Volvo Ocean Race - Team Brunel ups the pace
by Volvo Ocean Race on 22 Mar 2015
Onboard Team Alvimedica - Nick Dana (L) trims the traveler for Stu Bannatyne on the helm,while Ryan Houston has the mainsheet in his hand and Will Oxley stands by for a grind. - Leg five to Itajai - Volvo Ocean Race 2015 Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica
Volvo Ocean Race - Team Brunel has picked up some pace over the last 12 hours. On every position report, the Dutch boat has gained about ten miles on Team Alvimedica and five miles on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.
Bouwe Bekking’s crew has that extra knot of power that makes them the fastest boat on average, with 15 knots of speed over the last 12 hours. Team Brunel have been sailing slightly farther from the wind compared to the Emiratis and the Turkish-Americans of Team Alvimedica.
Matt Knighton, Onboard Reporter on Azzam, has just given us his view some minutes ago (0700 UTC): “Team Brunel have worked down throughout the day to be sitting right on top of our line and they’re now 36 miles directly on our bow in a good position.
“We expect the wind to build ahead and so the 'rich will get richer' at this point. Same goes for Team Alvimedica, though a small victory today was had when we took a degree of bearing out of them as they sailed a higher course to ours.
'Still, we’re happy to see the pack of three in the back. We’ll continue eyeballing them closely, though the racing won’t really begin until we round Cape Horn we expect.”
Back with the southern pack, the last 12 hours have been very interesting too.
Dongfeng Race Team claimed fourth position around 0340 UTC and are still ahead of the all-female crew less than three nautical miles (nm) behind, while the Spanish boat is 5nm behind the magenta boat. All three are within 10nm of each other.
Of that trio, Sam Davies’ crew have been heading a few degrees further south, closer to the wind, while the other two are sailing few degrees lower, averaging almost one knot faster than Team SCA.
Team SCA’s Onboard Reporter, Anna-Lena Elled, writes: “We tacked and made a few sail changes to get through the high-pressure system and further down south. Today the breeze has been a little bit stronger.
“The plan is to jump on the Roaring 40’s and the Screaming 50’s and get a fast and spectacular down wind ride all the way to Cape Horn.
“The leg is quite straightforward. We all know where the wind is. The question is who is going to catch it first?
“We have Team Alvimedica, Team Brunel and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in front of us (north-east).
“We are sailing in the same area as Dongfeng and MAPFRE. For two days we’ve been in visual contact with Dongfeng.
It was an extremely nice feeling to have the Chinese boat in the stern.
“Unfortunately, that changed in the late afternoon. Suddenly they found an extra gear and we could see them taking over hour by hour.”
Synopsis
1) The boats should be making better time in next 24 hrs, as they get into stronger and more favourable SW to SW winds
a) wind speeds into teens to 20 knots, then more into 20s later today and tonight
2) A cold front advances to the NE, which will bring rougher conditions to the fleet during Monday into first part of Tuesday
3) Ahead of the front, there will be stronger W-SW to W flow, with increasing chance for showers and squalls
a) winds to 25-35 knots w/squalls to 40-45 knots
b) Seas building to 15-20 ft, roughest to S, while less to N
4) Behind the frontal passage, flow turns back into SW and will be fast moving showers and squalls into first part of Tuesday
a) wind speeds still mainly in 25-35 knots range w/gusts to 40-45 knots near squalls
5) Wind and sea slowly subsiding on Tuesday, as high pressure to W-NW builds more to the E and SE
Today's Weather
1) Low pressure is well to the E and SE and will be moving E of 120w during today, while
2) High pressure (about 1026 mb) resides to the W or W-SW near 44-45s/168-169w with ridge axis extending toward 40s/160w
3) the fleet is E of this high in a lightish S to S-SW flow, which will be increasing as you head more to the E-SE and SE
a) wind speeds into teens with stronger winds to the E and S, and lighter behind to the N and W
4) Flow increases and trends right into S-SW to SW by today and tonight
a) wind to 15-25 knots, which
b) the boats should be able to make better time
5) Seas from S or S-SW near ten foot
Mainly cloudy, chance for isolated passing showers, mainly in stronger wind to SE
Seas 8-10 ft, wind waves (up to three to four ft late) mixed with S-SW swell
Leader: TBRU
Wind Speed: 14 knots
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 14 - 16 knots
Wind direction: 201º - 230º
Lowest boat speed: ALVI (13,6 knots)
Highest boat speed: TBRU (15,7 knots)
Lowest wind speed: DFRT (13 knots)
Highest wind speed: TBRU, ALVI, ADOR, SCA, MAPF (14 knots)
| Position report at: 22 Mar 06:40 UTC / Updated 3 hourly |
DTL
(NM)
|
GAIN/LOSS
(NM)
|
DTF
(NM)
|
Speed
(kt)
|
 |
Team Brunel |
0 |
0 |
5257.7 |
16 |
 |
Team Alvimedica |
28.5 |
 5 |
5286.3 |
14 |
 |
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing |
39.3 |
2 |
5297 |
15 |
 |
Dongfeng Race Team |
70 |
 1 |
5327.8 |
16 |
 |
Team SCA |
72.2 |
0 |
5330 |
15 |
 |
MAPFRE |
76.7 |
2 |
5334.5 |
15 |
 |
Team Vestas Wind |
DID NOT START |
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