The B&G Report - Volvo Ocean Race - Mark Chisnell - Leg 5 Week 1
by Mark Chisnell on 25 Mar 2015
March 23, 2015. Leg 5 to Itajai onboard Dongfeng Race Team. Day 5. Martin Stromberg, Eric Peron and Liu Xue 'Black' on watch with Southern Ocean waves in the background. Yann Riou / Dongfeng Race Team
Top Volvo Ocean Race correspondent, navigator and sailing analyst, Mark Chisnell writes a regular report for B&G on the current race and trends he sees developing. This week he Looks at the first week of Leg 5.
Mark Chisnell – Leg 5 Week 1 – And So It Begins
The phony war is over – after a three day postponement, the fleet started out into the Southern Ocean last Tuesday, March 17 at 20:00 (all times UTC). They have been racing for almost a week and are now deep into the cold and the gales. And the Chinese are not the only ones to have crashed with a Chinese gybe… I always wanted to write that.
Hot Topic
A week ago the hot topic of conversation was whether the delayed start had been too delayed. It appeared that the fleet would be unable to stay in the solid breeze from the tail of Cyclone Pam as the system moved east ahead of them. A complex tactical situation was developing just a couple of days out, with the fleet forced to go upwind to get south and back into the breeze.
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