#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:
- Team Brunel - DTF 3,099.4 nautical miles
- Dongfeng Race Team +1.6
- MAPFRE +1.9
- Team AkzoNobel +2.3
- Vestas 11th Hour Racing +15.4
- Turn the Tide on Plastic +25.3
- Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag +40.1
