#VOR - Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Dongfeng Race Team traded blows throughout the first half of the Cape Town In-Port Race course this afternoon (Friday 8 December) before the Chinese-French team grabbed the lead midway through the race and stretched away for their first win in the Volvo Ocean Race's in-port series.

The victory vaults skipper Charles Caudrelier’s team to second place on the leaderboard for the In-Port Race Series, just behind MAPFRE who retained the overall lead with a fightback second-place finish.

“The team did a fantastic job, very nice boat handling and good speed, so well done to the full team,” Caudrelier said after the race.

“Our start was not fantastic, but after that we made a good call to tack a bit earlier and put pressure on Vestas and then we found some good speed. That was a key factor.”

Conditions were spectacular on the waters off Cape Town, with wind near 20 knots, under bright, sunny skies.

Boat handling was at a premium in the fresh conditions and on the first two laps of the course, there were several very close crosses as the boats approached the turning gates.

Near the end of the second run, Vestas 11th Hour Racing were sailing on an awkward wind angle to the mark and had difficulty furling their big A3 downwind sail in preparation for the rounding.

It didn’t hurt them immediately but when they next tried to deploy the sail at the final top mark, it wouldn’t fully unfurl, and the team was very slow for most of the final run.

“We started well,” said navigator Simon Fisher. “At the second top mark Dongfeng did a great job, pushing us to the less favoured side, which pushed us back into the fleet, which put pressure on the downwind drop, which meant we didn’t have a great furl, and that hurt us on the last run. It’s just a great example of how things can snowball.”

The mistake cost the team two places, as both MAPFRE and Team AkzoNobel raced past on the run to the finish.

The second-place finish represented a tremendous comeback for MAPFRE, who were forced into a penalty turn just before the start, leaving them them the last to get across the line.

But the Spanish team kept pushing its way up the fleet, finally forcing Team AkzoNobel away with an aggressive luff near the final top mark, setting the table for the pass of Vestas 11th Hour Racing on the final run.

Further back, Brunel and Scallywag engaged in a luffing match early on the first run. The umpires penalised Scallywag for an infraction and following the penalty turn, David Witt’s team were trailing the fleet.

At the finish, a hard-charging Brunel nearly stole a place from Turn the Tide on Plastic. But Dee Caffari’s team, who had a very strong start to the race, held on for fifth place.

Cape Town In-Port Race Results:

1. Dongfeng Race Team
2. MAPFRE
3. Team AkzoNobel
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic
6. Team Brunel
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard:

1. MAPFRE – 19 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team – 18 points
3. Team Brunel – 13 points
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
5. Team AkzoNobel – 11 points
6. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag – 6 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 5 points

#VOR - The seven teams competing in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race will test their offshore Volvo Ocean 65s on a close-quarters race course later today (Friday 8 December) during the Cape Town In-Port Race, under the shadow of the majestic Table Mountain.

Racing off Cape Town is notoriously challenging with strong, gusty, shifting winds and tricky currents commonplace.

And after racing 7,000 nautical miles from Lisbon to Cape Town last month, the sailors will need to switch gears for short-course, inshore racing.

The leaderboard of the In-Port Race Series is used as the tie-breaking mechanism for the overall Volvo Ocean Race standings, so the stakes are high.

MAPFRE leads the In-Port Race series by two points over Team Brunel, who won the last race in Lisbon, and Dongfeng Race Team.

The race is scheduled to start at 2pm local time (12 noon Irish time). Catch the live stream of the event from 11.50am Irish time at the Volvo Ocean Race website or on Facebook Live.

What should the fleet be doing to prepare for crossing the Southern Ocean on Leg 3 from Sunday? Keep warm and hold on tight, writes Jonno Turner on the VOR site, as speed is of the essence — something the Clipper Race fleet that only recently crossed that stretch of ocean knows only too well.

#VOR - The closest finish of this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race thus far took place at the back of the fleet, where just metres separated sixth from seventh place on the race into Cape Town.

On the approach, skipper David Witt’s Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag led Dee Caffari’s Turn the Tide on Plastic by two miles. But after sailing into the swirling, shifting winds below Table Mountain, that narrow advantage was whittled away.

By the finish, Caffari had closed to within 0.1 nautical miles – less than 200 metres – at the end of a 7,000 nautical mile leg. But as they sailed to the line just before midnight local time, her team just couldn’t find a way to make the pass.

“We’ve had Scallywag in our sights since the equator crossing and that result is not what we deserved. We deserved more, I’m gutted for them,” Caffari said.

“We lost two miles today to them and then we got it back to a couple of boat lengths. Fair play to our guys to make it happen and that’s why I wanted the result to go the other way.”

Witt and his crew would withstand the assault and after sailing within sight of Turn the Tide on Plastic for most of the Leg, could finally exhale, crossing the finish line just over one-minute ahead.

“Everyone was good. No one gives up,” Witt said, paying tribute to his crew. “We’re solid. We have good character. We have to stick together, keep fighting and get better.”

Getting back to Turn the Tide, one of those happy to be on dry land again is Ireland’s own Annalise Murphy.

In her most recent blog for The Irish Times, the Olympic medallist writes of calling out crew orders in her sleep, and of the struggles of constant saltwater exposure on hands needed for key work on deck.

But she also describes being in her element sailing in mid-ocean conditions not unlike her typical Laser training regime in Dublin Bay.

Earlier this morning Annalise also shared a few photos from the leg before dropping her camera overboard (oops!).

Half an hour and four miles ahead of the duo duelling for sixth, Team AkzoNobel secured a fifth-place finish, the crew holding their nerve as the wind died and swirled near the finish line.

It’s not often that a fifth-place finish feels like a victory, but given how close the battle was with Scallywag and Turn the Tide, this is a result skipper Simeon Tienpont and his crew will happily take.

“We had to fight all the way,” Tienpont said. “Of course it’s disappointing we couldn’t get hold of the breeze but everyone stayed positive. There was no negativity, and we had a great sailing race all the way to the end. I’m very happy to be fifth in such tight racing.”

With all seven teams now finished, Leg 2 winner MAPFRE is also on top of the overall leaderboard, by just a one-point margin over Vestas 11th Hour Racing. Dongfeng Race Team is a further two points adrift.

The crews will take some well-deserved rest before the in-port race on Friday 8 December. Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town to Melbourne, starts on Sunday 10 December.

Leg 2 Provisional Results, Saturday 25 November at 10pm Irish time:

1. MAPFRE - Finished 19d 1h 10m 33s)
2. Dongfeng Race Team - Finished 19d 4h 2m 39s
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing - Finished 19d 5h 37m 53s
4. Team Brunel - Finished 19d 10h 14m 47s
5. Team AkzoNobel - Finished 20d 7h 24m 40s
6. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag - Finished 20d 7h 55m 21s
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic - Finished 20d 7h 56m 29s

Current Leaderboard after Leg 2:

1. MAPFRE - 14 points
2. Vestas 11th Hour Racing - 13 points
3. Dongfeng Race Team - 11 points
4. Team AkzoNobel - 7 points
5. Team Brunel - 6 points
6. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag - 5 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic - 2 points

#VOR - MAPFRE has won Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race into Cape Town, South Africa and will take the overall lead on the points table.

The Spanish-flagged entry crossed the line in Cape Town this afternoon (Friday 24 November) at 5.10pm local time (3.10pm UTC) after a 7,000-nautical-mile marathon from Lisbon in Portugal.

“It's amazing, we’re super-happy. We came here in one piece and in front of the others, we can’t ask for more,” said skipper Xabi Fernández moments after finishing.

“This is what we will see all the way around the world. Super-tight racing, everyone has good speed and small mistakes are very expensive. This time we were luck to do the least mistakes and that's why we won.”

For most of the first half of the leg, MAPFRE trailed Dongfeng Race Team on the long charge to the south.

But last weekend, after crossing the Doldrums 14 days into the leg, navigator Juan Vila and skipper Xabi Fernández made the winning move: a quick gybe to the southwest that Dongfeng didn’t cover.

Within hours, the decision paid and MAPFRE had a tactical advantage they would never relinquish over the final week of racing.

The team earns eight points for the Leg 2 victory (seven points plus one bonus point for the win) which is enough to take the overall lead in the race regardless of the finishing positions behind.

For Leg 2, MAPFRE sailed 7,886.5 nautical miles over the ground at an average speed of 17.3 knots.

Dongfeng Race Team and Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the latter with Ireland’s Damian Foxall on its team, will be the next boats to arrive at the V&A Waterfront later today.

Leg 2 provisional results, Friday 24 November at 3.10pm UTC:

1. MAPFRE – Finihsed 15:10.33 UTC (19 days, 1 hour, 10 minutes, 33 seconds)
2. Dongfeng Race Team +37.2 nautical miles
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +62.1
4. Team Brunel +131.6
5. Team AkzoNobel +447.1
6. Turn The Tide on Plastic +449.4
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +451.3

A previous version of this article erroneously suggested that Damian Foxall was sailing on Leg 2 with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, when he was on shore in his role as sustainability manager.

#VOR - Leg 2 leaders MAPFRE are fending off a sustained attack by the chasing pack as the leading group fight to stay with a cold front that has provided 500-plus-mile days on the Volvo Ocean Race to Cape Town.

The Spanish crew were cautiously keeping one eye on their rivals and the other on Cape Town on Wednesday afternoon (22 November) as they came within just over 800 miles of the finish line.

Two days ago, Xabi Fernández's outfit had a buffer of 35 miles over their nearest rival after their position as the most southerly boat allowed them to hook into the better breeze of an easterly-moving front first.

Forty-eight hours on and that advantage has been significantly reduced: second-placed Dongfeng Race Team have pushed to within 23 miles of MAPFRE, while Vestas 11th Hour Racing — with Damian Foxall ashore this leg— in third and Team Brunel in fourth have also made gains.

In fact, with under 1,000 miles to go to the finish line in Cape Town, just 37 miles split the top four boats.

However, the 1pm UTC position report revealed that MAPFRE has started to accelerate again, winning valuable miles back on every other boat in the fleet since 7am.

Despite this advantage, MAPFRE navigator Joan Vila said the team were very aware of the potential for attack from behind.

“First is a difficult position to defend – we're just trying to do what looks best for us,” he said. “The transition ahead looks good but we're a bit nervous that it could be lighter than predicted.

“Still, the race is far from over. It looks like the other have all been doing pretty well. Dongfeng, Vestas and Brunel have all had their moments. All these three could be potential threats to our lead.”

Asked whether he feels that MAPFRE can hang on to their lead, Vila was cautiously optimistic.

“If all pans out as predicted then probably yes, but weather is not an exact science,” he said. “We'll see how it goes, you never can tell for sure.”

While spirits onboard MAPFRE were high, the opposite could be said for Team AkzoNobel.

Skipper Simeon Tienpont's crew had hoped that their position equidistant from the leading four in the south and Turn The Tide on Plastic, with Annalise Murphy among its crew, and Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag to the north would pay dividends.

However they were the team to be spat out the back of the cold front, leaving them languishing in much lighter winds.

At 1pm AkzoNobel found themselves 155 miles behind MAPFRE, having shed 85 miles in the last 24 hours.

What’s more, a much better night for Scallywag and Turn The Tide has further compounded AkzoNobel’s misery.

Both teams were able to hold onto the cold front for longer, and passing AkzoNobel and relegating them to seventh in the Leg 2 leaderboard in the process.

While bad news for AkzoNobel, the news of the shift in positions was met with cheers on Scallywag.

“The guys did a really good job of hanging on a to big sail last night – we pushed really hard,” a beaming Steve Hayles said.

“We made a seven-mile gain on Turn The Tide on Plastic, and managed to stay ahead of the front. AkzoNobel, who are south of us, just slipped off the back. That means they’re in a worse wind direction and we made an 18-mile gain on them. They got a bit caught between the north and south groups, and tried to get ahead of the front but it's been a big loss for them.”

The current ETA into Cape Town sees the leading group arriving late on Friday 24 November, assuming the current forecast holds. A more accurate ETA will be available tomorrow.

Leg 2 Position Report, Wednesday 22 November at 1pm UTC:

1. MAPFRE — DTF 822.0 nautical miles
2. Dongfeng Race Team +22.9
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +29.1
4. Team Brunel +36.9
5. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +137.9
6. Turn The Tide on Plastic +147.7
7. Team AkzoNobel +155.2

A previous version of this article erroneously suggested that Damian Foxall was sailing on Leg 2 with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, when he was on shore in his role as sustainability manager.

#VOR - With all the Volvo Ocean Race fleet now pointing towards Cape Town, the latest position report is a much more accurate reflection of reality, as Damian Foxall’s boat Vestas 11th Hour Racing heads the table, just marginally ahead of MAPFRE.

But as watch captain and team director Mark Towill explains, the Spanish boat to the south is going to be hard to beat.

“MAPFRE has made a big play to the south and it looks like they’ve got more pressure down there so it will be interesting to see how that plays out over the next couple of days … We should see them move forward on us in the next couple of skeds. They look like the boat to beat right now.

“But there’s a lot of opportunity left … It looks pretty messy between here and Cape Town … Anybody could still win.”

Throughout the fleet today (Sunday 19 November), the navigators and skippers are faced with choices that may largely determine their fate on Leg 2 as they race towards Cape Town.

This morning, with most of the leading group having finally gybed and sailing an easterly track towards Cape Town, Team Brunel defied expectations and turned back to the southwest in an effort to get closer to the stronger winds of a weather system that is expected to deliver the leading group towards their destination.

Before the gybe, Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking explained the trade-offs in play.

“One more very important decision to make is to get the timing right for the most likely final gybe into Cape Town,” he wrote. “You go too early, you sail a shorter distance, but with a chance to have less breeze. You go too late and you sail too many miles. So this is a crucial one to set us up.

“But even after that it is far from over. If you look long term, there are some very tricky passages still to come on this leg.”

Bekking needn’t look far to see the stakes in play. On Saturday morning, Dongfeng Race Team, who had been leading for much of Leg 2, appeared to cut the corner too close, sailing too far to the east, and were punished immediately for getting too close to the light wind area.

“Of course it's not a very good mood on board today; we lost so much in 24 hours,” wrote skipper Charles Caudrelier on Sunday morning. “We were in a perfect situation and we made a big mistake, playing too much with the high pressure and the light air … [But] six days to come back, and we never give up. We want a podium and we will fight until the end.”

Leg 2 Position Report, Sunday 19 November at 1pm UTC:

1. Vestas 11th Hour Racing — DTF 2,286.6 nautical miles
2. MAPFRE +9.3
3. Team Brunel +20.4
4. Dongfeng Race Team +53.0
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic +54.6
6. Team AkzoNobel +70.9
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +85.0

#VOR - Those following the rankings and tracker for the Volvo Ocean Race could be forgiven for thinking they’d glanced away for more than one of the six-hour position reports.

The leaderboard is constantly undergoing a shake-up, reflective at the moment almost entirely by how far east a team is positioned.

As the boats approach the latitude of the finish line in Cape Town, this is hardly surprising.

Any progress to the east — as Annalise Murphy’s boat Turn The Tide on Plastic has done, putting them into the lead this afternoon — is a direct mile off the 2,500 or so miles left to the finishing line.

But tactically, it’s hardly that simple, and teams that many experts are touting as in the strongest position on this leg are still charging to the southwest.

Effectively, they’re sailing away from the finishing line in an effort to pick up strong breeze in a weather system that will carry them to the finish in about a week’s time.

“The last position sked dropped us from first to fifth,” said Team AkzoNobel watch captain Chris Nicolson. His team had been positioned furthest to the east the last few days and had thus been leading the rankings.

“But we’re now exiting out of the high pressure system and waiting for a low pressure to pick us up. There are several boats on our bow, but the race is to the next low pressure system.

“We’ll probably drop some more miles at the next sked, but the game is to set ourselves up for the front to come through and ride that for the next four days or so.”

An interesting development over the past 24 hours has been in the different tactics of Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE, two boats who had been leading the charge south for most of the past week.

But in the early hours of Saturday morning, Dongfeng appears to have switched tactics, and is now approximately 80 miles further east.

That means closer to Cape Town, but also nearer to the lighter winds of the high pressure system.

In fact, while MAPFRE is sailing in 16 knots of wind at the 1pm UTC report, Dongfeng is seeing just 12 knots. How this plays out over the next 12 to 24 hours could determine the leader into Cape Town.

Leg 2 Position Report, Saturday 18 November at 1pm UTC:

1. Turn The Tide on Plastic — DTF 2,471.9 nautical miles
2. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +4.1
3. Dongfeng Race Team +6.8
4. Team AkzoNobel +46.0
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +58.4
6. Team Brunel +71.2
7. MAPFRE +71.2

#VOR - The first big gamble for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet since crossing the Equator was playing out today (Thursday 16 November) as Team AkzoNobel lined up to ‘cut the corner’ in a bid to overhaul the leading quartet to their southwest.

At the 1pm UTC ranking, Simeon Tienpont’s AkzoNobel was in the Leg 2 top spot because their trajectory, around 70 nautical miles to the east of the fleet, puts them closer to Cape Town than any of their rivals.

But while they are technically in pole position in terms of distance to finish, the move is a tactical roll of the dice from Tienpont and his navigator Jules Salter.

By positioning themselves to the east, they have reduced the amount of miles they need to sail, but the compromise will likely be lighter winds.

By comparison, those teams closer to the Brazilian coast – Dongfeng Race Team, MAPFRE, Team Brunel as well as the most westerly boat, Vestas 11th Hour Racing (with Damian Foxall on its team, though ashore for this leg) – are likely to pick up the stronger winds brewing 500 miles to the south earlier, potentially catapulting them towards their goal.

Tienpont said AkzoNobel were hoping to make gains over the coming days from a swing in wind direction that will allow them to point their bows closer to Cape Town.

“There’s a bit of a lift coming in the next few days so everyone will come up,” he said. “We’ve been a bit more on the inside and we’ve made a few miles back. It’s given us a more competitive position on the front guys. We’re trying to keep on the inside of them and shoot a bit further forward when we can.”

Meanwhile, Vestas 11th Hour Racing team director Mark Towill said that by being more to the west, they hoped to delay an inevitable gybe out of a high pressure system and benefit from better breeze.

“We’re obviously a bit closer to the coast, a bit further away from the high pressure system,” he added.

“The next 18 hours will tell, but we’re optimistic about our position right now. We’re hoping that by being a bit further away from the high the gybe will happen a bit later for us and we will make some gains. Time will tell.”

Although the position report doesn’t show it, Dongfeng likely remain the true leg leaders, with MAPFRE nipping at their heels in second.

Onboard MAPFRE there’s been no let-up as they do all they can to hold on to Dongfeng’s coat tails while warding off the attack from Brunel and Vestas.

“When you have boats close by, you have to keep more active because if you relax a little bit the boats behind will catch you and the boats in front will gain in distance,” said MAPFRE bowman and boat captain Antonio ‘Neti’ Cuervas-Mons.

“It’s very important you keep focused. That’s why we have the position report every six hours – it keeps us working hard. We don’t want to lose anything.”

Splitting the difference between west and east, Turn The Tide on Plastic, with Annalise Murphy on board, and Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag were continuing their battle after the latter reduced the distance to their rivals to just two miles.

“We’ve had clouds from hell, and out of the cloud came Scallywag,” said Turn The Tide skipper Dee Caffari. “They’re two miles behind now. Not what we wanted. It’s like having a whole other Doldrums.”

Leg 2 position Report, Thursday 16 November at 1pm UTC:

1. Team AkzoNobel — DTF 2,901.4 nautical miles
2. Turn the Tide on Plastic +42.4
3. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +45.7
4. MAPFRE +47.9
5. Dongfeng Race Team +52.3
6. Team Brunel +57.9
7. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +68.7

A previous version of this article erroneously suggested that Damian Foxall was sailing on Leg 2 with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, when he was on shore in his role as sustainability manager.

#VOR - The seven international teams in the Volvo Ocean Race all now have less than 3,200 nautical miles left in the 7,000-mile second stage from Lisbon to Cape Town.

The south-easterly trade winds that blow south of the Equator remained kind to the fleet, allowing rapid reaching conditions that have resulted in speeds of up to 20 knots.

Having spent 10 fast and furious days at sea, Team Brunel navigator Andrew Cape estimates that they will need another 10 to reach the Leg 2 finish line.

Plenty of time, then, to mount an attack on their rivals Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE, who despite slipping to second and third on the official ranking due to their westerly position still lead the fleet on the charge south.

“We're halfway through the course in terms of distance and time today,” said Cape, competing in his seventh Volvo Ocean Race.

“Boat speed helps – you’re not going to get anywhere without it – but you’re not going to get anywhere fast if you’re going the wrong way.

“There’s no such thing as sailing around people – they don’t leave doors open or anything like that. We’ll just sail with what we see, with the weather conditions we get, and others will do the same.

“We’re not 50 miles back, we’re right there in the mix. [Dongfeng and MAPFRE] know we’re clever and they’ve got to keep an eye on us.”

While the leaders are tracking south positioned slightly further to the west of the others, and just a few hundred miles off the Brazilian coast, on paper the biggest gains have been made by Team AkzoNobel, Sun Hung Kai Scallywag, and Turn The Tide on Plastic with Annalise Murphy on deck.

All three crews have significantly scythed their deficit to the leaders over the past 24 hours.

But in reality, the reason for their success is that, by being more to the east, they are relatively speaking much closer to the next waypoint than some of their rivals out west.

Team AkzoNobel navigator Jules Salter explained that their easterly track was about finding the extra boost of speed they’ve been lacking over the past few days.

“It’s purely about boat speed right now as we’ve been struggling for that for a few days so we thought we’d get out of the line and work on trying to make the boat go a bit quicker,” he said.

“The leading boats are having a bit of a speed battle, so they’re keeping themselves fast. It’s a bit harder when you’re on your own. We’re trying to get a little bit of leverage without losing touch. That’s what the next few days will be about.”

Meanwhile, the favourable position reports have provided the teams further back with a welcome boost of morale.

"We’re on fire – launched and loving it,” said Turn The Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari after the morning position report arrived, showing they'd halved the gap to the top spot from 60 miles to 30.

“Best sched of the leg so far. We’re the fastest boat and we’ve got our next victim in sight.”

But they’d do well to keep in mind most weather routing options favour a more direct push south. These theoretical gains, made by taking a more easterly heading, may prove fleeting.

Leg 2 Position Report, Wednesday 15 November at 1pm UTC:

1. Team Brunel - DTF 3,099.4 nautical miles
2. Dongfeng Race Team +1.6
3. MAPFRE +1.9
4. Team AkzoNobel +2.3
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +15.4
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +25.3
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +40.1

#VOR - Dongfeng Race Team retains the lead in Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race – but only just, as the leaders slow in Doldrums conditions.

Just 10 miles separate first from fourth, and the difference between first and worst is scarcely 45 miles. That’s good news for the backmarkers, namely last-placed Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and Annalise Murphy’s boat Turn The Tide on Plastic, who are back in the game.

These are agonising conditions for the sailors, who normally live and die by each of the six-hourly position reports.

But with the positions closing up, the other boats are either in sight from on deck, or visible on AIS, a maritime tracking system that shows the position and speed/direction of boats within about 10-12 nautical miles of each other for safety purposes.

Today, the leading group of five are almost certainly visible on AIS to each other.

While the Doldrums are often considered an area of no wind, in reality it is more often an area of variable conditions, where storm cells bring sudden strong winds from a different direction to the prevailing lighter conditions.

This means constant vigilance, and makes it difficult to choose the right sail selection.

“We were sailing south with the fractional code zero (a big headsail good for sailing with the wind on the side of the boat) on and doing about 20 knots boat speed and we could see a big cloud line ahead, which means something is going to happen,” said MAPFRE watch captain Rob Greenhalgh, giving an example of life in the Doldrums.

“It was a big header [windshift], 50-degree header, and an increase in breeze, which meant a frenzy of sail changes, so we’re now on a jib, going upwind, close reaching, so our boat speed is significantly less. Everyone is going to come through this line of Doldrums … Everyone is going to get it … We won’t know how it comes out for about five days.”

It might even come sooner than that. The leading teams should reach the equator in the next 24 hours or so, and pick up the trade winds again within two or three days.

In other news, the Volvo Ocean Race shared video of the reaction of Annalise’s crew mate Nico Lunven to the news that he’s become a father for the second time — thousands of miles away from his family in the middle of the Atlantic.

Leg 2 Position Report, Sunday 12 November at 1pm UTC:

1. Dongfeng Race Team - DTF 3,848.4 nautical miles
2. MAPFRE +1.9
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +5.6
4. Team Brunel +10.2
5. Team AkzoNobel +12.9
6. Turn The Tide on Plastic +42.6
7. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +45.7