Record-breaking forecast!!!!

De hogedrukgordel van de Azoren die de laatste weken voor een mooie nazomer zorgde, brokkelt op zijn oostelijke flank verder af en zet de deur wagenwijd open voor Atlantische storingen. Zaterdagnacht trekt een actief koufront met flink wat wind en regen over Vlaanderen. Deze storing is verbonden aan een stormdepressie met kern over de noordelijke Noordzee.

Weer:
Betrokken met wat lichte regen of motregen, al vlug wordt het overal droog en komen er opklaringen. ’s Nachts opnieuw betrokken met regen. Maxima rond 18 graden en het zicht is matig tijdens de neerslag.

Wind:
Breskens: WZW 6 (pieken tot 7 Bft), tijdelijk toenemend aan de voorzijde van het front tot 6 à 7 (pieken tot 8 à 9 Bft of 90 km/u).
Terneuzen: WZW 5 à 6 (pieken tot 7 Bft), tijdelijk toenemend aan de voorzijde van het front tot 6 (pieken tot 8 Bft of 80 km/u).
Antwerpen: WZW 5 (pieken tot 6), tijdelijk toenemend aan de voorzijde van het front tot 6 (pieken tot 7 à 8 of 70 km/u).

Groeten,

Fritz Buyl
www.weather4expeditions.com

Expedition supported by weather4expeditions.com

Twenty eager water enthusiasts and globetrotters will embark on an unforgettable journey towards Spitsbergen this summer aboard Het Boot, a bright blue, steel beauty of a ship. Spitsbergen is a group of islands approximately 565 km north of Norway and a dream destination for sailors and sea kayakers alike.

On the 15th of May Jos, Staf, Frank and Jan will set off aboard the “blue giant” leaving the harbour of Blankenberge behind heading northwards towards Norway and it will take them about 10 days to reach the Norwegian harbour town of Bergen. Bergen is the second largest city of Norway which locals tend to call the “City Among the Seven Mountains”.

Shortly after this, the men will sail along the Norwegian coast towards Harstad, where Kris, the founding father of Het Boot, will join the crew. Captain Jos will then guide our bright blue beauty including the crew through the capricious Lofoten, an archipelago in the Nordland province known for its rich fishery tradition. The next stop is Tromso, also known as the “Paris of the North”. This city is situated on the 70° north latitude and as with all other places in the Arctic Circle, it is blessed with the midnight sun above the northern horizon from the end of May until mid July.

Jan leaves the boat in Tromso to return to our lovely Belgian summer and Tile joins the crew. Jos, Kris and Tile will then begin the 5-day long crossing to the west coast of Spitsbergen via Sorkappland, the most southerly point of the archipelago that Spitsbergen is part of. Our brave sailors will then continue their journey via the Isfjord towards Londyearbayen, Spitsbergen’s capital. There Tjerk, Cindy, Daan, Lode, Aaron, Sarah and Marieke will join the crew. The family of 7 will venture deeper into the Isfjord with a couple of Klepper sea kayaks. After 7 days of exploration, Lode and Kris will fly back home from Longyearbayen. Xaveer will at that point join the team of sea kayakers who will be paddling along the west coast of Spitsbergen followed by Het Boot. The team is expected to return to Longyearbayen around the end of July/beginning of August after three adventurous weeks of sea kayaking and sailing.

There the last leg of the journey will start. Sarah, Marieke and Xaveer will fly back to Belgium from Spitsbergen and Tim will join the sailors to help them traverse the sea back to Tromso. Once the team arrives in Tromso, Daan will set off on a journey of his own: cycling back from the north of Norway all the way to Belgium. Het Boot will continue its journey back to Harstad where Freddy and Tom, 2 keen divers, will join the team to search for the sunken wreck of The Belgica, with which one of the first expeditions to the Antarctic took place. Once the divers have finished admiring the underwater world near Harstad, Cindy will take a train to Oslo and fly home from there. Captain Jos and his crew will embark on the final part of the expedition, via Bergen back towards Blankenberge. The scheduled arrival is around the end of August.

Read more: http://www.svalbardvaren.be/home.html

Article written by Oliver Dewar

At 13:21:28 UTC on Thursday (25/06), Michel Kleinjans and Roaring Forty crossed the Leg 5 finish line of the Portimão Global Ocean Race after 20 days 22 hours 51 minutes and 28 seconds of racing from Charleston, South Carolina, on the final, North Atlantic section of the 33,000 mile circumnavigation.Two hours before Kleinjans crossed the finish line, the double-handed skippers in the fleet left the Marina de Portimão VIP pontoons at the Tivoli Hotel and motored out through the entrance of the River Arade, hoisted sail and set off to greet the fleet’s solo sailor led by a high-powered RIB carrying the Kleinjan’s family and journalists. Also on the RIB, representing the single-handed class, was Nico Budel, the Dutch race entrant who was forced to abandon his Open 40 Hayai having sustained dramatic keel bulb failure in the Southern Ocean on Leg 2 between Cape Town and Wellington, New Zealand.With westerly breeze, Kleinjans was forced to gybe away from the Portuguese coast, making a final gybe onto port when Roaring Forty layed the finish line and Kleinjans broad reached into the River Arade with a final flourish of pace, flanked by the overall double-handed winner Beluga Racer to starboard, the Chilean team on Desafio Cabo de Hornos to port and the British crew on Team Mowgli acting as vanguard astern of the Belgian Open 40.Immediately after crossing the line, Kleinjans snuffed the spinnaker and his friends and family climbed on board to start the celebrations. Once on the VIP pontoon, all the double-handed teams rushed to congratulate Belgium’s most popular solo sailor. Looking relaxed and full of energy, Kleinjans was eager to describe the last leg of the circumnavigation. “Apart from the stay breaking, this was quite a soft leg,” he explained, referring to the broken, starboard D1 shroud supporting the lower section of the yacht’s carbon fibre mast. “I was so far behind that it didn’t really matter,” he continues. Kleinjans left Charleston exhausted after overseeing repairs to Roaring Forty following the boat’s collision with a container ship in the later stages of Leg 4 east of Grand Bahama, and he admits that he was unable to push hard for the first few days of Leg 5.Although the jury system he rigged was strong and effective, Kleinjans had already dropped into a different weather system than the double-handed fleet. “I was just concerned I wouldn’t make the prize giving, that’s all!” he jokes. “If I had been a bit more confident about the time I had left, I think I would have stopped in the Azores for a beer!” Roaring Forty passed within a few miles Flores – the westernmost island in the Azores Archipelago - before passing north of the main group of five islands. “It was just a bit of tourism, really. I don’t think there are any shops there, so I would have had to go on to Faial, but in the end, I just kept going.”Despite dramas during every leg of the circumnavigation, Kleinjans was most concerned in the early stages shortly after the start last October. “My biggest worry was on the first leg when the V1 broke and I’d only just started the race and I really worried that the boat wasn’t strong enough to do the whole race,” he recalls. With such serious rigging failure, his confidence in the 12 year-old Open 40 boat was severely shaken. “In the end, the boat has proved to be very, very strong,” adds Kleinjans. It is also on record that Kleinjans often astonished the double-handed teams with his ability to keep pace with the crewed boats, but he shrugs off the compliments and the enormous achievement of a solo circumnavigation. “It hasn’t changed me,” he maintains. “At my age, it’s not something that is going to change my life or the way I think. If I was 20 years-old, it would,” explains the Belgian yachtsman. “I’m very happy I did the race, even with all the setbacks and problems, but I think when you’re past 40 years-old, you already know enough about life.”This is the second circumnavigation race for Kleinjans having competed in the 1985-86 Whitbread Round the World Race on a fully crewed yacht and he is immensely happy with completing a solo race around the planet, but getting back to a routine on land is a pleasing prospect. “I feel like going straight back to work right now!” he admits, laughing. “It has been a long race with a lot of days on the water and not every day is spectacular,” points out Kleinjans. “In fact, there are more days that are not so spectacular.”Despite this opinion, he doesn’t rule out a third circumnavigation. “You always think once is enough, but then you race around the world and you begin to look back and find out which bits you could have done better at and which tactical calls could have been better. It’s sort of unfinished business and you always know that you could have done better.” For the immediate future, Roaring Forty is now on the market. “The boat is for sale and as for me, I’m not sure,” says Kleinjans. “But definitely, sailing hasn’t seen the last of me, for certain!”

30,000 miles around the globe

The course for the Portimão Global Ocean Race takes in some of the roughest waters on the planet. Starting in Portimão, Portugal the race stops in Cape Town, South Africa, Wellington New Zealand, Ilhabela, Brazil and Charleston, USA before finishing back in Portugal, a total of 30,000 nautical miles.

Leg 1: Portimão to Cape Town - start 12 October, 2008

Once the start gun fires the boats will sail close along the coast allowing spectators enjoying the sun on Portugal’s famous Praia da Rocha to enjoy the spectacle.  Then it is a gentle turn to port as the steady northerly trade winds kick in and sights are set on the first point gate, the tiny island of Fernando de Noronha. The first two weeks of the race should be perfect sailing, allowing the teams time to ease into their big adventure. In October the trades are steady and strong, enabling the fleet to rocket south constantly searching the horizon for towering dark cumulus clouds, the first sign that they are approaching the turbulent doldrum area.

The doldrums, or Pot au Noir as the French so aptly describe the area, is tactically difficult and mentally challenging as the wind dies away to nothing, interspersed with thundering squalls accompanied by torrential rain. It will be 300 miles of grim hell until the trades to the south take over, allowing the sailors to break free of the unsettled weather and set a course for the first mandatory gate. The waypoint set off the Brazilian coast acts as a point gate but more importantly it serves to keep the boats well to the west of the South Atlantic High.  Those sailors tempted to cut the corner and sail a direct course for Cape Town will find themselves in the grip of perfect beach weather; hot and flat calm.  For the rest it is a fine line south skirting the High, staying in the breeze yet trying to shave off miles by cutting the corner. Finally, around 38 degrees south, they will pick up a westerly wind on the edge of the Southern Ocean and fly downwind into Cape Town, South Africa.

Leg 2: Cape Town to Wellington - start 14 December 2008

Cape Town, the Tavern of the Seas has welcomed sailors for centuries. Majestic Table Mountain rises out of clear, cold water and offers the sailors a three week respite before they head back out again, this time into the rough and tumble of the deep south. No sooner will the racers have passed Cape Point than the first fringes of the Southern Ocean will be felt.  Cold, damp wind blowing direct from the Antarctic ice pack across a span of frigid ocean will hint at the danger that lies ahead. Strong westerly winds and massive seas will propel the fleet further south, under Australia where the danger of ice lurks. It will be a time for monitoring the radar, keeping a vigil on deck, and praying to the gods. Communication between boats will be constant as each sailor knows that their first lifeline, should anything go wrong, will be a fellow competitor. Christmas and New Year will come and go before the green hills dotted with sheep herald the approach to Wellington, New Zealand.

Leg 3 - Wellington to Ilhabela - start 21st February 2009

Wellington, the capital city of a nation that is sailing mad, will treat the sailors to a belated Christmas and allow the teams time to regroup before tackling the second half of the race.  Leg 3 takes the fleet back into the Southern Ocean, this time around the infamous Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America.  It will be another turbulent ride dodging the worst cold fronts and riding the best. Those that are lucky will get a glimpse of the famous cape that has intrigued and devastated sailors for centuries: others will give the land a wide berth before turning their bows north and heading for Ilhabela, a tiny, tropical paradise off the coast of Brazil.  With the worst of the race behind them sailors will take time to explore the deep natural rain forest and laze on hot sandy beaches.

Leg 4: Ilhabela to Charleston - start 25 April 2009

Two tough tactical legs remain and as Spring wakes up the Northern Hemisphere the sailors will head north, skirting the coast of Brazil, passing Fernando a second time and traversing the Caribbean Sea.  Further north, the welcoming shores of North America lie just over the horizon and Charleston, known as the friendliest city in America, awaits the fleet. The sailors of the Portimão Global Ocean Race will be in port during the build up to the famous Charleston to Bermuda yacht race, starting on 29th May, and if any city knows how to respond to globetrotting sailors, it is Charleston with its legendary southern charm.

Leg 5: Charleston to Portimão - start 31 May 2009

The final leg is a 3,500 mile sprint across the North Atlantic back to Portugal, yet despite the relative ease of the trip, it is fraught with pitfalls. The Azores High can turn the fleet on its head and dark squalls at night can trip up unwary sailors. As the boats sail past Pico, the point gate, they will see the majestic mountain, the highest in Portugal and start to smell the first warm wafting breezes of the finish. Portimão is just over the horizon and the end of a nine month odyssey that will have changed each and every sailor in both subtle and dramatic ways. The sights, sounds, trials and tribulations of the past year will meld into one as each skipper sails across the finish line, those same unchanged hills, cliffs and farms there to greet them.

Dixie sailed with the Euronav Belgica in the wake of the Belgica, Adrien de Gerlache expedition to the Antarctic Peninsula. He landed on exactly the same locations as Adrien and tried to take exactly the same pictures as well. Doing that he could determine how strong the impact of the climate change would be on the environment.

We were quite suprised by the result. Below you can judge for yourself and please leave a comment if you are feeling like.