Hurry up and wait for Dongfeng as Volvo Ocean Race hangs in balance

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com on 22 Apr 2015 The six boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet continues to exhibit herd mentality with just 5nm covering the fleet from front to back, in fact just 2nm covers the first five boats.

The girls crew sailing Team SCA are hanging in as they did at the start of Leg 5 and are holding third place, behind race leaders Abu Dhabi and Mapfre.

Even more pleasing for Team SCA fans is their margin of just .5nm just behind the race leaders.

A tense wait is ahead of Dongfeng, currently lying in fourth as they wait for the glue to dry on their watermaker. The crew believe the repair is a long shot. If it fails they will have the choice of pulling into a port and taking a compulsory 12 hour stop - which will almost certainly cost them the leg and probably any real chance they have left in the race.

Their other option is to use the hand pumped water filtration system, which is laborious and slow - and of course might not last the distance to Newport - about 18 days sailing time.



Team Brunel has been the fastest boat in the fleet clocking 14.9knot 3-hour average speed over the ground during the last sked period. The breeze is now gusting 19kts.

Dongfeng attempted to repair to their broken water-maker by wrapping the split tube with carbon in an attempt to seal the crack.

Earlier Abu Dhabi Ocean racing reported they were struggling to sail through Team Alvimedica, with the US/Turkish entry slapping a tight cover on the Emirati team on Day 3 of the leg.

Ian Walker: “For 24 hours we have been stuck behind Alvimedica. We fought hard to break through their dirty wind and have also sailed extra unnecessary distance. The good news is that we have now managed to get past them and can start to sail our own race.”

“Looking ahead it seems unlikely that there will be a meaningful tactical difference of opinion in the near term. We should all hopefully stay ahead of the front chasing us from the South and that means a long port tack East of the Brazilian current and offshore of the oil rigs until we connect with the trades and can tack onto starboard.



'That means that it is all about boat speed and subtle course variations for now. There is little to pick between the front row of Mapfre, SCA, Dongfeng and us right now but in reality the whole fleet remains closely bunched. Onboard life is pretty easy but it gets ever hotter.”

OBR Matt Knighton takes up the story: 'A game of inches is literally playing itself out in the vastness of the Atlantic Ocean. Over the next week it will likely stay that way. Right now if we finished, all 6 teams would be within 1 hour of each other after sailing for roughly three days. Remember this moment – the last couple legs of the race are about the same distance as what we’ve already sailed. It’s a total gamble who is in first – anything can happen before we reach Gothenburg.

'Watching our routes strung together every 6 hours in straight lines, you don’t see the subtlety of tactics playing out on the water. Single degree changes to headings are game changers and boat speed is king. Long term it’s faster to point higher and sail slower but psychologically no one wants to go there.



'Sailing east into the orange and pink sunrise we could clearly see the entire fleet silhouetted against the sky. There’s every chance this will be the same view we’re greeted to every morning for the next week. This is like the first 10 days of Leg 1 all over again – things likely won’t shake up until the doldrums.'

At that point the race is expected to restart.