Tricky leg to Abu Dhabi

The Volvo Ocean Race's second leg sets sail tomorrow

Leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race sets sail from Cape Town tomorrow at 1600 UTC with a more simple route to its final destination of Abu Dhabi than in the race three years ago. 

In 2011 the boats started leg 2 and sailed to a 'secret destination' (in fact Male in the Maldives) from where they were shipped to the UAE, relaunched and then sailed the final miles to the finish. However thanks to the much reduced piracy threat in the Indian Ocean today, the seven VO65s will this time be sailing on their own bottoms for the entire duration of the leg.

However as last time there are some heavyweight course restrictions. There is an 'East African Exclusion Zone' - pretty much a line running due east from Johannesburg and then effectively leaving Madagascar to port. The boat must then make for a waypoint at 05° 41.000’S 60° 00.000’E to keep them to the east of the Seychelles. From there the boats are able to head more or less due north straight towards the Gulf of Oman from where they enter the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, adhering to a rigorous exclusion zone to keep the boats well clear of Iranian territorial waters.

In reality the routing is likely to send the boats initially south back into the Roaring Forties before then head north.

The forecast indicates that the boats will set off in some fairly strong southerlies which they'll only feel the full brunt of as they pass the Cape of Good Hope. The present forecast indicates that the boats will head promptly south to get into stronger breeze towards the Roaring Forties where they will arrive between two depression as the navigators attempt to avoid the area of high pressure between the two continent-sized systems.

The most significant meteorological feature of the early part of this leg will be a substantial area of high pressure forming at around 38°S to the south of Madagascar before the centre of this anticyclonic bubble moves east come Sunday night. The shape of this area of high pressure is constantly moving so it will be interesting to see how the navigators deal with it, but the general principle - as was the case three years ago - is that the boats will sail as close as they dare into the western side of this before they tack out as the wind shifts from the northwest to the northeast.

A feature of this leg which we didn't see last time because of 'the blackout' was the Doldrums crossing. Heading back over the Equator the boats will once again encounter the ITCZ which will as ever be a major feature of the course.