Day 5 Report: Next Stop Europe
(Friday, July 3, 2015) –This morning at 03:46 EDT (07:46 UTC), Mariette of 1915 was first yacht in the 2015 Transatlantic Race fleet to pass the southeastern limit of the Ice Exclusion Zone surrounding the Grand Banks, south of Newfoundland. While the exclusion zone extends off to the northeast, the giant gaff schooner is now much freer to sail her preferred course toward the finish line at England’s Lizard Point. At 0700 EDT this was 1815 miles away.
While all the boats have been enjoying brisk southwesterlies, Mariette will hit a meteorological brick wall tonight: an area of high pressure (and light winds) to her east. However, this will be short lived with a fast-moving depression, forming off Nova Scotia today, causing strong southwesterlies to fill in once again. But this bodes well for the boats astern.
Final Start: Third Time’s a Charm
NEWPORT, R.I. (July 2, 2015) – With two staggered starts down, there is just one to go for the 2,800 Transatlantic Race 2015, and it is for the largest and fastest boats: the monohulls Comanche and Rambler 88, at 100 feet and 88 feet in length, respectively, and the multihulls Phaedo3 and Paradox, at 70 feet and 63 feet. All four vessels will rendezvous off Castle Hill Lighthouse on Sunday, July 5, with the multihulls scheduled to cross the line at 2 p.m. and the monohulls to follow a short while later. Currently, 32 other teams are headed to the race’s finish at The Lizard, having similarly started on either June 28 or July 1; the fleet numbered 38 originally, but Windfall withdrew prior to the second start and Privateer retired, due to technical issues, shortly after the second start.
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