Skippers and navigators in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet presented a mass of furrowed brows as they spent hours trying to outsmart each other and correctly predict the mid-Atlantic sea-state and weather patterns.
Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) had snatched a 8.1-nautical mile (nm) advantage over MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), but Leg 7 was still anyone’s to win with just over 2,000nm still to sail to Lisbon from Newport, Rhode Island.
As has been the case so often, in the new era of ultra-tight, one-design Volvo Ocean 65 racing, the tiniest error will be amplified in this ultimate test of seamanship, especially in these unusually light winds.
Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) are all right in the hunt, although Bekking's Dutch team managed to make gains on each of their rivals in the latest position report at 1242 UTC.
Caudrelier summed up the feeling of many of the sailors in his blog from the Chinese boat on Wednesday, vividly describing the tactical challenges and sheer frustration of sailing through the Gulf Stream.
“Awful Gulf Stream – light winds and strong currents,” he wrote. “The wind is extremely unstable and hard to forecast. We are all right next to each other, and the positions are changing with each puff of wind.”
The boats will next skirt an ice exclusion zone, keeping them clear of the area where the sinking of the Titanic happened some 103 years ago, but the French skipper’s mind was more focused on another, more strategic, hurdle.
“The Azores High is like a massive wall in front of us. How to get past? By the north, maybe, but it adds many miles to the route. Or take the risk and cut it via the direct route, but get stuck in its middle.
“This will be the decider on this leg.”
Francisco Vignale (ARG), Onboard Reporter on MAPFRE, gave the Spanish boat’s perspective on similar issues. “The weather is making the battle harder every day,” he wrote.
“An extremely shifty wind, constantly bearing north, makes our bow change direction like a rollercoaster.
“Every team plays differently with water ballast and the trimming of the mast. We got so close to Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing that we could hear them easing the runners on the front sail in a wind shift.”
The most likely arrival date for the fleet in Lisbon is May 28, according to the race's latest forecasts.
