Beluga Racer still leads as Portimao fleet compresses

by Oliver Dewar on 7 Mar 2009
As the south-westerly breeze continued to build throughout yesterday (06/03), the entire Portimão Global Ocean Race fleet took-off to the north-east on a port gybe, ascending the Pacific Ocean in line astern lead by Beluga Racer with Team Mowgli moving into second place at 1720 GMT separated by a handful of miles from Desafio Cabo de Hornos in third.

This morning at 0300 GMT (07/03), Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson on the British Class 40, Team Mowgli, snatched the lead from the German duo of Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme on Beluga Racer and the latest 0700 GMT poll shows the leading pair of boats are separated by under one mile. Just two miles behind the leaders, Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz on Desafio Cabo de Hornos hold third place furthest south with solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans, on Roaring Forty are approximately 45 miles behind the leading double-handed boat.

The entire fleet are currently riding the trailing edge of a band of strong south-westerly breeze 600 miles wide, spinning from an intense, Southern Ocean low pressure system centred approximately 1,000 to the south-east of the tightly-packed group of 40-footers. As the wind speed has increased, boat speeds have climbed with the double-handed teams now averaging 12-13 knots - although Jeremy Salvesen reports this morning that the top speed on Team Mowgli today has been 20.3 knots - with Kleinjans keeping pace at a little under 10 knots in truly demanding conditions. Weather models predict that wind speeds will rise throughout today and into Sunday, building from the 25 knots to 30 knots and above.

Having studied the weather files, Felipe Cubillos on Desafio Cabo de Hornos described the near-future in graphic terms late yesterday: 'Perhaps the next four days are going to be of filled with terror and could provide the hardest days that we will face in our lives,' he reports. 'We just hope that our beloved boat withstands the uncontrollable force of nature at its most untamed.' For the Chilean skipper, the race has become a matter of surviving the storms of the Southern Ocean. 'From now on, we are not competing against the Germans and the British,' says Cubillos. 'It has become a matter of dealing with what is coming our way. Those that know me, know that I am a confirmed optimist and we will come out unscathed from this.'

On Team Mowgli, Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson have been pushing hard at the front of the fleet with a punishing watch system. 'We have been helming non-stop for most of the last 36 hours and for the last six hours or so, have been one hour on, one hour off.' While clearly effective, this regime is demanding. 'We are pretty tired,' he admits. 'But we’re totally fired-up and looking forward to being able to take the foot off the gas a little once the scoring gate is passed.'

With the Pacific Ocean scoring gate a matter of hours to the east of the fleet, the focus is obvious. 'It is quite incredible,' remarks Salvesen. 'As the three boats in the double-handed class race towards the scoring gate, there is just over two miles on a distance to finish basis between the boats with ourselves just in the lead. However, on an east-west basis, Beluga is out in front by just over five miles and with under 40 miles to the gate, it now looks unlikely that we are going to be able to catch them.' Despite the potential disappointment, the British skipper is upbeat: 'A well deserved hat trick for them!'

After two weeks of sailing, the separation is minimal and in the most remote and hostile sea area on the planet with the nearest spec of civilisation over 1,000 miles due north of the fleet on Pitcairn Island, the pace is blistering: 'We have been pushing hard for the last 24 hours and have pretty consistently been the fastest boat in the fleet,' confirms Salvesen. In whatever order the scoring gate is crossed later today, all the teams have cause to celebrate some truly world class, offshore racing.

Portimão Global Ocean Race Leaderboard - at 07:20 UTC Friday, 7 March 2009
Double-handed class

1. Team Mowgli - DTL 0.0nm spd 13kts
2. Beluga Racer - DTL 0.3nm Spd 13.3kts
3. Cabo de Hornos - DTL 2nm Spd 12 kts

Single-handed class

1. Roaring Forty - DTL 0.0nm Spd 9.7kts

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