Volvo Ocean Race - A nail-biting decision

by Dongfeng Race Team on 30 Apr 2015 2014 - 15 Volvo Ocean Race - There’s an important choice to be made and like all important choices, the final decision is up to the boss. Except the boss onboard Dongfeng is staring at his computer with his arms crossed muttering in a heavy French accent “I don’t know, merde I don’t know.”

Dongfeng Race Team is fast approaching a transition zone. A stretch of ocean between the South Atlantic trade winds and North Atlantic weather system and to get from one area to another the teams must pass through this area of unpredictable and variable weather conditions.

For the past 48 hours this has been the constant topic of conversation between skipper and navigator.

As Charles continues to stare at his computer blankly it is time to approach his right-hand man, navigator Pascal Bidégorry who is caught enjoying a moment of fresh air away from his desk and is found sitting in the hatch biting his nails.

In the words of Onboard Reporter Sam Greenfield: “You know Pascal is trying to make a decision when he’s biting his nails.”

The decision to make:

Should we pass to the east or should we pass to the west?

“The weather forecasts are disagreeing,” explains Pascal with a frown. “I have downloaded the two major sources of weather information for the Atlantic – so European forecast and American forecast but they aren’t giving me the same information. If they did, the decision would be easy.”

In the next 24 hours the team will be setting themselves up for what they believe is best to pass the Caribbean looking for the optimum combination of best wind strength and wind angle. However as Pascal explains, the decision is difficult because weather forecasting by its very nature is inaccurate, it’s not a perfect science.

Renowned for making decisions based on his instinct, will Pascal want to take the westerly lane or push further east?

With just under half the overall race points to compete for and more than 2,500nm left on this leg from Itajaí to Newport this could potentially the deciding factor of the leg. If a team gets lucky and breaks away all that is left is a drag race to Newport where every inch will count.