Maiden in the Ocean Globe Race - First Leg Overview
by Sal Hunter 24 Oct 2023 10:14 PDT
On Saturday 21st November 2023, Maiden arrived in Cape Town, 41 Days, 7800miles from the
start in the Solent on 10th September. It was exactly what they didn't want for making a landfall,
45 knot gusts of wind while clawing their way upwind to the finish line.
It has been a hard fought leg.
After the start it very quickly became obvious that there was a lead pack of 4 boats. Pen Duick
VI at 73 feet long is the biggest boat in the race; Spirit of Helsinki, the lovely Swan 651 designed
to eat up the miles; Translated 9, which was ADC Accutrac in the 77/78 Whitbread, a Swan 65,
which is now very well optimised for the current IRC handicap system and Maiden, the smallest
of the leaders and designed primarily with downwind sailing in mind.
After a Drag Race across Biscay the fleet got their first testing conditions as an Atlantic depression
went through. Godspeed suffered a broken boom and went into Cascais for 4 days effectively
putting them out of the race and Triana suffered a crew injury which involved an airlift of the
casually who, thankfully, made a good recovery.
Trade Wind sailing to the Canaries left little room for tactics until decisions had to be made about
avoiding the large wind shadows of the high volcanic islands. As they sailed past the Cape Verde
Islands all thought were turning to how they could make a quick passage through the hot, windless
and tricky, Doldrums.
For much of the race Maiden and Translated 9 were very close to each other, often within sight,
the crew on both boats pushing for every knot of boat speed.
Once the boats had cleared to the south of the Doldrums and passed the Equator the next tactical
decision had to be made.
The large high pressure system which dominates the South Atlantic gives the boats some
choices. To sail a more downwind route, the boats have to stay out to the West which adds more
miles. Most of the fleet stayed West. Outlaw was forced to the East when they found a man in a
canoe 90 miles from the coast and had to take him in tow towards land which kept them in the
East of the course going upwind but sailing 1000 miles less distance.
Pen Duick VI, as the leader, was the first to make the decision of when to turn East towards Cape
Town. They paid the price by sailing straight into the middle of the High Pressure and running
out of wind. Helinski, Translated 9 and Maiden stayed South and caught up miles. Helsinki took
the lead and ultimately line honours.
The final twenty four hours for Maiden was a brutal upwind battle to reach ethe finish line and the
crew were gutted when problems with the mainsail hampered their reefing capabilities which
literally lost them, in the final few hours, 2nd place on handicap.
Much of this leg has been sailed with wind forward of the beam. Playing into the hands of the
bigger boats. The next leg 7250 Miles, to Auckland New Zealand is likely to be a very different
race with mostly strong downwind sailing conditions in which Maiden and the crew will thrive.
The Maiden Factor: www.themaidenfactor.org
Ocean Global Race: www.oceangloberace.com