Volvo Ocean Race- Telefonica expected to lead at Mallaca waypoint

by Richard Gladwell on 27 Jan 2012
The current overall leader in the Volvo Ocean Race, Telefonica (ESP) is expected to be in the lead at the first waypoint in the Mallaca Straits.

They are expected to arrive at the point in the next two and a half days and are approximately 630nm away. Once through the waypoint the race is expected to turn on its ear a little as winds lighten and turn variable in direction.

Overall race positions published by the Volvo Ocean Race office show that Telefonica has also claimed the lead from Camper, sailed by Emirates Team NZ, with Puma Ocean Racing in third position.

By the time they reach the waypoint, projections run using the routing function of www.predictwind.com!PredictWind.com show that Camper will drop back to third, and will pass through the waypoint about 20-60 minutes behind.

The position reports from Volvo Ocean Race, simply show instantaneous distance to the finish.

The www.predictwind.com!PredictWind.com prognosis is based on a predicted time to reach the waypoint, based on the boat's position on the course, and the winds that are expected to cover the course - each yacht's position is then optimised to finish as soon as possible. A distance to travel and time are calculated.

The www.predictwind.com!PredictWind.com method takes into account the fact that a yacht may have a longer distance to sail, but could have a better sailing angle or stronger wind than a competitor, and may in fact finish ahead of a yacht sailing a shorter course in lighter winds. Generally speaking a VOR70 will do a knot of boatspeed for every knot of windspeed - so even a boat sailing in just a knot more windspeed, can put 24 miles on a competitor in a day.