Delta Life 10

VOLVO OCEAN RACE The Volvo Ocean Race is the world's toughest team sailing competition. Last June, the seven ships reached the finish in Scheveningen after sailingmore than 80,000 kilometres since starting out in October 2017. A challenge for human endurance and human intelligence: sailing across the world's seas requires an in-depth understanding of sea currents in combination with weather conditions. And that is precisely where Deltares excels. So scientists and the leading sailors from the AkzoNobel teamgot together. During the race, their navigator Jules Salter received detailed predictions fromDeltares based on the Global Tide and Surge Model . The special thing about this model is that it operates smoothly with both large-scale predictions in which ocean currents predominate and with amore detailed approach once the coast comes into view and tides play the leading role. The alliance produced results.The team led by skipper Simeon Tienpont set a new speed record: 602.51 nautical miles (1115.85 km) in 24 hours. In the comingmonths, Deltares will refine themodel further on the basis of amore detailed data analysis. And that is not just good news for ocean sailors. This model has multiple applications. Frompredicting the impact of sea-level rise on coastal defences to understanding how plastic particles spread through the oceans. Ocean racing can produce surprising benefits. For more information: www.globalfloodforecast.com PHOTO: AMALIA INFANTE / VOLVO OCEAN RACE