February, 2002
Source: Line 7 Sterling Silver Newsletter

Background

The big money syndicates are pouring millions of dollars into their weather mapping programmes. They are also putting some of the best sailors in the world onto inflatable weather boats for hours, days, and months at a time. All this in an attempt to pick the first wind shift in an America's Cup or Louis Vuitton Cup match race. In America's Cup Class match racing the first wind shift often determines the outcome of the race. With such huge sail plans, once a boat gets in front they can usually go on to control the race.

So what is it about Auckland that requires such huge investments in money and talent in order to pick the first wind shift? In a nutshell, every day on the water in Auckland is different and difficult to predict. One day it can be a light 6-knot sea breeze, the next day it can be a 30-knot offshore breeze with strong squalls and rain. Arguably, it is this weather variation which has enabled the New Zealand America's Cup sailors to be so successful over the last seven years. Most of Team New Zealand grew up sailing in and around Auckland and so are more in tune with the intricacies of the local weather patterns; they know what to expect.

The weather in Auckland is changeable due to its proximity to the westerly trade winds that circle the earth at this latitude. There is a constant flow from left to right across New Zealand of cold fronts and low & high-pressure systems. There is the added complexity that the land is only 30 kilometers wide at the point where Auckland sits on the map. On one side is the Pacific Ocean and on the other side, the Tasman Sea. The weather systems of these two oceans meet over Auckland, which results in very moist air. The land has a minimal influence on the weather unlike weather systems experienced in many parts of North America and Australia. On a hot summers day you can get a down pour of rain over Auckland city when the sea breeze from the Pacific Ocean and the sea breeze from the Tasman Sea meet head on.

From October to March the weather follows a pattern. October to December is Spring and brings strong westerly winds, which for the America's Cup boats means shifty and gusty offshore winds. The broken masts experienced by Team New Zealand, OneWorld, and Oracle Racing prior to Christmas, and Oracle Racing's Keel problems are indicative of the strong spring winds in Auckland. January brings a mixture of windy conditions and light sea breezes, and February, the time of the America's Cup, is a time of light to moderate winds. But still anything can happen on any particular day.

Advantage To Team New Zealand

These changeable weather patterns give a distinct advantage to Team New Zealand for two reasons. Firstly as discussed earlier, the Team New Zealand sailors grew up sailing on Auckland waters and nothing surprises them. They know you need to have your head out of the boat looking for changes in the wind regardless of what the weather team says is going to happen. The second and perhaps greatest advantage is that the Louis Vuitton starts in October during Auckland's windy season. This means the Challengers have to optimize their boats for the strong winds to have a chance of winning the Louis Vuitton Cup and challenging for the America's Cup. By the time the America's Cup comes around in February 2003, the wind will have decreased considerably. The result is that Team New Zealand can optimize their boat design for light to moderate winds whilst the Challengers have to optimize for both types of conditions.

Where Is The Money Being Spent?

The weather teams spend more time on the water than the sailing crews. They will have up to four inflatable boats with wind reading instruments on the water daily collecting data over a long period of time.

The weather team for Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes has been on the water collecting data during the summer even though the Stars & Stripes boat and crew are not yet in Auckland. Each team has a central mother ship, which has the Meteorologist and an array of computers that crunches the data received on-board. The weather teams are looking for patterns in the wind that can help predict windshifts on race day. You shouldn't under estimate the cost of this activity - boats, wind reading equipment, computers and expensive personnel!

These weather teams are staffed by some of the smartest sailors around. For example, the Oracle Racing weather team has three Olympic medals between them and the former Team New Zealand weather supremo, Bob Rice. The OneWorld weather team has triple World 470 champion Hamish Wilcox in charge surrounded by some very talented former Olympic sailors. Team New Zealand has Double Olympian and master tactician Peter Evans as its weather chief, and Prada has Murray Ross, one of New Zealand's best all round sailors. In the majority of cases these weather teams are made up of New Zealanders who have spent the majority of their sailing days on Auckland's waters.

The Need For Talent

On race day these talented sailors are positioned on inflatable boats around the America's Cup course radioing in to the mothership, with details of the weather in their area of the course. Years of collecting data and analyzing of computer simulated patterns comes down to the opinion of these sailors who have seen it all before and are giving their opinion on what the water, wind, and clouds are saying. Those on the Mothership then makes a final decision based on the analysis of these sightings and advises the race boat, just before the warning signal, of what they believe the wind is going to do and where the first wind shift will come from. The Skipper and Tactician will either agree or disagree. With only a few minutes to position the boat in such a way as to take advantage of the first shift. The job of the weather team is the done for the day. Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to listen in to the conversations of both weather teams to see if they were coming to the same conclusions!

Practice Makes Perfect

There is no substitute for getting out on Auckland's waters and putting the weather team to the test. America's Cup teams conduct countless practice races that serve as an opportunity to test the accuracy of the weather team's forecasts. They either get the first shift right or wrong. One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment for an America's Cup weather team. Meteorologists, talented sailors, state-of-the-art equipment all attempt to decode the complexities of Auckland's weather.