Minis Prepare to head South

The fleet in the Charente-Maritime/Bahia Transat 6.50 have a had a slow first few days, sailing upwind across the Bay of Biscay in predominately light air since the start on Sunday afternoon. Emma Creighton and her Pocket Rocket are currently lying in 23rd out of the 33 protos as the clotted fleet rounds one of the busiest shipping areas in the world off Cape Finisterre and La Coruña, Spain. Creighton is situated very close to the rhumbline with plenty of boats with quite a bit of lateral separation on either side, which is probably a pretty smart play at this point.

The weather outlook for the next few days shows that boats that stay west of the rhumbline early will likely see more pressure as they split from the Portugese coast. Unfortunately it appears that it should be upwind most of the way to Madeira. A cold front will likely ramp up the breeze and southwest swell, so it looks as if this first leg will probably take a little longer than expected — and be a lot less pleasant, especially in a lightweight carbon fiber cork.