Volvo Ocean Race - Day 25 for Team Brunel

by Stefan Coppers, Team Brunel on 5 Nov 2014 Team Brunel OBR Stefan Coppers reports on day 25 of Leg 1 for the crew in the Volvo Ocean Race.

With the two front-runners almost 56 nautical miles ahead and Team Vestas Wind only 66 miles behind, it looks like Team Brunel is heading for third place in the Volvo Ocean Race. With still a day’s sailing to the finish in Cape Town, it will take a strange twist of fate if that is to change. It’s a leg in which more could have been done perhaps, yet, despite that, Laurent Pagès is a satisfied man. 'This is what I signed up for,' says the Frenchman.

The sun rises early in the Southern Ocean – at four in the morning, in fact. In a few hours’ time, Table Mountain will loom on the horizon. Laurent Pagès and Jens Dolmer are trimming the sails. Rokas Milevicius is at the helm, steering the boat over the long waves with half-closed eyes. There’s little wind – no more than 10 knots. 'That’s really not enough,' says Dolmer. 'Last night we lost a lot of miles on the leaders but we’ve put quite a bit of distance between us and Vestas. The simple fact is that the boats ahead of us have more wind than the rest. We need a miracle if we’re to get second or first place.'

Three days ago, Team Brunel lost an awful lot of ground. In the lead at the time, the boat lost more than 50 miles in a single night. In the days before that, the Dutch boat had pulled away from the other teams and seemed to be heading for a victory. 'In the beginning, we were constantly neck and neck with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing,' says Laurent Pagès. 'We did have difficulty in keeping up with Ian Walker’s crew in light wind but a few days after the Doldrums, we were faster. That we were actually less good tactically at that moment is just part of racing. We sailed too far south. According to our weather data, there would be more wind there and the longer route would take us to Cape Town faster.'

'Nothing could have been further from the truth. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and – most of all - Dongfeng Race Team cut us off and got more wind. 'Then we were not only sailing many miles out of our way but we were also sailing slower than the lead boats.'

Laurent Pagès prefers to look ahead. 'We learned a lot on this leg, which is why I’m confident about the other legs. As far as speed is concerned, I’m ready to take my chances against the other boats. We’re still in contention. If you finish every leg in the first three, you’re competing for first Team Brunel website