Volvo Ocean Race - Flat to the floor
by Volvo Ocean Race on 29 Mar 2015
March 26,2015. Leg 5 to Itajai onboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Day 8. MAPFRE crosses the bow at daybreak after a night of gybing along the ice exclusion zone Matt Knighton/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Since 0700 UTC this morning, the average boat speeds of the fleet have been from 17 to 19.5 knots. Team Brunel, Team Alvimedica and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have been the fastest and with the same speed: 19.5 knots.
Earlier in the day the breeze has been 260º to 270º degrees and is now closer to 300º - slowly been building from 18 to 26 knots.
The Dutchies and the Chinese-backed team have both been in the lead throughout the day, followed by Azzam in third, the Turkish-Americans in fourth and the Spanish boat in fifth.
Meanwhile, Team SCA, in sixth place, has being losing miles with the peloton and they are now 155nm away.
But with the latest position report the picture has changed. All five boats are on the same tack, one after the other on a railroad track towards Cape Horn.
Caudrelier’s crew is back in the lead, chased by the orange and black boat just 3.5 miles behind.
In third, Iker Martinez’s crew is back in the game some 7nm west of Team Alvimedica, while the Emiratis in fourth try to stay ahead of the yellow boat. Incredibly, the spread of these five boats is just 20nm.
'Tonight we broke the outhaul and while we were repairing Team Alvimedica passed us. Then in the morning we had to put the mainsail down for one hour, to fix the fasteners of the battens to the mast,' blogs Iker.
'Yesterday we were too conservative and we did a sail change too early in the night. Along with the thousand gybes we had to do, we have ended up being completely exhausted.
'Now we are sailing 100%. Again surprisingly we are third, and we are sure that the others are also having problems. We have two days to reach Cape Horn and we have to push as soon as we are in good conditions to do it.'
All five boats completed their latest gybe between 1600 and 1800 UTC. Will this be their last gybe towards the Horn?
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