Volvo Ocean Race- Coastal racing at its best - Leg 1, Day 5

by Volvo Ocean Race on 17 Oct 2014 Volvo Ocean Race supplied logs for October 16, 2014

October 16 2014, 1800 UTC

Latest position report 1540 UTC

Leader: Dongfeng Race Team
Spread of fleet: 23 nautical miles
Wind speed: 17 knots
Wind direction: northeast
Boat speed: 14 knots

Coastal racing at its best – that’s what it is. The boats are now sailing downwind along the Western Sahara, the Canaries in their northwest, and the weak trade winds are progressively strengthening.

After conceding the lead to Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing overnight, the Dongfeng guys took an option early this morning, sailing outside and away from the coast. Thanks to a local effect, they gained some miles and crossed back in first position*.

At the back of the fleet, Team Vestas Wind did a similar move. They got lifted off the shore, and caught up with their competitors.

Tempted by the success of these options, Team Brunel and Team SCA sailed away from the coast too.

A period of intense gybing followed, and the land really came into play.

What’s next? The next milestone is the Cape Verde Islands – some 800 miles to the south. Will they stay hugging the coast, or go through the middle or to the west of the islands?

The decision of heading west to finally sail towards the waypoint Fernando de Noronha, off the Brazilian coast, will be key. The navigators won’t make that call until there is a good pressure established, with clear trade winds to sail with.

Ah, and a Spanish warship sent a rib out to pay a visit to Abu Dhabi and MAPFRE, only an hour ago…

* A glitch of the tracker showed Dongfeng heading north earlier today – it was only an computing issue.

October 16 2014, 0510 UTC

Latest position update 0510 UTC

Leader: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Spread of fleet: 10 nautical miles
Wind speed: 8 knots

After five days of racing, all seven boats are still capable of taking the lead with the gap between first and last still only six nautical miles. With the new one-design Volvo Ocean 65, off shore sailing has a new meaning.

Around 1000 UTC on Wednesday, the fleet gybed south east of Lanzarote. Dongfeng were in the lead at that time with an average speed of 10 knots, similar to the rest of the boats.

ADOR, the boat positioned most westerly within the fleet, took the lead one hour after gybing around 0100 UTC.

Dongfeng were following their steps closely, just 0.6 miles behind in the latest report. Team SCA and Team Brunel were neck and neck in the battle for third. Alvimedica was being chased by MAPFE, only 0.7nm behind.

The wind at that time was coming from 10 degrees north but as the night went on it started to shift slightly from the north-east.

Still the light breeze from the coast of Africa was pushing the boats on their way south very slowly and will continue to do so until they take the shift of trade winds that will propel them west across the Atlantic.

During the night, boat speeds have remained around 10knots. The boats are now south of Fuerteventura. In a few hours they will leave the Canaries Islands behind.