SolOceans - News - Too many icebergs to round Cape Horn (03/10/2008)

Too many icebergs to round Cape Horn

Monday March 10th 2008 News RSS

After a final consultation with specialists of the icebergs drift in the Southern Pacific at the end of last week and, above all, taking into account very precise information from the NASA, the C-CORE, the Canadian institute following the ice and the ESA (European Space Agency), all confirmed by solo Russian sailor Fedor Konyukhov - who is at 1,000 nautical miles of Cape Horn at the moment - Yvan Griboval, CEO of SailingOne, organizer of the SolOceans and initiator of the Veolia Oceans^® one-design, has decided not to open the starting line of the second leg of the round-the-world Reconnaissance Tour of the SolOceans, between Wellington and Cherbourg round Cape Horn. Bostik will get back to France on a cargo ship, so Charles Caudrelier and his crew won’t take unnecessary risks in a massive ocean of icebergs drifting round Cape Horn southernmost headland of South America.

Bostik arriving in Wellington - March 7th, 2008 Charles Caudrelier at the helm of Bostik in the Bay of Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand.
Free of rights for press use, subject to the compulsory mention:
Photo Jean-Marie Liot - SailingOne

The vocation of the round-the-world Reconnaissance Tour of the SolOceans was first of all to test the first unit of the Veolia Oceans^® one-design series with Bostik as sponsor, and helmed by Charles Caudrelier. After leaving Caen (France) on December 16^th, and after a technical stop in Lisbon (Portugal), and a stop to check the boat in Cape Town (South Africa) before entering the Great South, Bostik arrived in Wellington’s harbour (New Zealand) last Friday. "We did work a lot during those 54 days on more than 14,000 nautical miles (26,000km) of this first leg and we don’t see what another sail in the Great South can add today. We have enough information to finalize the Veolia Oceans^® one-design", declared Charles Caudrelier to the French journalists present in Wellington. "Not letting us going zigzagging in the icebergs is a wise decision. The icebergs, that’s what scares me the most in the Southern Oceans and I don’t want to take inconsiderate risks, especially after reading stories from this Russian solo sailor who is there at the moment nearly rounding Cape Horn. If I can say so, it gives me a cold back!"

Fedor Konyukhov, the Russian solo sailor Charles Caudrelier refers to is at the moment on a 27-metre (85-foot) monohull in a massive iceberg field located on both sides of Cape Horn. The skipper has the best information from the Americans, the Canadians and the Europeans relative to the actual drift of the thousands of icebergs, among which two of them are thirty kilometres long. His website (www.konyukhov.ru) tells his story. Here are some extracts helping to better understand why Yvan Griboval, Charles Caudrelier and their partners are not prone to engage in the coming month the 16-metre monohull to round Cape Horn even if she is sure and impressive in hard conditions.

"It's becoming very scary to sail in these waters!" explains Fedor Konyukhov. "The sight of my first iceberg excited me earlier this week. This was something new - a different shape on the horizon. The second and third icebergs brought some safety concerns but today's sighting confirms to me that I am surrounded by drifting ice, travelling northeast. I am crossing their path in a southeast direction."

"It is very hard to spot icebergs on the radar. I have spotted the first four visually. Even when I knew their bearing, they were still hard to recognize on the radar screen. In a storm or high seas, the chances of spotting one are very slim."

"When I am facing a storm, the forecast gives me a good idea of wind force, direction, waves height and period. With icebergs it's a lottery. Have I been lucky? How about last night. It was pitch dark, foggy and raining. With my 1 million-candle power torch I could hardly see the bowsprit, which is only 15 meters ahead. The chance of spotting an iceberg even just 100 meters ahead is zero".

"According to the Routing Southern Pacific chart - I am only approaching the boundaries of drifting ice but the map is 10 years old and with global warming, is not valid any more. Here in the Southern Ocean I can see that Antarctica is rapidly losing its ice shield on a large scale", reported Fedor Konyukhov on March 7^th.

Even before the Russian solo sailor reported the situation in which he is at the moment, Jean-François Bonnin and Pascal Landuré, two specialists from Meteo Strategy - who did the weather support for Bostik and who will be the official weather forecast agency for the SolOceans after having been the one for the Barcelona World Race - exposed the actual situation. "In terms of sailing between Wellington and Cape Horn, it’s easy to trace great risks lines constituted by the icebergs and the growlers the following way: Antarctica which has a strong thermic inertia, much stronger than the Arctic, produces bigger icebergs. In September-October, at the end of the austral winter, the zone covered by ice is at its biggest. The breaking of the pack ice, the formation of icebergs from the glacier and the ice-shelves, start with the austral spring. Stuck in the global flux at first from East to West closed to the Antarctic continent, then from West to East further North, the icebergs do what we call "gyres" i.e. trajectories taking the shape of incurved hook towards the East. This "meridian" movement which starts between 65° to 60° South latitude, ends at 50° South, where the icebergs drift from West to East, like the austral depression".

"Globally, this zone of convergence in the Antarctic is the Northern limit for the icebergs. It’s the separation between the Antarctic waters, between - 1°C and 4°C and the sub Antarctic waters between 6°C and 14°C. The icebergs from the Antarctic drift towards the East and stay in waters colder than the icebergs from the Arctic that drift toward the South in warmer waters, which accelerate the melting down. That is why the ice (icebergs and growlers) found in the Pacific and in the Atlantic south melt down quicker than the one from the Arctic".

"At the end of the austral summer, in March and at the beginning of April, the ices reach their maximal extension towards North. Rounding Cape Horn, by 57° South, doesn’t represent the end of the martyrdom imposed on crews due to tiring watch. In fact, the current have a strong northern component and icebergs can drift up to the Falklands and the South Georgia Islands. The record has been established by an iceberg found by 30° South, off Brazil. You have to stay vigilant even after Cape Horn!"

Jean-Yves Bernot, the most famous European route planner, who has just been working with Francis Joyon during his successful single-handed round-the-world attempt record gets even more serious: "The end of March is the beginning of the austral autumn and the weather changes rapidly, comparable to what we see in our hemisphere at the beginning of September-October. The effect of this is a rapid growth of the number of gales in the Southern Ocean; an increase in the period of those gales and of the average force of the wind; a decrease of the average outside temperature; longer nights i.e. three more hours of darkness. Cold nights which makes the iceberg watch much harder".

"Of course, this decision not to go on with the second leg of the round-the-world Reconnaissance Tour of the SolOceans makes me sad, as the story Charles Caudrelier and Bostik wrote in this half round-the-world was a beautiful story, full of emotion and high sportive performances. We wanted to go on. Nothing can be said to justify rising the life of a crew only to satisfy the programme announced two years ago", explained Yvan Griboval.

"In this case, it has taught us two lessons. The first one is that the global warming is an unquestionable reality, of which the effects are found in places in the world we thought was protected from it. Fedor Konyukhov testimony is edifying! It is a complementary proof that the OceanoScientific Veolia^®Campaign is important. In fact, each Veolia Oceans^® one-design to sail the SolOceans will automatically collect data essential to know the real state of the Great South. The major international institutions, who observe the climatic changes, and who work on this part of the world only with the help of satellites, will be able to use them. The second lesson is that to diminish the risk of sailing in the icebergs, you need to sail close to Cape Horn and as soon as possible in the season, before the icebergs fields start being located too much North. The start of the SolOceans from Wellington will have to take place before January 10th, 2010 i.e. around 30 days after the arrival of the first leg".

Yvan Griboval concludes: "We were looking forward to welcoming Bostik in Cherbourg in less than two months for the end of the second leg of the round-the-world Reconnaissance Tour of the SolOceans. But this cancellation will be for another time, as, as a compensation, we offer the city of Cherbourg that the Reconnaissance Transatlantic that will take place next summer starts form the Norman port in mid-July. We will then have the boat on the famous transatlantic line between Cherbourg and New York which will participate to the worldwide influence of the European door opens towards the Atlantic".