Volvo Ocean Race- Tropical depression proves to be circuit breaker

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 29 Nov 2014 The seven strong fleet in the Volvo Ocean Race have been split in two by the effects of a tropical depression over the past 24 hours or so.

Having been in close contact for the first week of the race, and covered by about 25nm, the lead group positioned to the east gained a 20nm lead over the three boats positioned to the west, off the coast of Mauritius.

The trailing group then suffered a double whammy by hitting a spot of lighter winds, while the other four enjoyed slightly stronger winds and stretched away.

The much vaunted tropical cyclone, generated winds of up to 30kts for the lead group for a period of less than 12 hours.

The Spanish entry, Mapfre (Iker Martinez) is performing much better after her crew changes from Leg 1, and leads the fleet by 14nm according to the latest position report issued by the Volvo Ocean Race Control. She is only 24nm ahead of the fourth placed yacht, Dongfeng, which has suffered a little because of a broken mainsail luff track, which required a man to be sent up the mast to effect repairs.

The fifth placed yacht, Team Vestas Wind is almost 110nm behind Mapfre, with the all-woman team aboard Team SCA 226nm off the lead.

However a big lead can create opportunities for those astern, and according to the projections from the routing function of Predictwind Team Vestas Wind is currently just over 7 hours behind Mapfre at a virtual point expected to be close to the course of the race yachts in the northern part of the Arabian Sea. That calculation takes into account the published exclusion zones imposed by race organisers to circumvent possible action by pirates.

The optimised course for Team Vestas Wind is about 200nm longer than the distance predicted to be sailed by Mapfre, however it is in stronger winds.

The tropical depression and its breath of stronger winds may be the best breeze the lead group has for a week, with winds predicted to be less than 10kts average on the current optimised course, using weather feeds which extend for a 14day period.



The report from Volvo Ocean Race Control follow, covering the events of the last two days.

Position report: November 29, 2014 0700 UTC

Leader: MAPFE
Wind Speed: 24 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 22 knots
Wind direction: 119º to 219º
Lowest boat speed: Team SCA 14.4 knots
Highest boat speed: Team Vestas Wnd 20,9 knots
Lowest wind speed: Team SCA 16 knots
Highest wind speed: MAPFE 25 knots

The first four boats in the fleet have already left behind the tropical depression located within 30 nm of point 17.5 S/60.E in the South West Indian Ocean.

The depression that threatened the fleet with the possibility of becoming a tropical cyclone, threw ‘near gale force winds of 30 knots, strong gusts under squalls and rough to very rough seas’, according to the latest warning alert issued last night by the Tropical Cyclone Center of Reunion island.

At 0241 UTC, Dongfeng registered the highest true wind speed of 30.75 knots. The top four have been ripping downwind with these conditions, listing average speeds of 25 knots.

The four boats ahead of the fleet have already gybed away from the depression. MAPFRE, the leader, was the first one to do it at 0445 UTC, followed by Abu Dhabi at 0540 UTC and Team Brunel 15 minutes later.

Dongfeng gybed at 0620 UTC. Team Vestas Wind is more than 100 nautical miles (nm) from MAPFRE while Alvimedica is now 160 nm away from the Spanish team. The Americans have been sailing closer to Mauritius, just 5 nm away from the east coast.

Team SCA are still making their way towards the tropical depression. They are 30 nm South East of Mauritius and around 60 nm from Alvimedica.

Position report: November 28, 2014 1600 UTC

Leader: MAPF
Wind Speed: 3-15 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 1-13 knots
Wind direction: 3º to 15º
Lowest boat speed: ALVI (1 knot)
Highest boat speed: MAPF, ADOR (13 knots)
Lowest wind speed: ALVI, SCA (3 knots)
Highest wind speed: MAPF (15 knots)

It's been a day of preparations for the fleet - who have been battening down the hatches ahead of a potential tropical storm tonight.

Meanwhile, the leading pack, consisting of MAPF, ADOR, TBRU and DFRT, have been heading north, with no position changes since 0700 UTC. The Spanish boat sits at the front of that group.

Also since 0700 UTC, SCA, ALVI and VEST have sailed through a zone of clouds. That's meant a real lack of wind, and they have had to manoeuvre frequently as a result.

They're not out of the mire yet, either. Team SCA and Alvimedica have just 3 knots, and Vestas have 5 knots, at the time of writing.

Up in front, the leaders are enjoying a bountiful harvest of 12-13 knots of wind. That's propelled first placed MAPFRE to within 24 miles of the island of Mauritius.

But it's not all sunny for Iker Martínez' crew - as they're likely to meet the tropical storm in the next 12 hours or so. Winds of 35-45 knots are expected!

Hold on to your hats!

Position report: November 28, 2014 0700 UTC

Leader: MAPFRE
Wind Speed: 10 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 9
Wind direction: 36º to 68º
Lowest boat speed: Team SCA 3.8 knots
Highest boat speed: MAPFE 9.7 knots
Lowest wind speed: Team SCA 6 knots
Highest wind speed: MAPFRE 10 knots

The four leading boats have been sailing during the night on a straight line north. It's a straight line that in the tracker looks like they have taken a highway or train track towards Mauritius. The other three boats, Team Vestas Wind, Team Alvimedica and Team SCA, are trying to make their way north but unable to catch up on the crews up front.

The night has been relatively easy. A north-easterly breeze, blowing an average of 10 knots, has given a break to all the fleet except Team SCA.

The back-markers of the fleet were stuck with not much wind around 0000 UTC and have been unable to reach more than six knots of speed since.

The Swedish team is now 90 miles from the leading boat. They have lost 17 miles in the last three hours.

MAPFRE, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel have been in sight of each other and the distance between first and third has been less than four miles all night.

The very close racing is giving the chance to all the teams to study their rivals. Dongfeng is still close to the top three boats after repairing the mast track yesterday. Tem Vestas Wind and Team Alvimedica continue at a good pace, not far from the lead.

In approximately 24 hours, the fleet will encounter a depression north of Mauritius that will give them fast downwind sailing with gusts up to 35 and 40 knots according to some reports.

The fleet has passed the Tropic of Capricorn. They are just 125 miles away from Mauritius and 112 southeast of Reunion Island. It is starting to get hot on board and not very pleasant. Sea and air temperature is around 25ºc.

It’s time to wear shorts and t-shirts and get ready for a tropical roller-coaster!

Position report: November 27, 2014 1600 UTC

Leader: Mapfre
Wind Speed: 8-14 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 7-11 knots
Wind direction: 33º to 62º
Lowest boat speed: SCA (7 knots)
Highest boat speed: MAPF, ADOR, DFRT (11 knots)
Lowest wind speed: SCA (8 knots)
Highest wind speed: MAPF (14 knots)

The action began early this morning at around 0600 UTC, as Mapfre tacked east to cover Dongfeng, Team Brunel and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. At this time, Team Vestas Wind and Team Alvimedica were still heading north - and continued to do so, until they tacked east two hours later.

Team SCA tacked later than that, at 0930 UTC, and the fleet continued to head east, with Team Alvimedica positioned the most north, and Dongfeng the furthest south.

At around 1300 UTC, the wind shifted from northeast to east-northeast, causing Dongfeng, Mapfre, Team Brunel and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing to tack north.

Team SCA, at the back of the pack, also tacked at 1500 UTC and Vestas followed an hour later. Until this point, Team Alvimedica has continued to head east.

What's interesting is that the lot to the furthest west of the fleet, SCA, Vestas and Alvimedica, had less wind than their rivals in the east. This caused them to lose 20 nm or more.

The boats are now heading towards the islands of La Réunion and Mauritius, and a key decision will be whether they go between the two, or choose to sail to the east of the latter.

Position report: November 27, 2014 0700 UTC

Leader: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Wind Speed: 8,5 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 11 knots
Wind direction: 271º to 42º
Lowest boat speed: MAPFRE (7,9 knots)
Highest boat speed: Team Vestas Wind (10 Knots)
Lowest wind speed: Team SCA (8 knots)
Highest wind speed: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, MAPFRE, Team Brunel, Team Alvimedica, Dongfeng Race Team (15 knots)

Crazy, crazy night! Not too many crews could have had much sleep. Certainly not on Team Vestas Wind who carried out eight tacks in a period of 1 hour 40 minutes between 0300 and 0440 UTC. Eight times moving the stack from side to side. That’s tough work.

The first tactical move of the night was performed by MAPFRE who were leading the pack when at 0100 UTC they decided to tack east and became positioned the furthest east of the fleet and have a better position to cover the other six boats.

They tacked back to head north 20 minutes afterwards and stayed in starboard tack until 0220 UTC when the wind started to shift.

MAPFRE was in visual range and being tracked on the AIS by at least Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Dongfeng Race Team and Team Brunel. The Dutch team was the next one to tack a couple of minutes afterwards and then immediately Abu Dhabi, Dongfeng and Team Alvimedica.

Around 0515 UTC this morning, MAPFRE, who were leading the fleet all night became suddenly in an area where the wind dropped from eight to three knots.

They were stuck completely for a period of 15 minutes where they tacked four times in 15 minutes as the wind was shifting from north west to north east every couple of minutes.

The rest of the boats were lucky enough to avoid that transition and make their way through. Dongfeng Race Team were four miles west of the Spanish boat, Team Brunel five miles and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing six miles.

All the miles gained during by the Spanish team were lost in a couple of minutes as a result of the unstable and variable wind. The fleet is now very tight.

It has been raining and some squalls have occured during the night. The sea state has been calm.