ANZ Fiji Race- A tale of two fleets - the easy way and the hard way

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com on 9 Jun 2014 With the fleet in its third night at sea, the course routing shows the two leading boats having a relatively easy course to the finish at Port Denarau.

The race leader, Beau Geste (Karl Kwok) has 452nm left to sail. She is the most easterly boat in the fleet. On her port side is the Volvo 70 Giacomo (Jim Delegat), shown as being 474nm from the finish line. Earlier today, Beau Geste reported they were sailing in 25kt winds gusting 30 knots from 035 deg, with sloppy 2.5metre seas. Giacomo reported 25kt winds from the NE.

Of the two, at midnight on Monday, Giacomo is shown as sailing at 15.6kts compared to the 14.2 of Beau Geste, but later the speeds evened out.

The routing function of Predictwind shows the boats will both have a a fairly straight run to the finish line with Giacomo expected to finish early Wednesday afternoon.

Further to the west and astern it is quite a different picture, as the fleet hits a combination of moderate headwinds and sprinkled with patches of light air.

The lead boat in that group who also happens to be placed to the east of the bunch, V5 (David Nathan), is being shown with an optimal course which takes her well to the west. That won't happen in reality as here has to be a very compelling reason to move away from the Great Circle course, or shortest distance to the finish, but the routing system's deviation to the west is more an indication of the favoured side of the Rhumb line.

V5 has opened up an 8nm gap on the Bakewell-White designed Wired (Rob Bassett), having been only 3-4 nm ahead for most of the race.

To the west of Wired and V5, the third and fourth placed 52fters, Vamos and Akatea, are being forced to sail further west, and they are sailing at a lower angle to the first two boat, indicating that the 10nm lead that V5 enjoys over Vamos will expand, even though Vamos is sailing at a slightly faster speed.

Ahead of Vamos is the Whitbread race winner, Steinlager II (NZ Sailing Trust) who is sailing at an even freer angle, and again will lose distance on the two leading 52fters.

Seventh on the water is the Australian entry Midnight rambler (Ed Psaltis), the Ker 40 has over 700nm to sail of the 1100nm course.

Three boats have withdrawn, the latest casualty being Kia Kaha, who pulled out with minor structural damage.