151 Miglia: it’s the big day, but what will the weather be like?

It’s the big day for the start of the 151 Miglia Cetilar Trophy. No edition of the regatta had ever touched these heights. A 151 Miglia in Maxi format. Maxi as some of the boats that will participate in the regatta, including the world-famous Rambler 88, George David’s 27-meter boat that will have multiple America’s Cup winner Brad Butterworth at the tactician’s helm. Among others to give him a battle will be the race record holder, Nicola Paoleschi’s Pendragon VI, which completed the course last year in 15 hours, 30 minutes and 45 seconds. Maxi also as the number of entries: 250 boats, an all-time record for the regatta, but there could have been even more if the organization had not decided for safety reasons to put a stop to entries.

THE PATH.

The course is the usual one that has made this regatta famous: start from Livorno, buoy at Marina di Pisa, course then to the Giraglia to be left, descent to Elba also to be left, as well as the subsequent Formiche di Grosseto. I arrive in Punta Ala after leaving the Sparrowhawk Rock to the right, for a total of 151 miles. The question obviously being asked by the crews and those who will be following them from home is, what will the weather be like? The news is more than good, this weekend we will have a real preview of summer after a weather-disastrous month of May.

ANTICYCLONE ARRIVES, BUT WIND REMAINS

The Azores anticyclone extends its protection toward the Mediterranean, and will begin to make its influence felt from the northwestern regions, and then embrace the central ones, and Tuscany is part of these, the temperature will then exceed even 25 degrees during the day, around 15 at night. Thus, the departure will be under a situation of residual weather instability that is rapidly improving. The start will be under a probable westerly regime around 10 to 15 knots, which will also affect the fleet on the descent to the Giraglia but will gradually diminish during the night along with the swell, expected in the early part of the evening to be around one meter but decreasing rapidly.

After midnight, the wind will gradually turn to the north-northeast, a direction that will also characterize the descent to Elba Island, with a maximum intensity unlikely to exceed 10 knots, will be the conditions encountered by the first boats in the fleet arriving in Punta Ala on Friday. For the others on Friday afternoon, a strengthening northerly wind is expected even up to or just over 15 knots, which will result in a fast finish for much of the fleet on Friday night and into the early hours of Saturday.

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