Turning the corner

Team Brunel into the lead as Volvo Ocean Race fleet attempts to catch a ride on its first Southern Ocean front

Images courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

Having headed generally south since passing the Fernando de Noronha turning mark at the end of last week, overnight the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has begun its slow turn east in the direction of Cape Horn.

Over the course of Monday morning the boats encountered more variable winds to the northeast of a shallow depression centred to the south of Rio. Rather like the Doldrums, differing strategies at this point has dictated their position 48 hours on, with Team Brunel apparently overhauling Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing to pull into the lead late on Monday night in terms of DTF, although at that point it was through maintaining a position some 60 miles further east, ie closer to the Cape Town finish, reasonably irrelevant as at the time the boats were some 70-80° off course.

While there was separation between the two frontrunners at this point, Team Vestas Wind was carrying out another of her 'buffalo girls' manoeuvres, diving far west, her strategy subsequently also followed by MAPFRE astern of her.

Since the early hours of Tuesday morning the boats have taken the opportunity of the wind backing into the northwest to begin making a slow turn to the southeast. Under normal circumstances this would occur once they had at least drawn level with the westernmost point of the high, however at the moment the navigators are more interested in catching a ride on a front associated with a depression deep in the Southern Ocean.

Typically the place to be on Southern Ocean fronts is to the east of them where the sea state is more even and high speeds are possible. This is scenario typically where 24 hour records get broken. Conversely to the west of these fronts the sea state is more confused (the wind having backed from the northwest to southwest) however in this case the front looks to be better formed further south which perhaps explains Team Vestas Wind's tactics to sacrifice easting in order to get south. Either way, hats off to Chris Nicholson and navigator Wouter Verbraak for once again choosing a different tactic to the leaders and making this race interesting.

The GFS forecast has the boats falling off the back of the front tomorrow, this occurring first to the boats furthest east. Worse news is that the wind is forecast to get lighter as the front effectively divides the St Helena high in two, the western half of this anticyclonic 'bubble' forming to their north/northwest. This will represent yet another role of the dice in this case one likely to favour the leaders.

DTL positions at 09:40 relative to mark (green dot on chart above)

From Matt Knighton on board Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing:

As dawn breaks on Day 19 over the South Atlantic Ocean, Azzam continues her streak South as fast as possible in this inaugural leg of the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race – a leg slowly proving to be much longer than anticipated.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is searching for pockets of better breeze anticipating small mileage gains that will accelerate our route to the westerly winds that will hopefully shorten our trip to Cape Town. Due to a slower pace along the coast of Africa earlier and now the location of the St. Helena High, the finish line has continued to move further away.

However, for race veterans like SiFi, it’s not the destination but the journey that has them enjoying the length of the leg. “I think Leg 1 is one of my favorite legs because you get to see every season along the way – from the warmth of the Doldrums to the cold of the Roaring Fourties.”

Although looking ahead to weather reports, he says he lives a day at a time; especially when the racing is close.

“It all depends on the tempo of the race. Some days you treat like a day race such as the other day when we had a lot of tactical calls to be made.” Chuckling he adds, “Those days I just don’t sleep.”

However if you’re worried about food stores running out during this almost month-long leg, SiFi says you don’t need to worry. Things aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be by this point several races ago.

Smiling he remembers, “Back in the days of the Open 60’s you would get a scoop of food, one power bar, and one chocolate bar and that was it for the day.”