By Luke Scott
The storm has not yet passed for all of the fleet.
There’s an interesting reality for all the enthusiastic followers of the highly addictive tracker for the race: it’s a one way ticket. We can watch the progress of the boats and feel like we’re virtually right there, but there is no way for us to know what’s happening in reality.
A severe localized weather system – an embedded low – has brought extreme weather overnight, affecting the progress of Zulu Girl, who now appear to have successfully navigated through the storm, after presumably being hove-to for some time.
Race Management has monitored this closely overnight and made the necessary bridges to relevant maritime safety and rescue authorities on both sides of the South Atlantic to be on alert.
There are 3 more boats in the path of this localized storm, and we have communicated an additional advisory alert to these boats through the fleet communication channels.
Another intriguing aspect is that the standard general weather models don’t really show the localised storm, but, for example, if you delve through additional layers on Windy, like “wind: gusts”, “waves” and the slide bar for wind at higher altitudes, this system of extreme weather is clear.
We will monitor the progress of the 4 boats in this vicinity very closely today, and we will provide additional reporting of the reality on the water as experienced by the boats if/when this information becomes available.
Positive thoughts.
