Portimao Global Ocean Race leaders dive south to low pressure system

by Brian Hancock on 6 Jan 2009
In the Portimao Global Ocean Race, now that Beluga Racer and Desafio Cabo de Hornos are past the eastern end of the Ice Gate, both boats are on a deep dive south to catch the outer edge of passing low pressure system.

The system has been carrying quite a punch, but with the boats forced to stay well north of the mandatory gate, they have missed the best wind. Now clear of the gate both boats are racing for the edge of the system hoping to ride out the last bit of big breeze before a small ridge of high pressure sets in. Once the high moves across them the wind will die and they will have time to regroup before the next front. That’s how it goes in that neck of the woods.

On board the Chilean boat, Desafio Cabo de Hornos, skipper Felipe Cubillos is enjoying the hard racing. 'I love the adrenaline rush of having to make decisions and take care of them,' he wrote. 'That is what I find exciting about racing sailboats. This kind of intensity is hard to find in other sports. Day after day, week after week we have to make tactical choices, decide on sails and sail trim, and live with the results.'

The results for Desafio Cabo de Hornos over the last four days have been very positive. They have halved the distance between themselves and the leading boat, Beluga Racer, and continue to sail at slightly faster speeds. 'At the beginning of the year the Germans were 107 miles ahead of us with 170 miles of lateral separation,' Felipe continued. 'Now the distance is down to just 65 miles and we have a lateral separation of not more than 40 miles. In short we are recovering at a rate of just over one mile per hour and we hope that continuing in heavy winds we will be able to close the distance even more.'

On board Beluga Racer co-skippers Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme do not seem too concerned. As usual Boris is upbeat about things, but he also knows that the other competitors read these reports so his emails may have a bit of psychology built into them. 'Things have been relatively quiet on board Beluga Racer,' he wrote. 'We have even found time to watch a movie. We have enough fuel and food left for the rest of the leg so that’s not a problem and the boat is fine, no damage at all.' Both Beluga Racer and Desafio Cabo de Hornos are sailing in moderate southwesterly winds. Things will get even quieter over the next 48 hours until yet another front moves in from the west. 'The weather forecast seems quite good for the next couple of day,' Boris continued. 'No dramas, nothing special. In fact it’s all very quiet these days. No albatross. No sunsets. Just a bit grey. Not very cold, but not warm either. We are happy with the progress and impressed by the performance of our boat. It does all the work itself.'

So there you have it. I am sure that Boris knows that Felipe will read this report as will the Brits aboard Team Mowgli. He and his co-skipper Felix Oehme do make it look easy, but they are consummate seamen and know how to play the game, psychology and all.

Finally we would like to wish Michel Kleinjans a Happy 45th Birthday! In a brief email he wrote, 'Apart from a cigar I kept my birthday sober. I am getting older for sure. Right now we have rather light weather, around 14 knots, but I think it will die even more. I have no wind indicator or log anymore which a bit annoying but other than that all is good on board Roaring Forty.'
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