The ninth edition of the Transat Jacques Vabre kicked off this Sunday and my co-skipper, Ross Daniel, and I set sail for the 4,720-mile sprint to Costa Rica.
We are following one of the of coffee trade routes, which this time will not see us pass the equator. The weather forecast before the start was very unsettled with no clear route to Costa Rica. After two days of sailing it is clear that everyone has very different strategies ahead.
The rather unavoidable fact is that we will be facing some difficult wind and sea conditions through today and tomorrow as we encounter the first big Atlantic storm of the race. Whilst racing is still key, it is also important to keep both the crew and boat as safe as possible.
The first night on board is always unsettled and it’s important for us to get into a routine as soon as possible. It is a fine balance between pushing the boat as hard as you can and managing sleep, navigation, maintenance, eating and our media duties.
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After a long time it is great to be out racing again, it is what we live for and HUGO BOSS is sailing really well. We have decided to take the route north and as I write we are still the most northerly boat in the fleet. I think it is the right decision with the longer term view of the race, I guess we will have to play the game and wait and see. Either way, the fleet will be bracing itself for some storm force conditions over the next 48 hours, which will make life increasingly challenging onboard.
One of the boats, which is called 1876, has played her stealth card early. The stealth card enables a boat to go “off the radar”. It gives you a tactical advantage against the rest of the fleet so they can’t see your position for 24 hours, allowing you some time to work on your strategy. It will be interesting to see where they pop up on the position report today. I am intrigued to see if they have taken the route north as we have.
Current forecasts suggest this large and active depression, which extends from Iceland down to the Azores, will see the conditions deteriorate substantially. The fleet will see south west by south winds gusting to Force 8, that’s over 40 mph! We should remain in this system for at least the next 24-48 hours, with conditions gusting up to 50 knots (that’s over 50 mph) with seas of 4 to 5 metres in height. It isn’t going to be an easy few days but it is what we offshore sailors live for!
Ross is doing an awesome job, it is fantastic to be out racing together. He knows the boat like the back of his hand so it is invaluable to have that kind of knowledge onboard. Conditions have already started to build, it is going to be a long few days ahead.
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Signing off from on board a cold and wet HUGO BOSS.
Alex Thomson, skipper HUGO BOSS Open 60.