Route du Rhum, it’s on! North course or south course? The live VIDEO of the departure
THE PERFECT GIFT!
Give or treat yourself to a subscription to the print + digital Journal of Sailing and for only 69 euros a year you get the magazine at home plus read it on your PC, smartphone and tablet. With a sea of advantages.
The big day for the start of Route du Rhum 2022 has arrived, at 2:15 p.m. the first signal will be given for the start and the 138 skippers in the race will take off for this nearly 3,500-mile transatlantic that promises to be an epic edition. As many as four Italians are in the regatta, ready to have their say in a fleet that for the top 10 in the rankings promises to be ultra-competitive. Ambrogio Beccaria, Andrea Fornaro and Alberto Bona will race among the Class 40s, Giancarlo Pedote among the Imoca 60s.
Route du Rhum – Live coverage of the departure
Below is a video with the numbers of this event, analysis of the weather situation that the racing skippers will face in the first delicate 48 hours.
The numbers of a cult regatta
Route du Rhum – The weather scenarios of a tough start
The difference of today’s departure from the original Nov. 6 departure is that strategic options can be taken to manage the depression front that skippers will find almost immediately in their path. A decisive difference between a start in “race” mode, with more or less risky and advantageous tactical choices, and one in “survival” mode (as it would have been on Nov. 6), with no options except to suffer bad weather. However, the wind will be very strong from the southwest, with a minimum base of 30 knots, stronger to the north with gusts estimated at 50-60 knots, more manageable to the south.
A straight west course toward the front, aiming to cross it, will allow after its passage to enter a west-northwest wind rotation. Those who choose this option, which is riskier because they expose themselves to much stronger winds, will be able to enter the west-northwest flow first that is beyond the front, and by turning will enter the first “highway” that will begin to ferry the fleet southward with a likely passage north of the Azores and away from the anticyclone.
The more southerly route, on the other hand, will provide more manageable conditions in the first phase, but strategically appears less convenient because after the front it guarantees a less favorable angle to the wind and with less intensity. The decision on which option to take will then be up to the skippers, mostly based on their beliefs and what wind and wave strengths they intend to face before finding easier conditions beyond the front. Instead, the good news seems to be that, as the Azores Anticyclone has reformed, the Trade Wind to the south is reforming quite robustly and the second half of the regatta is looking fast.
Mauro Giuffrè
Share:
Check out the latest issue
Are you already a subscriber?
Ultimi annunci
Our social
Sign up for our Newsletter
We give you a gift
Sailing, its stories, all boats, accessories. Sign up now for our free newsletter and receive the best news selected by the Sailing Newspaper editorial staff each week. Plus we give you one month of GdV digitally on PC, Tablet, Smartphone. Enter your email below, agree to the Privacy Policy and click the “sign me up” button. You will receive a code to activate your month of GdV for free!
You may also be interested in.
Transat Café l’Or: another twist for Class 40s, could still change everything
Day 18 of racing at the Transat Café l’Or, with the Class 40s still in the middle of the Atlantic for a race that is proving to be much longer than expected for them. Some are also starting to complain
How well Zorzi and Gamenara did at the Mini Transat! And meanwhile, the Class 40s at the Transat Café l’Or…
After Francesca Clapcich’s splendid second place at the Transat Café l’Or, with Ambrogio Beccaria’s fourth, there is still plenty of Italy to talk about in the Ocean. From the Mini Transat, with the arrivals in Guadeloupe, to the still-open fight
Tigullio Race 50 Event: what a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the Tigullio Winter Championship! videos and rankings
On Saturday, November 8, the Gulf of Tigullio welcomed the Tigullio Race 50 Event, a regatta open to all sailing boats, regardless of size or age. A true celebration of sailing. Tigullio Race 50 Event In fact, the event is
Transat Café l’Or: Francesca Clapcich strike, overtaking Macif and second place in Martinique!
We are in the final throes of the Transat Café l’Or for the Imoca 60 class, with Jeremie Beyou and Morgan Lagraviere’s Charal taking a well-deserved victory after leading the race for almost the entire Atlantic. Beware, however, because in
