DORSEY BEARD

Il Mostro in red and Speedboat leaving Newport on Friday

The big sailboats were ready, the crews were primed; all was set for attempts on the record times for the Newport-Bermuda Race. And then Mother Nature decided not to provide any wind. Ah, the best laid plans...

Still, the big, open-class speedsters are at or approaching the finish line in Bermuda this morning, with the rest of the fleet spread out along the rhumb line back between 200 and 300 miles. As of 6 a.m. EDT, Speedboat was within 19 miles of the finish line, with Il Mostro 45 miles out and Rambler 52 miles. Wind speeds were from 4-6 knots, light even for the acres of sail aboard these monsters.

Catch up with the racers at iboatTrack.com and see the detailed information from each boat (delayed 4 hours for competitive reasons).  You can overlay the sea surface temps (SSTs) and wind fields to get a sense of the strategy and tactics being employed by the navigators aboard each boat.

When you look at the SSTs, remember that the warm eddys that spin off the western and northern wall of the Gulf Stream spin clockwise, so that a boat always wants to be on the east side of a WE; while the reverse is true of a cold eddy. 

As of 6 a.m. EDT, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Boat Defiance was leading the boats from Navy and the Coast Guard. Fascinating to watch!