Volvo Ocean Race - Full drag race mode towards finish line

by Volvo Ocean Race on 26 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race - Team Brunel finally manages to get some separation from MAPFRE as the rest of the fleet fights to keep up.

Dongfeng Race Team has also struggled and although still very close MAPFRE have slipped past now with a half a nautical mile lead.

With the wind set to increase slightly over the next 12 hours we could see this sort of elongation of the fleet continue as the leaders are the first into the stronger wind.

Conversely, as they get past the centre of the compression situated just over 200nm ahead of them, where the wind funnels past the northwest corner of Spain we should see it start to moderate, compressing the fleet leading to the finish.

A stable northerly will bring the fleet into Lisbon, and with no more manoeuvres it's full on drag race mode. Many of the photos and videos coming from the boats have been showing at least one person with the binoculars fixed on the next closest boat - it's going to be a mentally exhausting last 24 hours on board!

Current ETA is approximately 0600 UTC.

Leader: TBRU
Wind speed: 18.8 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 17.6 knots
Wind direction: 025º - 029º
Lowest boat speed: ALVI (16.2 knots)
Highest boat speed: TBRU (17.5 knots)
Lowest wind speed: SCA (15.5 knots)
Highest wind speed: MAPF (21.1 knots)