Shipmates; here in Northland (above) we are watching with interest the track of Cyclone Gita which is bumbling around just below the equator at the present time and is predicted to hit New Zealand sometime next week. This is interesting and somewhat disturbing as I (and to date
70 other contest registered Zephyr sailors) will be lining up on Wellington harbour for the 2018 Zephyr nationals as this great lumbering Category 5 cyclone strikes - yikes!!
(Click on the link, then click/hold/rotate/enlarge the globe to take a look)
11 comments:
Check your reefing works... and errr... take a small spinnaker... :o))
Best wishes that it isn't as bad as expected when it lands...
Thanks Steve - first I'll need a storm trys'l then a Jordan Series Drogue : >).
Hope Gita gives you a miss.
So do I George. The latest computer modelling is forecasting that it will go west then will curve towards NZ hitting us somewhere along our western coast.
This could be challenging indeed.
The tracker with windspeed of the Volvo Ocean Race, in prediction mode, shows the eye of the cyclone just at the West coast of Northland on Februari 20. Causing very strong (40 + knots) Southern winds in Wellington. February 21 the eye has become already a depression East of NZ. On race day Februari 22, you “only” have 20 knots of Southern breeze according to the VOR model. Good luck.
Ben, at the moment it is difficult to get a clear picture of what is happening. The NZ Meteorological Service's 10 day weather forecast is predicting next week in Wellington will be wet and possibly very windy. I think the picture will become clearer at the point where the cyclone curves to the east and begins to track into higher southern latitudes. I am hoping that Wellington will dodge the worst of the wind as there is an official wind limit of (I think) 25knots - anything higher than that and they don't start the races. It's a long way for us Northlanders to travel to simply sit in Wellington and watch the rain and wind and not go sailing - but we're hoping it won't come to that.
............. AND, if as you say the VOR model is predicting 20 knots for the 22nd of Feb, I will be happy with that, and glad that all the extra weight gained from my strategic Christmas eating (telling myself that it would increase my hiking prowess) will have paid off LOL.
" It's a long way for us Northlanders to travel to simply sit in Wellington and watch the rain and wind and not go sailing'
Yes, but then there's always the camaraderie and beer drinking! When we drive a 1000 miles (each way) later this month for our Mid-Winter regatta we'll be hoping for sunny skies and favorable breezes as it is a long way to go! But, I've seen that regatta reduced to one day of hard sailing and a lot of time ashore under the postponement flag--drinking, catching up with guys one hasn't seen in a spell and maybe even a bit of needed boat tinkering--put off by the cold weather back home!
Could be worse--one could always be an ice boater. They quite often travel to the venue only to be told that the ice is unsailable--but there's (semi reliable) reports of nice ice another 300 or 400 miles further on--and so they go!
Yes indeed, I was going to mention these added bonus's of camaraderie and beer drinking but you have done it for me - quite right. My good friend and sailing mate who is taking the other Zephyr down from Northland is quite adamant about the beer drinking, in fact he's declared if it's blowing too hard he will be finding a nice place to prop up the bar and drink some good Wellington beer "and if the rest of you want to go sailing in 25 knots of blinding cold spray then the best of luck to you". He has a point, but for myself I am looking forward to the camaraderie, the beer AND the sailing!
Who’d have thunk it? Windy in Wellington...
As well as the Zephyr Intergalactics, it’s also the Port Nicolson Regatta so I’ll be coming from Sydney to, perhaps, sip rum and talk sailing.
First world problems compared to what’s happened in Fiji.
Yes, wind in Wellington? unprecedented, LOL.
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