Volvo Ocean Race - Fleet on the Monsoon trail

by Volvo Ocean Race on 17 Jan 2015 The Monsoon is back and the fleet has finally started to move. The time the crews were drifting for almost three days in the Bay of Bengal, the biggest bay in the world, will not be forgotten and the memories of zephyr sunsets, hot nights and glazy waters will remain in their memories.

Now it's time to get back on the rail and sail with some power. Dongfeng Race Team, the longtime leaders of this leg since the days of the Gulf of Oman, have 170 nm to reach the waypoint of Pulau We, the small island north of Sumatra that marks the southern entry to the Strait of Malacca.

The Chinese are expected to arrive at this point in approximately 24 hours. The grid shows that the fleet will sail into 15 knots upwind.

Last night, the fleet had to work its way through several squalls and rain clouds, areas that bring wind calms and gusts at the same time with no consistency. The game was about catching the right cloud. Team Brunel’s bet for a northern route didn’t pay off and they lost 13nm to Dongfeng.

'There’s almost no predictability to the weather models any more and with the mark around Sumatra now a little more than a day away, we’re all just trying to get east as fast as possible,' said Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing OBR, Matt Knighton.

'Brunel’s bet to the north hasn’t paid off because the monsoon winds materialized from the northeast. MAPFRE – the furthest boat to the east – seems to have made the greatest gains.'

In second place, those MAPFRE gains are translated in 10nm on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in third. Five nm behind are Team Brunel in the hunt for the Emirati boat. Fifteen nm adrift are Team Alvimedica.

'The clouds that giveth can also taketh, and we’ve yet to escape any of them completely unscathed. One minute you’re sailing in 20 knots and the next it’s back to the familiar drift. But 20 knots is 20 knots and we’ll take what we can get,' reports Amory Ross onboard Team Alvimedica.

Team Alvimedica and Team SCA were able to make big gains by 0100 UTC, cutting 13 and 15 nm.

But by 0400 UTC when the northeast Monsoon had started to blow again, Dongfeng Race Team were the first to be hit by the 12 knots of breeze and gained 9nm on Team Brunel and the rest of the fleet, which was sailing at a range of five to seven knots.

The occasional rain showers have been received as a blessing by all the fleet. There's nothing better to boost the mood at sea than taking a quick shower of fresh rainwater. Oh, the magnificence of the tropics!

It's important to mention another milestone: there are less than 2000 nm to sail to the finish in Sanya.