Transat Jacques Vabre forecast : North Atlantic storm on the way

Chart courtesy of Expedition/Tasman Bay Navigation Systems and PredictWind

From TheDailySail

The Transat Jacques Vabre sets sail this Sunday from Le Havre, in northern France, bound for Costa Rica on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

However in what is currently lining up to be a repetition of the weather that decimated the fleet in the 2002 Route du Rhum, a monster depression is lurking out in the Atlantic that is due to smash into the fleet of doublehanded IMOCA 60s, Multi 50s and Class 40s sometime on Tuesday night/Wednesday next week with a front lying to the south of it bringing winds which the usually under-reading GRIB files are suggesting will exceed 50 knots.
Obviously this forecast is long term and the situation could change.

NOAA Atlantic forecast (48-hour surface) Updated: Sun, 30-Oct-2011 06:06:48 UTC

At present the race organisers haven’t made a call on whether the start of the biennial doublehanded race will be postponed, however it is known that the Class 40 skippers are to hold at meeting on Friday morning to look at the prospects of what might be done.

As Tanguy de la Motte, on one of the Class 40 favourites as skipper of Initiatives-Alex Olivier put it: “It won’t make for a proper race. The result will end up being on gear failure and who can minimise the loss in the front. It is looking very bad, but it is only coming in two days at the start. We should be able to deal with it but it won’t be a race any more.”

However as the forecast charts show, if the race start is postponed it may not be until Friday next week when the race can get underway.

“I think it will be more difficult for the Multi50s than for us,” continues de la Motte.
“And more difficult for the IMOCA 60s than us. No one wants half the fleet to go home before the Canaries and that could be the case in this kind of weather, which would be a shame for the class and the organisers. It has to be considered without having in the logistics problems it might bring [ie of staying in Le Havre for longer]. It has to be considered whether we can have a race in this weather and at present it doesn’t look like being a race.”

Lionel Lemonchois, Route du Rhum winner in the ORMA 60 (2006) and Multi 50 (2010, and skipper of the Multi 50 Prince de Bretagne reckoned they would see 40 knots
“Maybe it is better to keep north. It will be a long way and cold and not very comfortable.”

Gamesa skipper Mike Golding was equally pessimistic about the outlook.
“It is early days, but Tuesday is looking very bad and it is a question of what your strategy is going to be. I don’t think you can get out of it. One option is to go north and try to get around the top of it. Some boats might get there quick enough to do that - that is the safest option, but if it goes wrong and you don’t make it, you are going to get pasted even worse, plus you are going to be on the Irish coast.”

Mike Golding, Skipper of Gamesa, discusses the weather and his route in the face of potential heavy winds,
prior to the start of the 2011 Transat Jacques Vabre (charts from MaxSea)

While the European model used in our maps indicates the low to be tracking quite far north, others are showing the track of the depression centre to be further south.
“If it stays south it is do-able,” continues Golding.
“My mental cut-off is if the low centre is south of the southern tip of Ireland. If it is mid-Ireland [as our GRIBs show] it becomes a long way to go.”

What about going south?
“It is slightly better the further south you are but you can’t get south because it is a southwesterly [to the east of the front],” points out Golding.

In honor of the upcoming Transat Jacques Vabre, here are some clips of IMOCA 60s doing what they do…

BANQUE POPULAIRE Armel Le Cléac'h, Christopher Pratt (FRA)
VPLP/Verdier 2010 (ex Foncia)


CHEMINÉES POUJOULAT Bernard Stamm, Jean Francois Cuzon (SUI/FRA)
Juan Kouyoumdjian (2011)

VIRBAC PAPREC 3 Jean-Pierre Dick, Jeremie Beyou (FRA)
VPLP/Verdier 2010

GROUPE BEL Kito de Pavant, Yann Régniaud (FRA)
VPLP/Verdier 2010

PRB Vincent Riou, Destremau Hugues (FRA) VPLP/Verdier 2010
SAFRAN Marc Guillemot, Yann Elies (FRA) VPLP/Verdier 2007

Midnight sun

Midnight Sun | Iceland from Scientifantastic

Midnight Sun: A natural phenomenon occurring in the summer months north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle where the sun never fully sets and remains visible 24 hours a day.

This short time lapse film was shot during the Icelandic Midnight Sun in June of 2011.

"For 17 days I travelled solo around the entire island shooting almost 24 hours, sleeping in the car, and eating whenever I had the time.
During my days shooting this film I shot 38,000 images, travelled some 2900 miles, and saw some of the most amazing, beautiful, and indescribable landscapes on the planet.
Iceland is absolutely one of the most beautiful and unusual places you could ever imagine.
Especially during the Midnight Sun when the quality of light hitting the landscape is very unusual, and very spectacular.

Iceland is a landscape photographers paradise and playground, and should be number 1 on every photographers must visit list.
Iceland during the Midnight Sun is in sort of a permanent state of sunset.
The sun never full sets and travels horizontally across the horizon throughout the night, as can be seen in the opening shot and at the :51 second mark in the video.

During the Arctic summer, sunset was at midnight and sunrise was at 3am.
The Arctic summer sun provided 24 hours a day of light, with as much as 6 hours daily of "Golden light".
Once the sun had set it wouldn't even get dark enough for the stars to come out, and they don't start to reappear until August.

My advice to everyone out there, photographer or not, is simple...
You MUST visit Iceland sometime during your lifetime.
You will never regret it."

'Bat signal' pinpoints castaways from space

Tom Hanks contemplates "Wilson" the volleyball, his sole companion after being stranded on a desert island in the movie "Cast Away."
The European Space Agency, using its expertise probing deep space to pierce the darkness of the seas, has developed a wearable antenna -- essentially a bat signal designed to enable search and rescue at sea.
Move over, Wilson the volleyball: this is the castaway's new best friend

From DiscoveryNews

• a new antenna communicates with satellites to pinpoint the coordinates of those lost at sea.
• the cloth antenna can be sewn onto lifejackets or uniforms of military personel.

The European Space Agency, using its expertise probing deep space to pierce the darkness of the seas, has developed a wearable antenna -- essentially a bat signal designed to enable search and rescue at sea.

Finnish defense company Patria and Tampere University of Technology worked with ESA to apply its space know-how to dramatically reduce the time it takes for a distress signal to be picked up, for rescue authorities to be alerted, and for help to reach a man overboard, shipwrecked or otherwise lost at sea.

So how does this new bat signal work?
Emergency radio beacons can be carried not only by ships and aircraft but also by people (where they become known in the business as "personal location beacons").
But unlike other transmitters and their long floppy antennas, the ESA's new invention resembles a small square of washcloth.
There's a reason for that: This antenna can be handily sewn into a life vest.

When someone is lost at sea, the distress transmitter connects with the Cospas-Sarsat Search and Rescue system -- satellites in space that listen around the clock for activated beacons in the 406 – 406.1 MHz frequency band.
The beacon transmits a distress signal with the exact coordinates of the person in distress to these satellites, and they notify mission control and coordination centers that a rescue is needed.

In a great example of international cooperation, four countries -- the U.S., Canada, Russia and France -- came together to sponsor this satellite system. Cospas-Sarsat provides worldwide coverage for search and rescue; it's been instrumental in rescuing at least 26,000 since it was established in 1979.

Traditionally, life vests equipped with Cospas-Sarsat transmitters relied on cumbersome and unwieldy whip antennas that restricted a wearer's movement -- which is hardly ideal when you're trying to stay alive out at sea.

The lower the frequency, the larger an antenna tends to be.
And the operating frequency bands for the Cospas-Sarsat are very, very low, making the challenge of creating a small, wearable antenna fit for search-and-rescue a difficult task.

Since it operates at VHF/UHF band, free space wavelengths are approximately 2.3 to 8.2 feet.
To fit in a life vest, the antenna needed to be miniaturized while keeping gain, bandwidth and effectiveness to make sure the satellite system could "hear" the call for help.

There's an additional problem: Closeness to the human body can cause antenna effectiveness to be eroded and the radiation pattern to be disrupted.
That's clearly a challenge if you're trying to design a wearable antenna, but it's one that this international team has managed to crack.

Capable of withstanding the rough conditions at sea and direct contact with salt, this lightweight, flexible, water-resistant antenna is integrated into the life vest.
When the vest is deflated, the wearable antenna can be fitted inside the cover fabric and the small Cospas-Sarsat transmitter into the cover pouch.

But one challenge remains: If the sewn-in antenna is submerged, the connection to the Cospas-Sarsat satellite is lost.
And when someone is battling to stay alive in rough seas, the life vest may end up in all sorts of positions, whether floating or swimming, that may arrest the beacon's effectiveness.

Fortunately, there's an easy solution: sew several wearable antennae into different positions in the life vest to ensure the distress call gets out to the satellite system.

While a wearable antenna designed for 243 MHz (the military frequency band) wasn't part of this project, a larger one for local homing targeting 121.5 MHz and one smaller for the 406-406.1 MHz were able to reach those satellites.

Also very cool, the ESA has developed an attachable one for the Suunto diving vest, specifically for divers lost at sea.

Davy Jones' locker might get a lot emptier in the future.

Links :

• DiscoveryNews : Turn Yourself into a Human Antenna / Satellite Phone Provides Global Wi-Fi Hotspots
• Marine GeoGarage blog : NASA develops enhanced search and rescue satellite system / NOAA satellites aid in the rescue of 295 people in 2010
  
  

A passion for a tarpon

From RSMAS

The Benjamin Franklin Awards have long been recognized as one of the most prestigious independent publishing awards in the world.
This year, Andy Mill’s A Passion for Tarpon (Wild River Press) received gold medals in “best recreation/sports title” and “regional title.”
Previously, no book about fish or fishing had achieved this distinction.

The award-winning book is loaded with interesting facts and information for tarpon anglers, marine scientists and conservationists concerned with the future of the remarkably migratory species.
At nearly 500 pages, A Passion for Tarpon takes readers through the evolution of fishing for the “silver king.”
In a series of long-format interviews, longtime anglers and fishing guides share their experiences with and insights on tarpon.
Their fascinating stories accompanied by rare black-and-white legacy photos spectacular color photography of leaping tarpon by Pat Ford.

Dr. Jerry Ault, noted University of Miami (UM) Marine Biology and Fisheries professor and founding member/scientific advisor of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, authored the book’s central chapter on the elusive biology and precarious future of tarpon
In great detail but easily understood language, he discusses the life history, population dynamics, migrations and spawning of this ecologically and economically valuable wild resource.
Ault also discusses fishing impacts and threats to resource sustainability, and how better knowledge of the science by anglers is critical to sustaining tarpon fisheries.

Sport fishing for tarpon is a $6 billion industry in the United States alone.
Understanding a singular fish driving this magnitude of economic value and employing 100,000 people is crucial to maintaining a healthy resource for all to enjoy.

Tarpon and Silversides, Grand Cayman
Photograph by Mike Sutton Brown

“Tarpon are extremely vulnerable to even low levels of fishing due to their lengthy life cycle, similar to any other animal that grows to be substantial in size,” said Ault.
“They travel great distances to feed and mate. Keeping their populations thriving requires understanding and constant vigilance.”

Conservation of tarpon and other sport fisheries are a source of increasing concern to all who care about healthy oceans and critical estuaries throughout the Caribbean.
“This important new book, besides being visually stunning and a fascinating read, is an excellent resource to educate anglers and policymakers on a global scale, we hope helping to guide legislation and sound management supporting their conservation for future generations,” Ault added.

Links :

• Bonefish & tarpon conservation research (University of Miami)
  
• Bonefish & tarpon trust
  

Undersea volcano erupts, stains seas

Earth from Space: Volcanic Canaries (ESA)
(El Hierro island located at the bottom left corner of the picture)

From NationalGeographic

Whitecaps churn in the Atlantic off West Africa as an underwater volcano erupts off Spain's Canary Islands (October 11th).

Satellite image by RapidEye

Since last week, the volcano has been spewing gas and fragments of smoking lava, staining the ocean surface green and brown, as seen above.

Desiree Martin / AFP / Getty Image

Spanish authorities have closed a port on Hierro island, ordered ships away from the island's village of La Restinga, and banned aircraft from flying over the island's southern tip, according to the AFP news service.

>>> geolocalization with the Marine GeoGarage <<<

Six hundred residents living at the port were evacuated.

Desiree Martin / AFP / Getty Image

Erupting lava and gas caused a turquoise stain that spread across the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off Hierro island, as seen in an October 10 satellite image.

Volcanic rock expelled by the volcano creates steam as it rises to the surface off the coast Gobierno DE Canarias / Handout / Reuters

The underwater volcano has been erupting at a depth of about 3,900 feet (1,200 meters).

Gelmert Finol / EPA

The Atlantic turns lime green as lava and gas billow from an underwater volcano off the coast of Hierro island on Monday 17th.

About 10,000 earthquakes have hit Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, since July 19-a sign of the volcano's rising magma, according to the European Pressphoto news agency.

Links :

• NASA :El Hierro submarine eruption