Volvo Ocean Race- Leader close to Fernando - new record in the offing?

by Richard Gladwell/Sail-World.com/nz on 25 Oct 2014 With less than a day left to reach the turning mark at Fernando de Nonoha, 220nm off the coast of Brazil, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing has retained the lead she built in the Doldrums.

She is unlikely to be headed, although the second boat on the water, Team Brunel is projected to be less than an hour behind at Fernandoed, although the second boat on the water, Team Brunel is projected to be less than an hour behind at Fernando.

Team Vestas Wind is expected to round eight hours behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

Once around Fernando, the boats will enter the final part of the leg to the finish off Cape Town, South Africa.

This section of the course is the speed zone, where the world sailing distance was set in 2008 by the Volvo 70 Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael), where at an average speed of 24.85kts for the 24hour period a record of 596nm was set.

According to the routing function of Predictwind conditions look favourable for a new record around October 31 to November 1. The average speed for that period is calculated to be an average of 26.05kts - on the currently prevailing weather. That speed equates to a new world distance sailing record of 625nm.

The latest reports from Volvo Ocean race Control is as follows:

October 24, 2014, 0700 UTC

Latest position report: 0700 UTC

Leader: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Wind speed: 16 knots
Spread of fleet: 230 miles
Boat speed: 16-18 knots

It’s been three days of pain but finally all the fleet have escaped the Doldrums and are racing just as fast as they can for the island of Fernando de Noronha.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing continue to race clear of second-placed Team Brunel with a true wind direction of 135 and are consistently gaining distance on all the fleet with the exception of Team Vestas Wind in third who gained seven nautical miles on them in the last three-hourly position update.

So how came the Danish boat is making ground on Ian Walker’s men? Simple, they’re crossing towards Fernando from way further east and their angle of 212 degrees gives them a much better line of attack on the mark point than both Abu Dhabi and Brunel who are sailing along at 198 degrees.

The top three boats have all now crossed the Equator; Abu Dhabi around 2100 UTC last night, followed by Brunel an hour later and then Vestas at 0132. Dongfeng Race Team will follow suit at 0830 UTC with the rest of the fleet lagging behind and likely to pass through at around 1830 UTC this evening.

Although Chris Nicholson’s crew on Team Vestas Wind are now the quickest in the fleet, at some 75 nautical miles adrift of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing they’re not going to be speedy enough to reach Fernando before the two leaders.

So why are they going to Fernando in the first place? Well, race organisers have decreed so with the reasoning that they want the fleet to steer well clear of the St Helena High which guards the more direct route from the Doldrums to Cape Town.

The St Helena High route may be the shortest run to Cape Town from the Doldrums but it’s certainly not the quickest to our first leg destination with the fleet likely to lag along at some five knots an hour in the thick of it.

Instead, they’ll be rounding Fernando before taking an angle of 40 degrees and doing their best to reach the Roaring 40s just as soon as they can.

After that, hold on to your hats because the fleet will be slingshot by the Roaring 40s at 25 knots plus all the way through to Cape Town.

Final point for this log: the weather which has been hot enough to fry an egg above deck over the past few days will be turning distinctly cooler over the next week or so.

The guys and women will be swiftly donning their full weather kit and conditions down below will be distinctly steamed up with condensation. That’s the fastest temperature change we’ll see in the entire race.

At least, the fleet have escaped the Doldrums. The bad news is that they'll have to navigate through it three more times before the race is over.

Weather prognosis: By Saturday morning, there will be sprawling high pressure from 36-38s/46-50w to 26-28s/26-30w to a big, 1032mb high pressure cell, south of Cape Town, near 42-45s/16-20e. Sunday morning will see high pressure consolidating into the middle of the South Atlantic, near 33-35s/34-38w to 26-28s/20-24w to 31-33s/0-4e.

October 23, 2014, 1700 UTC

Latest position report: 1700 UTC

Leader: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Wind Speed: 18-21 knots
Spread of Fleet: 130 miles
Boat speed: 12-15 knots
Wind direction: Average 150º

As the first of the fleet closes in on the Equator, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is still in the lead.

But it's close - and Team Brunel are not giving up the chase easily. At the moment, Bouwe Bekking's boat sits just 13nm behind their Emirati rivals.

The pair remain the most westerly positioned boats, and on the other side of the fleet, Team Vestas Wind is still the most easterly.

Behind them, MAPFRE, Team Alvimedica, Dongfeng Race Team and Team SCA have all successfully exited the Doldrums, and are forging forward at an avaerage rate of 12 knots.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing will be the first boat to cross the Equator. They're only 60nm away from the invisible line at the moment - and should reach the next waypoint, Fernando de Noronha, as early as tomorrow evening.
OCTOBER 23, 2014, 0530 UTC

Latest position report: 0500 UTC

Leader: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Spread of fleet: 185 nautical miles
Wind speed: 5-10 knots
Wind direction: Average 160º

Three boats have officially left the Doldrums: Abu Dhabi and Team Brunel to the west, and Team Vestas Wind to the east.

The others, well – they still have a couple of tropical clouds, lulls and squalls to deal with before they actually catch the southeast trades. At the back of the fleet, the all-female Team SCA are still stuck in 5 knots of wind.

In the lead, the Emirati boat skippered by Ian Walker is enjoying 15 knots of breeze. They are at 3º North, 450 miles from the Fernando de Noronha mark and 193 miles from the Equator with about 16 hours to sail to the crossing.

The fleet spread is 148 miles from Vestas in the east to Abu Dhabi to the west. The Danish boat is sailing faster with a slightly better angle – Abu Dhabi are sailing at 11 knots, and Vestas at 13 knots.

The leading trio is beating on port, fully stacked and eating the miles up. They should expect the wind to continue to build and shift back and forth a little but not change that much from this direction.

We call that point and shoot racing.

[Sorry, this content could not be displayed]