All to play for

illbruck's Stu Bannatyne assesses the form for the rest of the Volvo Ocean Race

Assa Abloy won leg 5 after a very long and tense battle with both illbruck and Tyco. This leg more than any previous one had all the boats sailing very similar courses so it essentially became a boatspeed race. The fact that the three lead boats spent so much time alongside each other proves two things.
Firstly the Farr boats have a speed edge over the rest and secondly, among the Farr boats there is very little difference in performance.

I'm sure that had News Corp sailed in the same piece of water as us they would have been fighting tooth and nail the whole way there too. Sadly for them they continue to play the edges of the race course and it definitely was the wrong way this time around. I'm sure too that SEB and Amer Too have the potential to be contesting the lead also.

This leg of reaching showed up the deficiencies of the Frers boat and the Davidson boat on this point of sail. Dalts must be having a horrible feeling of deja vu, "have I picked the wrong boat again?"

It was a leg that showed how important a good build-up is. The teams that came through are the ones that had the best two boat test programme running before the start with a lot of time spent sail testing. Most of our sail testing was spent on reaching sails as the angles from around 80 degrees true wind angle out to about 125 degrees true wind angle is the range for the most potential speed gains.

In our testing we would often have 20 minute tests won by hundreds of metres while testing different reaching sails. By discovering these big differences we had the time to fine tune sail inventories and crossover charts. Taking this out onto the race course we know we can have confidence in our crossovers and indeed in the sails we are using.

The other podium finishers this leg also had good two boat testing programs and that showed as we continuously chopped and changed with Assa and Tyco. News Corp really had no two boat testing and the Amer Sports programme had several difficulties. Firstly their build-up time was very limited and secondly they had two very different boats so it would have taken a lot longer to establish meaningful results from their sail testing.

I think we have reached a turning point in the Volvo Ocean Race at this the halfway stage. Some of the teams have stated they are now reduced to racing for second place. It's great for us that they think that way, as it will make our job a whole lot easier. We still have a big task ahead of us with four more very tough legs still to race. I see our main opposition being Assa and Tyco again. Dalts has shown weaknesses and no doubt will find it tough mentally to overcome this even if we get conditions that may suit his boat.

News Corp is still a very good, all round boat but they have other problems, specifically with their crew. A few key guys have left recently and the absence of Steve Cotton and Jeff Scott will be sorely missed. These two were the original watch leaders on board and I think their departure hurts the team a lot more than Jez or Ross would care to admit.

SEB easily have the potential to win a few of the remaining legs. Their boat is in a design corner it seems and they have some very good sailors on board more than capable of guiding them to a win or two. They have nothing to lose and we have seen already their willingness to hit corners so I would be surprised if they don't win at least one leg.

I think djuice may also provide a few surprises. With the intense racing between the overall leaders they may well be left to their own devices and we have seen from leg four that they can pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat at the most opportune moments.

The demands of the next leg are very different from previous ones. The second shortest leg at less than 1000 miles means that all the boats will be pushing harder than before, if that is possible. The constant close proximity to shore will mean an overload of work for the navigation and tactical team. We are attacking this problem by reverting to our leg one crew bringing back navigator Ian Moore in place of helm/trimmer Noel Drennan - a trade off definitely but one we feel will give us a competitive advantage for the close tactical racing we are sure to see.

Apart from navigation, sail changes will also make a big impact on this leg, as I'm sure that most boats will be in sight for the duration of the leg. This leads to questions about what watch system to run to maximize the number of guys available without burning out. A very fine line, which I'm sure, we and others will cross and recross.

Having said all that the race from Miami to Baltimore will be a very tight one and in reality any boat could win it. Our goal will be the same as it ever was, a podium finish.