Volvo Ocean Race – Dee Caffari explains the highs and lows of Leg 1

by Dee Caffari on 31 Oct 2017 And just like that, we are back in Lisbon. We’ve enjoyed a couple of restful days. I’m sure a few of the sailors have had one of the local delights – a sneaky pastel de nata and we’ve been busy restoring a little of the sleep-bank.

It should be said that finishing last in Leg 1, isn’t the position we hoped for. As I said in my interview on the dock, of course we’re gutted but that isn’t to say we didn’t have loads of fun and enjoy the sailing.

Looking back on the race, we had a great exit from the Mediterranean with fast downwind sailing and lots of gybes. The fleet had different sail selection so we made some changes when we could to compare with the others.

We broke from the pack for half a day to converge together at Gibraltar Straits and we gained ground as we gybed out of the Mediterranean ahead of Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, Team Brunel, and Dongfeng Race Team. Crossing gybes with just another boat length between us and Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag at the closest point. What a show we put on! You can watch the crossing at 1:21:00 on the full video replay here.

Our decision to stay in the stronger breeze corridor leaving the Straits resulted in lots of gybes and we endeavoured the manoeuvre in the lighter breeze before heading back across. It could be said this cost us some distance and some might call it conservative, but most important for us is that it kept the boat and sailors in one piece.

Heading to Porto Santo, we had decreasing pressure and a high-pressure ridge to tackle. We wanted to go west but stayed with our pack of four boats. Those that pushed to the south did better with the shift that happened and we ended up following the pack round Porto Santo Island at dawn. It was straight line sailing with a focus on speed and angle allowing the sailors to get some rest after the busy night of gybes out of the Mediterranean.

From Porto Santo we sailed VMG downwind to the additional mark that was added to the course. We changed from the A3 to the MHO and we managed to claw back some ground to Team Brunel but sadly not to the others who managed to get away. The front of the pack by this stage were nearly 40 miles ahead. The rich getting richer and the rest of us suffering.

From the new waypoint we all reached off looking for the next shift about 200 miles away as we managed a slight ridge of pressure. We sailed alongside Team Brunel all the way unable to make ground on the others. This was now 400 miles of perfect two boat testing, something that both teams will have gained from and something neither team had time for during the build-up to the race. We tried different sail combinations realising that they produced the same speed. It was a really interesting time and lessons learnt to take forward to the next leg.

The approach to Lisbon was our last chance to strike. 24 hours before we had been in front of Team Brunel, now we were 0.6 miles behind them. As we approached the finish we knew the wind was going to stop and we would be floating up the river to the finish line with a certain amount of luck involved. Fortunately, so long as we arrived before 2200hrs we would have a favourable tide pushing us over the line. The clock was ticking.

We reduced the deficit and it came down to the final few minutes. A nail biter, not the end result we wanted as a team but we are happy to have been racing in sight of the boats for the whole leg. Our time will come and it is not that far off!!

Overall great racing and a great job done by Vestas 11th Hour Racing, they were on fire. At least with the advantage they had at one stage, as much as 60 miles it was only a few hours that separated the fleet after 1650 miles of racing. Less than 6 and a half hours of total time difference between the first and last boat.

It was an exciting start of a 9-month long race that covers 45,000 miles. Of which, we have only sailed 1,650 miles so far. Now we are ready to head into a 7,000 mile leg. For some of my sailors they have now sailed the most time at sea, six days. Next, we sail for nearly three weeks. This will be a big change for them and one I am sure some will adapt to easier than others.

Let’s see how we get on. But first, to get through this week of preparations before we set sail on Sunday, 5th November for Cape Town.