China’s Dongfeng Race Team claimed a sliver-thin lead in the Volvo Ocean Race leg to Auckland, but the rest of the fleet are breathing down their necks.
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The final outcome is still too close to call with under 1,400 nautical miles (nm) left to sail.
Towards the end of last week, Charles Caudrelier’s overall leaders had discounted their chances of victory in this stage from Sanya, on the southernmost tip of China, to Auckland.
They had started the leg through the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean as overall leaders after becoming the first Chinese-backed boat to win a stage
A breakage on their mast track, which connects the mast to the mainsail, had slowed the boat down while an on-the-move repair was made.
.@Eric_Peron on the @MaerskLine bow! ‘We’ve had the fastest & wettest downwind conditions yet on this leg’ – Sam pic.twitter.com/Pd8iP2oqa9
— Dongfeng Race Team (@DongfengRacing) February 22, 2015
But a mid-Pacific area of changeable winds allowed Dongfeng to soar through the fleet from last place to first within 48 hours and by Monday morning, they had established a narrow advantage.
This was no time to rest on their laurels, however, with their final destination around five days’ sailing away and the entire six-strong fleet bunched to within 47nm from first to last.
Closest to Caudrelier’s crew at 0655 GMT on Monday in the 5,264-nm leg was Spanish entry, MAPFRE, just six miles behind, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in third, 2.8nm further adrift.
Despite the closeness of the competition, the French skipper was in a buoyant mood in a weekend message from the boat. “We’ve got our smile back over these past two days and our efforts have paid off,” he wrote.
“Our easterly position might work out well for us, but just one cloud can either launch you to the front or stop you totally for several hours.”
Abu Dhabi’s British skipper Ian Walker agreed with Caudrelier that all was still to play for.
“It’s turning into a fantastic race and, with light winds forecast for the end, it will surely be a nail-biter,” he wrote in his blog from the boat.
This is the fourth leg of nine in offshore sailing’s premier event, which is held every three years.
In all, the fleet will sail 38,739 nautical miles over nine months, visiting 11 ports and every continent before the race concludes in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27.
Dongfeng led the overall standings by one point after three legs from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing with Team Brunel (Netherlands) in third, three points further behind.
