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Sail-World.com : Volvo Ocean Race - Groupama 4 opts for most direct route
Volvo Ocean Race - Groupama 4 opts for most direct route
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In the Volvo Ocean Race, the crew of Groupama 4 already have 36 hours of upwind sailing to their credit in a north-easterly breeze which continues to build the further north and closer the fleet get to the Vietnamese coast. Though Telefonica, neck and neck with Groupama 4, have opted for the most direct route, the same cannot quite be said of their pursuers, and the Americans in particular, who have peeled right away to the East.
The climb up to China isn't proving to be at all restful and the increasingly steep ascent of the waves is now coloured by an avalanche of spray and big waves... The boats are engaged in a full-on sleigh ride and harnesses are very much the order of the day as they attempt to withstand the severe pasting as best they can. Indeed, it's now necessary to hook yourself on before climbing up on deck and you just have to hang on in there so as not to get flattened by a torrent of water.
The atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of a rock climb for the Spanish and French crews, who are leading the way on the tricky ascent via the North face. The structure and rig on the VO-70s are particularly under pressure and the bodies are being bruised by the severe hammering and the violent shakes, which spread like a shockwave throughout the carbon hull. On Groupama 4, the whole crew has gradually prepared itself for the next two-day non-stop luge run, as Charles Caudrelier announced this Wednesday morning.
'We're on a tack which will take us towards the South-East tip of Vietnam. The wind is gradually beginning to increase, since we already have fifteen knots and we're expecting a lot more breeze at the end of the day, as it is set to reach over twenty-five knots. Most importantly, the seas are building and we're beginning to really slam now! We've prepared for these conditions as we're going to have a pretty difficult period of sailing for around twenty hours. We've made sure we're well rested as we're not going to get much sleep due to the tack change manoeuvres, which call for everyone to be on deck. We've got out our boots and foulies, which had been stowed away since we left the Maldives. Up till now we've been sailing in a maximum of fifteen knots, in shorts and T-Shirt.'
After exiting the Singapore Straits, the fleet split into several groups in its bid to extract itself from the archipelagos dotted along the course: Franck Cammas and his men opted for the shortest trajectory of all, accompanied by the Spanish, on a beat to skirt the island of Selia.
They were tailed by the Americans, who then broke away level with Natuna Besar, diving due East to end up 130 miles further offshore than the two leaders. Meantime, the New Zealanders and the Emiratis went for an intermediary route, all of which is explained below.
'Some of the other competitors, and the Americans in particular, went for a different option, because we were confronted with a more northerly wind than the one forecast. They made the most of these conditions to reposition themselves further offshore, as they were further behind and probably wanted to try to pull a flier rather than going for a straight drag race. We're keen to home in on the shores of Vietnam as quickly as possible so as to avoid the strongest of the general current in the area and play the effects of land with a favourable wind rotation.
Things remain pretty tense, since they've made a bit of ground on us. We're hoping to make gains ourselves as the day draws to a close and we're nearer the land. However, the actual weather conditions aren't quite how they appear on the grib files so we're calling ourselves into question a fair bit all the same,' explained Charles Caudrelier.
It should also be taken into account that Puma dismasted during the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. As such Ken Read no longer has a joker to play should he suffer further rig damage (the same is true for Ian Walker on Abu Dhabi). Above all though, the Americans are more keen to sail on flatter seas and in a more favourable wind, on a direct course towards Sanya, which is exactly what they're doing early this Wednesday afternoon, with around ten knots of breeze coming virtually from due East.
In this way they're able to sail nearly 15° higher on considerably smoother seas and are likely to make up some ground over the coming hours if they continue in this vein. However, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to make up their deficit of over a hundred miles once Puma too reaches the Vietnamese coast with a wind which is set to back round to the North-East? Verdict at noon on Thursday...
Position of competitors at 1600 UTC on 01/02/2012:
1. Telefonica 629 miles from the finish
2. Groupama 4 - 8.5 miles astern of the leader
3. Camper - 40.8 miles astern of the leader
4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - 78.1 miles astern of the leader
5. Puma - 122.4 miles astern of the leader
6. Team Sanya - 260.5 miles astern of the leader
Groupama website
Volvo Ocean Race website
by Vincent Borde
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http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=93498
8:29 PM Wed 1 Feb 2012 GMT
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2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race
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