2006

The second stage of the return to the world alone constitutes the hardest test for the participants for being the longest and the one than it is developed in harder conditions.

The approach to the Antarctic Circle crossing the most remote seas of the planet, winds and the great waves and the passage of the Cape Horn constitutes the majors difficulties

 
The five survivors of the VELUX 5 OCEANS weighed anchor Sunday 14 of January from the Australian port of Fremantle, to 13 local time (6 a.m. GMT), to undertake the second stage of regata.

The second stage of regata returned to world alone VELUX 5 OCEANS constitutes a priori the hardest test for skippers participant. In front of approximately the 12,000 nautical miles of the passage between Bilbao and Fremantle, this second phase of the competition extends throughout more than 14,000 miles, and includes the approach to the Antarctic Circle, the passage of mythical the Cape Horn and many days of navigation by the most remote seas of the globe, where are the remotest areas of any mainland point.

Given the particular passage chosen by the organization, when concluding this second stage the participants will already have crossed the distance of a conventional itinerary of return to the world (the equatorial line measures the equivalent to 21,624 nautical miles). The exit Fremantle will be conducted immediately to double one of the “great ends” of the VELUX 5 OCEANS, Castrates Leeuwin, that marks the western end of Australia.

Obligatory steps towards the Cape Horn
From this point the fleet will have to maintain course to the southwest in search of the Cape Horn, although the three organization has established “mandatory way points” or obligatory steps before reaching the point more to the south of the American continent. These three forced steps are a safety measure, destined to prevent that the navigators reach too extreme latitudes and as far as possible to avoid the presence of icebergs to the drift that could bring about a tragic accident in very cold and remote seas. First of these obligatory steps it is the Island of Campbell, to the south of New Zealand, last possibility of approaching the coast before Cape Horn.

As far as the conditions that are going to confront skippers in the South Pacific, usually one says that meteorology in these seas usually is quite stable, little given abrupt changes, with regular winds and very great waves. The sky appears habitually gray and place setting, with the unique company of the gigantic albatrosses. Other permanent companions will be, as the participants are more sailing to the south, the “40 rugientes” and the “50 ululantes”, the descriptive name that the sailors have granted to the winds that blow in those two latitudes of the South Pacific.

In remote and dangerous waters like these, regata VELUX 5 OCEANS counts in this edition with the support of the Royal British Navy: icebreaker HMS Endurance is on watch in the Austral Ocean, to the control of captain Nick Lambert and with a crew of 130 people, among them expert oceanographers. The ship will help to anticipate possible meteorological difficulties.

To reach the Cape Horn will be without a doubt one of the most outstanding moments of this stage, and probably of all the regata. The reason that this end point of the Patagonia has reached a mythical dimension after the sailors explains easily: the meteorological phenomena that are originated in the immense austral ocean develop without obstacle some in direction This, until being with the Straits of Drake, a channel of 450 miles in width that separates the southern end of America of the Antarctic. That is to say, that the winds and storms are suddenly with an authentic funnel, and the same happens to him to the waters, that hardly happen in the space of 15 miles of depths of 4,000 meters to 50. In these conditions, if the wind blows with force the waves can reach the 30 meters of height.
 

Last difficulties
After doubling to the Cape Horn the landlords of Open 60 that are in competition they will have without a doubt moments for the rest: more bearable temperatures and seas more in calm, next to the feeling of to have surpassed the Equator of the test and probably the most difficult moments. Skippers will have complete freedom to choose the best course towards Norfolk, in the coast of Virginia, and the first decision will be to decide on a route to the East or the West of the Falklands Islands. Later, after exceeding Recife (Brazil) like more Eastern point of America, they will be able to return to undergo the consequences of the feared doldrums, without a doubt the worse enemy of the navigator to candle. The last section until Norfolk would have, in theory, to see itself accompanied by tradewinds of the northeast and to constitute for the participants an occasion to enjoy the passage, although the fronts that are developed in the near Caribbean constitute a disagreeable surprise sometimes.

Before reaching destiny in the Bay of Chesapeake, the last obstacle after navigation is the Current of the Gulf in the coast This of the USA, that in some points can reach the four knots, a serious obstacle - especially in faulted conditions of wind for the sailboats who arrive from the south-east.