Transatlantic Race 2011: World Record No Longer In Sight for Rambler

The following update was provided by the 2011 Transatlantic Race media crew.

Although conditions in the North Atlantic for the 26 yachts competing in the Transatlantic Race 2011 put at least one on pace to break speed sailing records, the existing record, set in 2008, will stand for a while longer.  Via satellite link, navigator Peter Isler (San Diego, California) detailed the knarly conditions of the last 24 hours aboard Rambler 100, which left Newport bound for The Lizard on July 3 (the final start of the three staggered starts for the participating yachts).

“As the sun sets on the fourth day of the Transatlantic Race, the crew aboard Rambler 100 has settled into the shipboard rhythm of the four-hour watches.  The drama this afternoon has been our watch on the numbers for our 24-hour run.  We've had some awesome sailing and in the end came just 12 miles shy of the 596 nautical mile (nm) 24-hour record set by the Volvo 70 Ericsson 4.

“Our 24-hour run from 1400 EDT yesterday to today was 582 miles.  Each hour we kept calculating, hoping for an increase, but the best we could do was 584 nm between the 1500 hours and the same for the 1600 hours.  The breeze has backed off a bit now, so the numbers are starting to decrease a bit.
 
“That was fun to watch - but the team’s focus is firmly on the race - sailing hard, making good decisions and no major mistakes.  This boat is so big, that every sail change takes a long time.  The sails are so heavy, the loads so great - that every step of the process takes time and often shared hands on the heavy loads.

“Looking forward - the big tactical decision that could decide this race is coming up tomorrow morning (our clocks are still on Newport R.I. time!), when it looks like the clocking wind will favor the other gybe for the first time since we started.  That's always interesting after a few days sailing on one tack - getting used to the feel of going the other way.  The timing of the gybe is crucial because it looks to set up the track of the boat through probably the lightest winds we will see in this race... at the boundary between the low over Labrador and the low that's been hovering over Ireland.  It looks like we are going to have some very light winds for what looks like about four hours before we connect into the northwesterly from the eastern low.

“So we'll pick a ‘lane’ tomorrow morning - with the breeze still nice and fresh.  A few hours later we'll see how our choice panned out as we enter the light air.  The weather models have a much harder time predicting the conditions in light winds compared to stronger winds (right now its blowing 23 knots) so there's a bit of voodoo and luck involved.”
 
Indicating it was “time for a nap before all the action,” Isler signed off and sent along photos of the Rambler 100 team averaging over 24.5 knots of boat speed for over 26 hours.

Middletown Sailors Aboard the Carina

See yesterday's latest update on the Carina. Onboard is who, at 16 years of age, is the youngest sailor in the race.  Also onboard is his father, Dirk Johnson, Sr., an experienced offshore sailor who will no doubt be teaching his son about life on the ocean.

Follow the Journey!

With all 26 sailing vessels now underway in the nearly 3,000 mile Transatlantic Race, there are several ways for fans back home to follow the racers in their three-week journey to the United Kingdom.

• Facebook TR2011 page.
• YouTube TR2011 channel.
• Transatlantic Race 2011 website.
• Get real insight into racing life at sea via the ship blogs at www.transatlanticrace.com
• Click on the green "Keep Me Posted" button below for automated email alerts and updates.