Pegasus Open 50 Log: Day 4, Following The Low Pressure
July 8, 3:30 PM PSTPegasus has been chewing up the miles and we are very lucky for that. Our last two days were 305 and 295 nautical miles respectfully.
We like our heading with a lot of West and a bit of South in it, averaging about 255 true. Tactically and strategically we’re able to achieve our goals.
However, we never take anything for granted and keep on crunching a lot of weather information. We’ve been consistently reading 1019 on the barometer, which means that we are sailing down the 1019 isobar. We feel very comfortable with that.
At this morning’s schedule, we saw that a lot of boats were heading North. That would mean a rapidly rising barometer and ultimately a “spin into the high.” So we like what we are doing. All the automated routing programs seem to point to a Northerly track. We’re contrarians and disagree. We’ll know soon enough. *
We’re settling into that routine where Crusty watches the days and I watch the nights. It’s almost like our day to day schedules! Except that we’re riding the wind fast to Paradise!
Course 243° T, Speed 15 Knots, Lat 26° 25′ N, Lon 133° 12′ W
*Further explanation from Arthur Kinsolving:
Essentially it’s about gauging what the weather is going to do and where to go for the best wind. High pressure systems are fair weather and light winds (i.e. slow sailing). Low pressure systems are stronger winds (potentially stormy). So sailors watch the barometer carefully as indication to how the weather is changing around them and to give them clues on where to go. So it’s a game of how far are you willing to deviate from the shortest straight line path between L.A. and Hawaii to get stronger wind.
Isobars are like contour lines on a topographic map except they indicate regions of equal atmospheric pressure instead of altitude like they do on a topographic map. So when you look at a weather map and see lots of isobars stacked up very close together, it means that there will be lots of wind there due to the big pressure gradient. So sailors watch the barometer as an indication of how the weather is changing and to give clues on where to go.
Philippe Kahn founded Borland, invented the Camphone, and decodes human motion. He’s also a fellow outdoorsman, splitting time skiing Tahoe and sailing in Santa Cruz. He’ll share his Transpac 2009 sailing race with us live from the Pegasus Open 50. He and Richard Clarke set the race record for a double handed team in 2008 with a time of 7 days, 15 hours, 17 minutes and 50 seconds, besting all boats in overall time for that year.
[Previous Pegasus Sailing posts on Gizmodo, Pegasus]
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
groale
Wow, that boat really flies! I've been on speed boats that don't seem to go that fast! Very impressive.
@laylaholic: Oh, and as for the "divisions" on the Transpac site - just another way of breaking down the fleet based on handicaps.
laylaholic
@JimboGizmo: Confusing, isn't it?!
Ok, let's try and break it down - The rating system is called IRC. Basically, a load of measurements - weight, sail area, length and many other factors are taken into consideration, and a handicap calculated.
Off the top of my head, Pegasus should be about 1.3.
When she finishes the race, her time is "corrected" by multiplying by 1.3. This means that compared to a "standard boat" with a handicap of 1, she has to sail 1.3 times faster to beat her. In short, the slower the boat, the lower the handicap.
On top of this, the boats are grouped into classes based on what range their handicap falls into. These generally range from Class 3 (below 0.909) through 2, 1, and 0, all the way up to Super 0, (yes, they weren't thinking ahead when they planned it!) which is 1.3 and above.
The boats compete both for the overall win, and their class win.
Hope this helps!
laylaholic
O.K. I give up. After searching through the transpac 09 web site I still can't figure out what the difference is between a class and a division.
The boat "Alfa Romeo" is in the same division as the Pegasus, yet it is much bigger and faster; so why are they in the same "division"?
Regardless, this blogging (and near real time tracking) really makes the race more interesting. Thanks Philippe and Gizmodo.
JimboGizmo
They're taking "a flyer" and not going with the bulk of the fleet, a brave strategy that sometimes wins big. Looks like it is not going to help in this race. The big boats, Alfa Romeo (~100') and Magnitude 80 (~80'), look to be on a completely different planet. Didn't Philippe say something about being happy to be within a couple of days of one of the big boats, hmm my searches can't find it.
When you are not planing, then length on the water line determines hull speed, and nothing beat water line length for speed. On a plane all bets are off.
Pegasus 50's maximum speed off a plane is about 9.48 knots
Alfa Romeo ~100' is about 13.4 knots
Magnitude 80' is just under 12 knots
{{ Speeds calculated by [www.sailingusa.info] }}
I've been watching the tracking at [race.ionearth.com] Pegasus in Division 1. Right now Pegasus is fastest in class, but 360 miles behind the lead boat.
sofong
* This narration brought to you by the letters "sleep" and "deprivation".
icelight