Transatlantic Race 2011 existing speed record still stands

4:16 PM Thu 7 Jul 2011 GMT

'Rambler 100, IRC-100, starting the Transatlantic Race 2011 Newport RI, July 3, 2011 - Transatlantic Race 2011' Billy Black Click Here to view large photo

Transatlantic Race 2011 started on Sunday 26 June. The race has three staggered race starts with the final race start on Sunday 3 July. The races began at Castle Hill, Newport and will finish at Lizard Point, UK.

Although conditions in the North Atlantic for the 26 yachts competing in the race 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.

'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.

Rambler 100 photo from offshore - Transatlantic Race 2011 - Rambler 100

'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.

Follow the race via tracker or get real insight into life on board via the blogs by visiting the website . Sponsors of the TR 2011 are Rolex, Thomson Reuters, Newport Shipyard, Perini Navi and Peters & May, with additional support by apparel sponsor Atlantis Weathergear.

Transatlantic Race website

by Kirsten Ferguson

Click on thumbnails to enlarge and find more photos:

Newsfeed supplied by

#News #Cruising #North #Sailing

Cruising

The Bar Crossing: Wait for Slack Water

Cross on slack or the first of the flood.

Cruising

Night Watch: Stay Useful After Dark

Watch stints, handovers and sleep that holds up

Nearby
Millendon (Swan Valley), WA	Calm	15°
Perth Airport, WA	3 kn NNW	17°
Swanbourne, WA	7 kn NW	18°
Melville Water, WA	5 kn WNW
Gooseberry Hill, WA	5 kn WSW	16°
Windiest in Australia
Frederick Reef, QLD	25 kn E	23°
Most Windless in Australia
Cerberus, VIC	Calm	11°
Hottest in Australia
Marble Bar, WA	7 kn WNW	34°
Coldest in Australia
Perisher Valley, NSW	2 kn SW	-1°
Wettest in Australia
Puckapunyal Lyon Hill (Defence), VIC	39.6 mm

General
	Freestyle board with freeride sail
	standard boom to skinny mast
	Hire in Vassiliki
	Pacasmayo Peru
	Board Transport
	Looking for testers - Admin please remove if against the rules :)
	leaving gap at downhaul bottom between pulleys
Foiling
	Windfoil in the waves
	The foil freestyle wave - mojo tasty 105
Gps and Speed talk
	GPSTC Email Problem

Transatlantic Race 2011 existing speed record still stands

The Bar Crossing: Wait for Slack Water

Night Watch: Stay Useful After Dark

Live Weather

Nearby

Windiest in Australia

Most Windless in Australia

Hottest in Australia

Coldest in Australia

Wettest in Australia

(Other) Articles

Windsurfing Forum Topics

Buy & Sell

2020 North Carve

2024 Sunova Style

Axis Foil & Fty Foil Board Set Up

2025 Duotone Glide 2.0 D/Lab Foil Wing Set 620

2025 Duotone Evo Sls

2026 F-One T2 Foils

Starboard Phantom 299

Know before you go

Download the Seabreeze app for iOS or Android.

Weather

Activities

About

Other

Support