2014 - 15 Volvo Ocean Race - The longest route

by Agathe Armand on 26 Oct 2014 2014 - 15 Volvo Ocean Race - 'Fernando is behind us and we get to do the part of this leg that everybody raves about – the South Atlantic portion.'

Freshly shaved from his first Equator crossing ceremony, Charlie Enright looks around him. His Team Alvimedica’s boat is reaching south at 17 knots, in strong southeast trade winds. Blue skies, couple of waves, full weather gear.

'It’s a little bit more fast and furious than the North Atlantic portion. The next couple of days are going to be wet, it should be some pretty good sailing.'

It is. It’s bumpy, right, and the sailors 'should have been practicing climbing' smiles Kevin Escoffier, helmet on, hanging tight on Dongfeng’s deck.

And to keep up the speed, they have to make a detour and avoid the St Helena High, a semi-permanent high-pressure system in the South Atlantic.

In October, the high is still located at a high latitude, and the boats cannot cross its windless centre nor sail north of it, upwind. The only option seems to be to quickly go south, get into the Roaring Forties westerlies before turning east towards Cape Town.

'If you dive south, there is a lot more wind and it’s faster,' explains Gerd-Jan Poortman as he explains this weather feature with a kettle and a pack of food on Team Brunel.

'Sometimes it pays off to cover a much longer distance with a lot more wind – you’ll be there quicker.'

Gerd-Jan’s skipper, Bouwe Bekking, says it’s 800 miles longer to dive south, but there seems to be no choice as all seven boats head south-southwest, sprinting to reach the Roaring Forties conveyor belt first.

It won’t be a strategic race across the South Atlantic then, but subtle changes and trimmings can make a difference.

'The problem with these boats is that because they go so fast, even a 200 mile lead can be swallowed up quite quickly if you run into light winds so we’re not taking anything for granted,' comments Ian Walker, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s skipper.

Ian leads the fleet. His team is 18 miles ahead of Brunel, 50 miles ahead of Vestas, and 123 miles ahead of Team SCA, in seventh position.

But just like the other 65 sailors, he knows it’s not a done deal. With 12 estimated days of sailing left to the finish in Cape Town, the chase is only starting.

Estimated time of arrival for the first boat – around November 5, 2014