums – easier for some

While our Japanese friends on Southern Cross remain in the clutches of the Solomon Sea at 6°South and Kiss Goodbye to MS battles light and variable conditions 130nm south of the equator, the rest of the fleet have crossed to the northern hemisphere, have celebrated appropriately and are eagerly looking to reach those north east trade-winds.

Sailing legend and ORCV weather guru Robin Hewitt explains the features of this weather system and what the yachts can expect as they travel further north.

“The north-east trade winds zone is characterized by a steady flow of wind in a roughly steady direction. These winds are caused by out-flowing air from the sub-tropical ridge of high pressure systems usually situated about 30 degrees latitude north or south and migrating according to the season. The air from the highs travels towards the uplift from the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which in turn travels in the very upper atmosphere toward the poles until descending as high pressure systems and thus forming a vertical circulation. The cloud formation in the trades is quite different usually having a base of about 1 km height and seldom above 10 km. These cumulus clouds are vertical or have a ‘lean’ according to the strength of the trade winds. They are capped in height due to the descending air of the highs and may be quite patterned. With the consistent winds of the trades, we can expect the yachts to make rapid progress until they again meet calms being the center of high pressure systems. Some differences can be expected due to just where their path and the highs appear. Following the calms they will again be in a variable westerlies region similar to when leaving Melbourne and some strong winds are possible. As shown in this weather map, large areas of fog may also provide some interesting experiences” -Robin Hewitt
The Farr 38 Escapade who left Portsea on 17th April, still holds the lead and is currently 225nm east of Guam. Owner/skipper Robert Bradley was in a very relaxed mood as he described their current conditions. “It's a lovely starry night outside at last. For at least two weeks now all we have had all day and night is clouds, at least the rain squalls stopped about 36 hours ago. Escapade continues to hum along, she is really in the zone at the moment - 15 knots right on the beam, full main and #2, now trimmed for reaching, boat speed high 7s and with a knot of current the SOG is sitting on 8.5 and occasionally touching 9.
The sea state has eased a bit as the wind has dropped from 20 to 15 so Escapade is able to glide along more smoothly and catches the occasional wave and accelerates to 8+ through the water. Joey has completely abandoned the "I shouldn't have a drink, we're racing" philosophy and tonight it was "we've overtaken the sun, is that a reason for a round of rum?" No argument from the skipper!
Current plan sees us heading north of Guam chasing a narrow ribbon of wind then straight at Osaka. Our eyes are currently on Optimus Prime and the progress they are making so we are staying on our toes and trying to make every watch a good one. Nothing else to report, no dumb birds, no birds at all, no mosquitos either, no dolphins, no whales, no ships, no islands ... just endless sea and waves. There is a new moon tonight.”
Optimus Prime, aka “The Freight Train” has had a very successful week, reducing her distance to destination by 1350nm in the past seven days. They are still making up for a brief stopover in Sydney to repair their forestay but the strategy to sail east of the Solomons has paid off with better wind pressure than those who took the rhumb line and she now has her sights on Escapade who is 400nm ahead. Father and son team Dan and Trevor Taylor on the Marten 49 are giving it their all for the glory to be first to the finish, but are not discounting their competitors behind and to the east. “Things are tightening up. The Hounds are on the move, Gusto and Funnel Web may be let off the chain any minute now and Escapade is finally under 8 knots! Full Main, JT and GS. We've run out of winches, it's a spider web of rope on board.”
The Hounds, the group of four who have taken the middle course through the Solomons, are still within 140nm of each other with Cadibarra 8 six nm ahead of Wasabi, Spirit of Downunder 40nms behind and Turbulence hanging on to their skirts. The close racing is keeping them all focused to make the most of every opportunity and Spirit of Downunder retains the IRC and the Performance handicap crowns at this stage of the race.
Funnelweb reported that they are struggling with the doldrums still but had a brief distraction this morning when a fishing boat passed by and put a launch into the water to come over to say "hello" and have a chat. Quite a surreal experience to have visitors after sailing two handed for so long, in such a remote location with 360° water views.
The biggest boat in the fleet, the Open 66 Gusto reported she had “passed the Equator and is off the leash!” Owner/skipper Brian Pattinson messaged through, “Wahooo. Got wind and past the Equator. Rum and Weatbix for brekky. Great to get going again. Still lots of storms. Having fun. Cheers. Look out "Escapee" and "Freight Train", after some slow progress in the doldrums for the past few days, "The Big G" is on the move.”
Kiss Goodbye to MS took a track through the Solomon Islands after making repairs to their auto helm which now sees her in a different wind pattern. Tony Warren will need to use all his experience from previous Osaka races in these conditions to crab his way north before being rewarded by the tradewinds.
Southern Cross are almost out of the Solomon Sea however it appears there are light and variable conditions to contend with all the way to the equator to challenge the Japanese crew, Yasu and Masa.

An estimate of finish times, based on the last five position reports, is given below.

Good luck to all for the next stage of the race.

Osaka Cup-news from aboard Turbulence.

Good Morning, At the moment we are travelling along quite comfortably at about 5 knots SOG and have been for the last hour or so which is probably the best weve acheived in last couple of days! Been very depressing the last few days for us both being lucky to do 40 miles a 12hr block and watching our freinds on Escapade clocking through the miles like a steam train just adds to the hurt but we are happy for Rob and Joey and we havent given up on a miracle Stephen Bradbury performance for Turbulence! Weve had heaps of rain squalls most with no more then 20knots breeze and a fair bit of rain which is good because it gives us a chance to shower only problem is when some Dickhead (ME) decides that we will leave the masthead kite up through one squall that hits over 30 knots and the kite breaks down both side of tape ( mind you the boat was sitting on 20 knots comfortably )top to bottom we are now no masthead kite for rest of trip! We actually believe we can fix it and i can just see the look on Dougies face from Seaport sails when hes going to have to fix our repair job when we return priceless! The cryovac meals are starting to taste 100 times better and our only major food dilema is that we are a day or two away from having no sugar left! To say that we are enjoying this at the moment would be an absolute lie on both our accounts and anybody who enjoys sitting in no breeze for most of trip going nowhere in a hurry is full of ....! Anyway all the best!

Paul
Turbulence

Osaka Cup- Onboard update from Southern Cross skipper Yasu this morning:

April 12th 2013
Position – 08:12 S 154:25 E. Weather – Fine. Sea – .5 m.  Wind Speed – 12 knots N-NW.  Heading – 315 @ 4.5 knots. Sails – Main Full & Jib Full. Crew – Well
Yesterday afternoon a gentle breeze from the northwest sprung up and we reached 9 degrees Sth at 15:40

Later at around 18:00 a strong squall appeared with the wind reaching 25 knots. We were suddenly doing 13 knots and so reefing the main and reducing the jib by two thirds, we were soon back to 5 knots.

Aided by the north flowing current and with the wind now around to the NW, we’re able to keep a constant speed. We really need this wind to continue.

Yasu

Osaka Cup- Update from Escapade 11/4/13

At 1800 EST this evening Escapade report her position having run 100 miles since the previous sched. good excuse for a splicing of the main brace we say, and so it was.
Meanwhile the hounds appear to have lost the scent and are sniffing around the equator trying to pick it up again ... except that is for Optimus Prime who must have the other copy of Escapade play book "travel the road less taken" and are getting a good run out wide.
Thats all for now, we leave you with Escapade thundering through the Caroline islands at 9+ Kt having cracked off 20 degrees to duck an atoll up ahead. We've checked two charts and an admiralty pilot book to make sure this one is where we think it is!........

And a good place to point it too given some of the smells coming from other directions!
0300 Thurs 11/4
something has definitely died up in the starboard quarter berth, be it an errant flying fish (we regularly find dead ones on the deck each morning although not fresh enough to eat), Andy (has been missing again for a few days), Joey's socks, a dozen eggs, or whatever, oh boy is it high up there. The other one is the atolls we are starting to pass, unfortunately all at night so far. The first one we decided to give a wide berth to leeward as it was pitch dark and chart disagreed with the chart plotter by about a mile on the location. No problem locating it in the dark however, you could still smell the bird droppings from 5 miles!
nothing much to repot today just the usual life aboard. Dragged the main down through the centre hatch at 10 pm last night to repair the damage done when a stronger than usual squall came through. The squalls usually cause an increase in wind speed of 5 - 8 knots, this one was more like 12 - 20 increase. I know it got to 35kt because that is when the high wind alarm goes off, which it did and kindly popped up a little window in the instrument I was concentrating on to tell me that there was a bit more wind about. Pity it also obscured the bit of data I was using to keep me on course.
1730 11/4
no problem, has joey has already noted we wiped out the sikaflex and sticky back repair tape and set to work. found another hole up on the boom section and fixed that in situ.Continued to hum along at 7 kt until the sikaflex set and put her back up again. by now the wind had settled into the ~20kt beam reach we were expecting and we are now reaching under @2 and 3rd reef doing around 8 kt. squalls have mainly abated and the sun has spent the day trying to peep through.
Joey went searching for the source of the smell and returned with the eggs, one of which was cracked - very carefully dispatched to neptune.
How am I? Nice of you to ask, Hot, wet, hairy and smelly (not as bad as the egg). Wet - either from the rain, the spray or the sweat, often all three.
The $20 Supa Cheap Auto fan is the most used piece of gear on board at present and we can only sleep with it pointing at us all the time.
Ciao Robert

Osaka Cup-Ode to the Equator.

'Zero Zero Zero Zero N 152 29 E' was the position at 0600 this morning from Wasabi via their mandatory email Position Report.

Well… It has taken us 19 days to make the EQ.

The crossing was not as you would have imagined, no red line across the ocean, no dancing girls, no fireworks. After a night of getting smacked by one rain squall after another and a visit by a fishing trawler (came within 900m in the middle of nowhere) we were drifting along at only a couple of knts.

Our chart plotter calculated that we had 644 hrs to run, I.e. 26 more days, I hope OP’s tracking numbers are more accurate.

Yesh we cracked the “fizzy wine” and toasted all who needed and deserved toasting, drank a little and back to managing the stalled boat. Sorry no dress up on this boat…

All else on board is in good condition, crew fit and surprisingly healthy. The seal is still intact on the “room” for those of you who know.

Now bow down and off to the next mark of Guam.
Bruce

And news from Optimus Prime on their crossing last night.
"And we're in the Northern Hemisphere, crossing at 160 17E @ 21:21... The Champagne has been cracked with an offering to King Neptune, a blessing of the boat and of course, a few bubbles for ourselves! RC has asked for a story of our crossing, instead I wrote a poem.

We've crossed the equator under a dark nights sky
Like Slim Shady said, we go round the outside

Guess who's back? Did you think we were through?
To the hounds of the West, we're gunning for you!
And still, there's another, out the front runnin'
Fear not, little Escapade, there's a freight train comin'

There's no second prize, we came for the win
Be first to Osaka, the first boat to pull in
It may be a pipe dream, it does seem so
Cause over our shoulder comes a rampaging Gusto

With many miles to go it's far from done
On our voyage to the land of the Rising Sun
North West to the Far East, across the Pacific
If I dont say so myself, this poem is horrific...

But for now we toast to the king of the sea
Raise your glass for King Neptune and may the force with us be
TT