Volvo Ocean Race- Skirting the ice limit coordinates on Day 7

by Volvo Ocean Race on 27 Mar 2015 The ice limit coordinates, as decided by Race Control, have been dictating the action in the last eight hours of Day 7, Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race. The first five boats are now short-gybing up a virtual coastline to within just 300 metres of the virtual boundary which they are not permitted to cross without penalty.

The real Antarctic ice coast is over 1,300 nautical miles to the south, but after Race Control had information regarding an iceberg in the vicinity only 75nm away, the exclusion zone was moved north yesterday.

Mapfre and Dongfeng were the most southerly boats and had to come back up, sailing northeast approaching Ice Limit Waypoint 7 from below its latitude. The rest of the fleet descended on the point, sailing southeast on a collision course with the Spanish and the Chinese boats. The leading ones, Team Alvimedica and Team Brunel, only just crossed ahead of Mapfre forcing them to gybe back towards the limit line.

Once all four boats were squashed together, they could not only see each other on AIS but struck up a conversation on VHF radio. Volvo Ocean Race Control says they they would have loved to hear the banter between the teams, all saying hello to each other in this most bizarre leg five twist.

Apparently Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker broadcast that he had expected Jack Lloyd (Race Director) and Knut Frostad (Volvo Ocean Race CEO) to be sitting in a small boat, greeting them having just re-laid the new racing marks, with an M-Flag and a sound signal. All of this over 1,600nm away from any inhabited land!

Although Jack and Knut are not sat in a small boat, they are watching as part of Race Control,located in Alicante, Spain, monitoring systems to ensure that no team crosses over the virtual line.

The fleet traded gybes all night with place changes due to frustrating light patches and unpredictable shifts normally associated with sailing under a coastal cliff, not in the middle of the biggest ocean on the planet.

At one stage, all the four leading boats were within 1nm radius.

Dongfeng is not far behind, only 18nm back. Charles Caudrelier’s crew has taken 20nm out of the fleet in the last eight hours.

Team SCA has been the most successful when it comes to miles gained against the leaders. They have taken 42nm in the last eight hours. Sadly they will reach the same light winds the leaders are in now.

It will take the pack about 15 more hours to sail the 140nm to Ice Limit Waypoint 8. After which they have the option to sail south again down to a possible 60º S, however the current routings show a routing of 56º S. Cold enough for any hardened sailor.

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Race Statistics
Leader: Team Brunel
Wind speed: 7-15 knots?
Boat speed SOG (15 mins): 8-14 knots?
Wind direction: 278º - 321º?
Lowest boat speed: MAPF, ALVI (8 knots)?
Highest boat speed: DFRT (14 knots)?
Lowest wind speed: ADOR, ALVI (7 knots)?
Highest wind speed: SCA (15 knots)

Position report list

YACHT	LAT	LON	DATE	DTL	DTLC	avgSOG(3h)	avgSOG(15')	TWS	TWD	HDG
TBRU	-50.58333	-118.48833	26/03/15 06:40:00	0	0.0	9	10	9	289	59
ADOR	-50.59247	-118.49897	26/03/15 06:40:00	0.1	4.0	8.7	9	7	281	54
MAPF	-50.61483	-118.55167	26/03/15 06:40:00	1.1	1.0	8.7	8	9	278	46
ALVI	-50.66233	-118.57583	26/03/15 06:40:00	2.4	-1.0	8	8	7	286	54
DFRT	-50.96917	-118.9435	26/03/15 06:40:00	14.5	9.0	7.6	14	14	310	88
SCA1	-50.55117	-121.38367	26/03/15 06:40:00	109	-1.0	5.7	12	15	321	127