The VELUX 5 OCEANS has joined marine forecast service PredictWind to make sure skippers and race management have the most accurate weather information available to them. PredictWind combines local topography maps to create the highest resolution wind forecast available for over 20,000 locations around the world. In addition PredictWind runs their own proprietary model at 100km resolution for full global coverage.
Velux 5 Oceans 2006/2007 - Image Credit onEdition
The eight VELUX 5 OCEANS skippers as well as the race management team will be provided with the highest level of access to the PredictWind services and can download and overlay the PredictWind wind forecasts on their own navigation/performance racing software. PredictWind’s forecasts are updated twice a day and include real-time wind observations, weather routing, trip planning and forecast alerts.
VELUX 5 OCEANS race David Adams said: “Having PredictWind onboard for the 2010/11 edition of the VELUX 5 OCEANS is a great boost for the race. It is vital that skippers as well as the race management team can access the very latest and most accurate weather information during the race, and PredictWind will allow us to do just that.”
The VELUX 5 OCEANS, run by Clipper Ventures PLC, is the longest running solo round the world race, and has 28 years of rich heritage as the BOC Challenge and then the Around Alone. This edition features five ocean sprints over nine months totally more than 30,000 nautical miles. After starting from La Rochelle on October 17 the first ocean sprint will take the fleet to Cape Town. The race will then take in Wellington in New Zealand, Salvador in Brazil and Charleston in the US before returning back across the Atlantic to France.
