The second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was about to enter troubled waters for the first time late last night as the fleet prepared to decide whether to avoid or head straight into the approaching tropical storm.
It’s a make-or-break moment for the crews: if they take on the storm they could either be catapulted at high speed towards Abu Dhabi or they could just as easily suffer irreparable damage to their boats.
Equally torturous, any decision to avoid the storm has its ups and downs. The boat that opts for this strategy is more likely to stay intact, but its crew could find themselves several days, if not up to a week, behind the risk-takers.
Gonzalo Infante, Volvo Ocean Race’s official meteorologist, says the fleet faces an old-fashioned game of ‘chicken’. The tropical storm could even pick up to become a cyclone but, similarly, could also peter out into a depression.
Either way, the winds are likely to be high, with a worst case scenario of gusts of up to 70 knots, which is more than the one-design Volvo Ocean 65s have faced so far.
Amory Ross of Team Alvimedica said: “The bad news is that the tropical depression in our path has been upgraded to a tropical storm and there’s no assurance its development will end there.
“Tropical storms can see winds of 30 to 60 knots, and if the storm continues to grow it becomes a full cyclone of 60-plus. It is an obvious point of concern.”
Unlike the first leg, the crews have been unusually tight-knit in this second leg, with just 18 nautical miles separating first place and seventh at midnight UAE time last night.
Overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing lost the lead late last night, with Mapfre taking over and holding a slender 1.7nm advantage over Azzam.
The fleet left Cape Town on the 6,125nm second leg to Abu Dhabi nearly eight days ago.
