For all of the big build up to the Doldrums, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet seems to have tackled the notoriously tricky Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) pretty well, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) retaking the lead from Team Brunel.
Convergence means a meeting of many things, a place of confusion, as the trade winds of the Northern and Southern hemispheres come together.
ADOR sits in the lead, sailing at 8 knots, with 9 knots of wind speed – but Team Brunel is hot on their heels, and going faster, too.
Abu Dhabi’s Azzam was trying to put distance between itself and Brunel, which is sailing at 6.5 knots and just 3nm behind the leader.
Dongfeng Race Team is third, 32nm behind ADOR, while Team Alvemidica, the all-women’s Team SCA, Mapfre and Team Vestas Wind are fourth, fifth, sixth and for Abu Dhabi nearly 50nm behind.
ADOR’s onboard reporter Matt Knighton logged the scenatio over the past 24 hours in the Doldrums: “Even though I’m tempting fate writing this, the headline of the day so far would be ‘Doldrums? What Doldrums?’ Certainly, based on weather models we should have already seen 5-10 knots of breeze and dropping. All day we’ve had around 15 knots and been making great speed straight south.
“Another beautiful sunset however was interrupted by fairly large rain clouds. Please let it rain. We could all use a shower.”
Tropical rain is expected to be the theme of the next 24 hours.
It’s a theme that teams will be looking forward to, as they haven’t enjoyed a proper shower in days now.
The fleet is set to exit the Doldrums early this morning, and after having overcome this big hurdle, they will turn their attention to the Fernando de Noronha waypoint.
Earlier yesterday, the only two teams who really struggled over the previous 24 hours were Mapfre and Vestas, who took the most easterly route of all the boats. At the time of writing, Vestas had picked up to around 5 knots with Mapfre chugging along at 2 knots.
Of the three teams who chose to sail centrally – Dongfeng, Alvimedica and SCA – the Chinese boat found itself in a favourable position as it has maintained a westerly curve through the Doldrums.
Having completed approximately 40 per cent of the 6,487nm leg from Alicante in Spain to Cape Town in South Africa at 22:15 UAE time, the fleet is now expected to rendezvous with the Equator tomorrow.
