Volvo Ocean Race: After the calm comes the Sleighride - Updated
by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 27 Feb 2018 00:38 PST
27 February 2018
Leg 6 to Auckland, Day 20 on board Sun hung Kai / Scallywag. Full team out on deck for the last miles to finish. 27 February, © Jeremie Lecaudey / Volvo Ocean Race
February 28, 05.47am NZDT
Back in the media centre for another 30 minutes.
Leg 6 is over with no major dramas, other than a photoboat which was also a Coastguard vessel, which had to answer a Mayday call as the leaders were entering Rangitoto Channel. It turned out that the powerboat had taken a few waves over the bow at 2.00am and decided to make a Mayday call, instead of turning back and letting the bilge pumps do their job. So no photos from the finish, and the first time I have ever been out and not shot a single frame.
Everyone was stunned by the closeness of the finish - five boats finishing in 25 minutes. On the Dock the crews were in surprisingly good shape - some more weatherbeaten than others.
The last 300 miles of the race was a situation of opportunities on offer - some were taken some were missed. Even Brunel which finished a very safe sixth thought they could have had a crack at getting into the minor money.
The decider was the increasing easterly breeze, which Blair Tuke told me Dockside was under a very sharply defined cloud, and once you were in it you were away.
MAPFRE did well to overhaul Turn the Tide on Plastic, who dropped back to fifth, beaten by both the Red boats.
This was the closest finish yet in this Volvo Ocean Race, and the margins felt more like the finish of a harbour race, than a 21 day trans-oceanic Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Almost as soon as the crews had stepped onto the dock, the shore teams swung into action and currently the boats are being stripped, before being hauled later this morning and will sit in their cradles outside the Viaduct Events Centre for about seven days while the servicing is undertaken.
February 27, 11.08pm NZDT
The race is on to be first into Auckland. Leg winner SHK Scallywag is pushing AzkoNobel hard and has closed her lead down to .4nm according to the Volvo Ocean Race tracker - a gain of .8nm over the last couple of hours.
The breeze has settled into become a NE breeze all the way down the coast ahead of the fleet - averaging 19-20kts and gusting 25-30kts.
Outside it is as black as the inside of a cow with plenty of cloud in the sky and no moon (that we can see anyway). The most significant feature is the Auckland Sky Tower which is red-lit tonight, for reasons that are not entirely clear. The race boats will be able to see the Sky Tower from well out at sea and it becomes a leading light for Auckland.
Currently the boats are north of Leigh and NW of Little Barrier Island which is one of the landmarks at the entrance to the Hauraki Gulf. There is about 38-40nm left to sail with the boats sitting on 19-20kts. The race is expected to finish just after 1.00am local time. Predictwind's routing function is showing a conventional course for Auckland - outside Kawau and TiriTiri Islands and then straight up the Rangitoto Channel to finish off the City.
It looks as though Scallywag is going to be able to grind her way past AzkoNobel and take her second leg win.
I've probably got time for one more update before we go out on the water in an hour.
Stay tuned.
February 27, 9.15pm NZDT:
After spending most of the day traversing waters on the northern coast of New Zealand that could best be described as being flatter than Twiggy's chest, the fleet is now flying towards the finish.
Sail-World is coming live from the Media Centre in Auckland where all is quiet - only two people here.
Depending on which set of predictors you believe the boats are expected to finish between midnight and 0130.
The story of the day has been that after the lead boats AkzoNobel and Scallywag rounded North Cape at dawn, they have been crawling and just made Cape Brett at the entrance to the Bay of Islands about 6.30pm local time - that is about 14 hours to sail just 77nm.
A picturesque cruise for sure - but very frustrating.
The changing breeze picked up the leaders around 7.30pm, increasing in strength to 15-20kts and gusting higher.
The two frontrunners have used this to their advantage to extend on the fleet.
Gradually the trailing boats have picked up the new breeze, and it should be just a matter of counting down the miles to Auckland and yet another middle of the night finish.
Taking approximated positions off the Volvo Ocean Race tracker, AkzoNobel is off Ngururu, just north of Whangarei and sailing at 19-20kts, with a finish time of 2.00am local time predicted.
SHK Scallywag is just over 1.2nm behind and will no doubt be pushing hard as only David Witt, a top 18ft skipper can do, and there is a chance that they will be able to ease through for a second consecutive leg win.
MAPFRE looks to set overhaul Turn the Tide on Plastic and should achieve a podium place which will come as welcome result after where she has been earlier in the leg.
Team Brunel with Olympic Gold Medalist and America's Cup Champion Peter Burling aboard is trailing the fleet by a significant margin having picked up the increasing breeze, the last of the fleet. At 9.15pm NZDT, Brunel was sailing at 12kts compared to the 19-20kts of the frontrunners. That takes a lot of rubbing out. Their only hope would be for the breeze to ease close to Auckland, but all four feeds used by Predictwind show the breeze holding in a range of 15-23kts.
Stay tuned for more updates.