The race to the south continues – and it appears that a gamble by Vestas Wind might be paying off in a big way.
The Danish boat came in from the far west last night and was level-pegging with front two Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel, and with a better angle for the wind could edge ahead.
Things then panned out differently late last night until just past midnight UAE time, with Dongfeng passing Azzam and lining up just 5.7nm behind leader Brunel.
Azzam was edged out to third, 7.4nm behind Brunel but crucially just 2.3nm behind Dongfeng.
Azzam’s crew is searching for pockets of better breeze in anticipation of making small mileage gains that will accelerate their progress to the westerly winds which will hopefully shorten ADOR’s trip to Cape Town, the end of Leg 1.
ADOR’s onboard reporter Matt Knighton wrote in his log book yesterday: “Might have been one of the nicest days out we’ve seen although not from a sailing perspective… I guess this is what you’d expect on the edge of a high-pressure system.
“Bright skies, warm on deck but lightish breeze. Fortunately, the winds never really dipped below 10 knots thus allowing us to keep good pace. Almost no sea state makes sailing at 15 knots feel like you’re standing still if you’re down below deck.”
Vestas Wind cut the gap to the leader from 58.8nm overnight to 9.7nm inside 24 hours after their far west strategy paid dividends.
The unpredictable wind conditions were best explained by Vestas Wind onboard reporter Brian Carlin, who wrote: “We cruised in considerable comfort for the majority of yesterday evening until a shady grey cloud line crept up from the west.
“It had all the signs of significant breeze, enough to get the full compliment of crew on deck for a speedy sail change.
“We waited, we looked and we were patient! Zero materialised, nothing in the cloud line.
“Two further attempts of front line clouds moved in towards us. Zero, then wallop! It came at 24-26 knots of fun, pure surfing enjoyment.
“The night didn’t disappoint either, many gybes, stacks and then re-stacks later we sailed our way into the best pressure. It [wind] did, however, finally drop out.”
The boats are expected to complete the 6,487nm first leg from Alicante to Cape Town around November 5
