The six-strong fleet of the Volvo Ocean Race are on their way to the City of Sails, but Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker has warned leg four will be anything but plain sailing.
Walker is expecting a tough opening section of the leg from Sanya to the Luzon Strait at the top of the Philippines, with strong headwinds and big seas making life uncomfortable on board.
Leg 4 will also see the fleet re-cross the equator and potentially have to deal with tropical storm conditions in the southern hemisphere before they reach Auckland.
“I don’t think you can win this leg on the first section to Luzon but you could lose it by breaking the boat or damaging a key sail,” said the 44 year old. “We won’t be holding back but we will be making sure we get Azzam through these first few days of tough stuff.”
#GoAzzam gleaming in the Sanya sunshine at the start of Leg 4 to Auckland, New Zealand. #InAbuDhabi #volvooceanrace pic.twitter.com/Tp6ZreRZxO
— AbuDhabiOceanRacing (@ADORlog) February 8, 2015
Walker says his strategy for the first few days is to protect Azzam and her sails from any damage in the brutal headwinds.
Boat-breaking conditions is a term that’s been bandied about prior to the Sanya departure, but Walker says the new Volvo 65 one-designs are pretty sturdy.
“The boat’s pretty strong but one of the problems with one design is we can’t strengthen what we think needs strengthening,” he added.
“We’ll have to manage with the conditions, be fast upwind and make sure we manage the tricky bits, then get the hammer down as soon as it gets easier.”
The windy conditions will make a welcome change to the relatively calm weather the teams have experienced so far, although life on board a boat negotiating through 30+ knots of wind isn’t easy.
Walker said: “It’s not going to be comfortable but it’s what we signed up for, and I guess we’ve had it pretty easy so far.”
After 24 hours of the fourth leg last night, there was still little to choose between the fleet.
Dongfeng held a slender 2.7 nautical mile lead over ADOR, with Mapfre a further 3.4nm back in third. Team Alvimedica were 8nm off the lead in fourth, Team Brunel 0.4nm behind them in fifth and Team SCA sixth just 10nm adrift.
