Volvo Ocean Race - Lining up for the gate start to Cape Town

by Richard Gladwell and Volvo Ocean Race on 19 Nov 2017 All boats have now gybed onto port and are lined up, across the lines of latitude, heading for the Volvo Ocean Race Leg 2 finish in Cape Town in five days time.

For the past few days it has seemed that there will be gate start for Cape Town as boats jockey for the optimum position before making the decision to break for the east and five days of fast reaching on port tack.

As has been evident for several days, the three returning teams - MAPFRE, Team Brunel and DongFeng are in the lead group - joined by Vestas 11th Hour Racing.

This group is predicted to finish within 30 minutes of each other using the PWG feed - which looks to be the more reliable at present, showing a more direct course for Cape Town.

Previously the PWG feed was predicting a fast ride through the Southern Ocean starting in about 24 hours with 600nm 24 hour runs on offer.

But in the latest update the feed is showing winds to have moderated down to the low 20kts - making for fast pleasant passage, but no records, and a finish just before midnight on November 24, or at noon on November 25 - according to the other feed.

The other feed ECMWF - usually the more accurate, is offering a direct route similar to PWG for some boats, and for others it is recommending a deep dive south - to avoid light winds which both model see in the closing hours of the race and which will most likely make monkeys out of weather routers.

Top navigator Simon Fisher (part of the crew of Abu Dhabi the 2014/15 VOR Race winner) filed this report in the early hours of Sunday morning UTC from Vestas 11th Hour Racing:

'The mood on board has been particularly good this evening, no doubt as we have finally turned the boat and are pointing the bow roughly in the direction of Cape Town. We have spent much of the day heading south west with the distance to the waypoint steadily growing albeit at a modest rate so it feels good to be finally getting closer to our destination.

'Tactically it has also been good to see the south start to pay-out after a series of scheds where the boats in the north continued to look strong despite being closer to the high. After what feels like an eternity of waiting it was good to see us finally make some gains against them. Never content however I can't help kicking myself a little for not going more aggressively south with Brunel but sometimes it is hard to play the percentages with boats on both sides. That said it has been comforting to see Brunel pop up on the AIS this evening as we prepared to gybe meaning we are still very much in the hunt with them despite them putting on another strong showing in the last 24 hours.

'The jovial mood on board certainly isn't due to the culinary situation on board which despite be very adequate has seen all the snacks hoovered up in record time today which has led to a number of people (myself included) checking the food day bag regularly and each time coming back looking quite despondent. After almost two weeks at sea appetites seem to be getting increasingly voracious. A new bottle off BBQ sauce has however improved things in this department although judging by the smell coming from the hatch earlier is being consumed at close to a 1:1 ratio with the freeze dried so will likely be of only temporary relief!

'Despite the rumbling stomachs though life on board continues to be very pleasant, downwind sailing in relatively flat water has made things really quite comfy. With the first S. Atlantic front looming close there has been a return of the thermals and boots today in anticipation of the weather cooling off. It feels nice not to be sweating for a change and I for one have welcomed the cooler weather. As they say a change is as good a break!
Cheers,
Si Fi.'

Ahead of the decision to make a break and head for Cape Town, the teams made a series of decisions as to whether they should go east early, sail a more direct (shorter) course to Cape Town. Alternatively there was the option to have another dive south and pick up a stronger breeze on the approach to Cape Town. The conundrum for navigators being that the dive south option meant they were actually sailing away from the finish line - a disconcerting situation once some of your competitors have taken the early breakout.

From Charles Caudrelier on Dongfeng Race Team on Sunday morning:

'Of course it's not a very good mood onboard today; we lost so much in 24 hours.

We were in a perfect situation and we made a big mistake, playing too much with the high pressure and the light air.

'Anyway now we are here, far away from the first three boats. MAPFRE is in a very strong position and deserves it, sailing very well in the last 24 hours. Vestas and Brunel are also far ahead but their position is not as strong as MAPFRE and we are fighting to reduce the gap and have an opportunity to come back.

Six days to come back, and we never give up.

We want a podium and we will fight until the end.'

On projected time to finish at 1930UTC on November 19 one feed had DongFeng 30 minutes astern of Vestas and another, seemingly more credible just 4 minutes of separation - so Caudrelier might yet be smiling on Cape Town.

On current predictions the race for the wooden spoon on leg 2 will also be very close with Scallywag SKH and Turn the Tide on Plastic being separated by just 10 minutes - according to two of the four feeds used by Predictwind.com