Dongfeng Race Team makes a break

Light conditions set to come good for the Volvo Ocean Race six

After trickling their way through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday night, the Volvo Ocean Race six have been struggling in light winds thanks to the decided lack of any gradient pressure in the area.

Appropriately Ian Walker's team on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had been leading the charge since the boats set sail from Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning (UTC). Passing through the Strait between Iran and Oman, which represents the exit to the Gulf, the boats remains tightly grouped with Dongfeng Race Team in second, followed by Team Brunel, MAPFRE having dropped back by 2.5 miles, followed by Team Alvimedica a further 1.5 miles astern, and Team SCA in last place having chosen a route closer to the Oman's Musandam Peninsula.

But by yesterday lunchtime as the boats were short tacking down the Gulf of Oman's Iranian coast, Dongfeng Race Team slipped past Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Early yesterday evening there was a park-up off the southwestern tip of the 'Iranian exclusion zone' where the Iranian coast bends around to the east, and here, while those behind wallowed, Dongfeng Race Team was able to stay in the breeze and by 2100 had pulled out a 6.3 mile lead.

In the early hours of this morning, the wind backed into the east - still very light - putting the boats on the wind again, and once again Dongfeng Race Team has managed to find slightly better pressure, extending her lead to 10.9 miles over second placed MAPFRE at the 0600, although she had slowed and lost half of her advantaged by the next sched at 0900 with Team Brunel up to second, 5.1 miles off the leader.

Passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet faced not only the light winds but had to deal with considerable debris in the water. Dongfeng Race Team for example snared two fishing nets within hours of each other.

Image above courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

Mercifully, the wind is forecast to veer into the southwest over the course of today and build slightly, but the competitors will be looking to stick to the left side of the race track to stay in the best pressure, and as far away from an area of high pressure that is lurking over Oman tomorrow. Fortunately conditions look favourable for a long broad reach on starboard gybe with 10-15 knots from the west slowly continue to veer into the WNW by Thursday allowing the boats to make good progress towards the southern tip of India, currently some 1480 miles from Dongfeng Race Team at the latest sched.

Matt Knighton reports from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing

It’s never easy to leave your home.  As we sailed through the last gate of the inshore course with the boat horns blaring and our fans cheering, there was a renewed sense of energy onboard Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.  The past three weeks have been a good rest for all of us as we spent time with our families in Abu Dhabi.  Now, with clean clothes, fresh shaves, and weighing a few more kilos than when we arrived, it’s time to get back to work.

Leading the fleet, we were hunted all night.  Looking at the map in the nav station you might have assume we had stretched out to a comfortable lead as we passed the bright lights of Dubai.  Jumping on deck however, the smaller, familiar lights of Dongfeng and Brunel were eerily close just 1 mile behind.

Racing towards the Musandam Peninsula, we weaved our way through huge fields of oil tankers and oil fields in the bright moonlight – a familiar practice we’d rehearsed on the way in.  This will be the only portion of the entire race where we where sail back the way we came.

At sunrise we rounded the tip of the peninsula, rehearsing the same strategy we’d used at the end of Leg 2. We watched as Brunel and Dongfeng went inside 'the gap' and we opted to sail further distance around the outside. Ian commented, “It might be their death on the other side of that gap.  Still, we haven’t got a free ride either. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

Sure enough, we’ve all slowed now.  The calm and glassy waters of the Gulf of Oman are not very welcoming as the bow of Azzam slaps on the water.  We’re looking forward to getting out of here and sailing into unfamiliar waters once again.

Francisco Vignale reports from MAPFRE:

Light winds were expecting us on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz. We’ve been drifting with the fleet the whole day, and those who managed to get some advantage got caught again, after the fleet compressed. As the sun sets, the wind finally kicked in. We sailed along the Iranian coast and its exclusion zone.

We were put in a difficult situation when we got out of the no-wind area, behind Team SCA and Team Alvimedica. The girls had some sort of trouble when peeling from a MH0 to an A3 during a gybe and that allowed us to pass them and go chase Alvimedica, not further than a mile from us.

We spent the whole night gybing because we wanted to stay close to shore. Light winds are not a good thing in such moments, because they can cause a boat breaking away.

We’ve been as close as two boat lengths from Alvimedica. Since we left the dock, we’ve been in a constant fight with them.

Unstable winds at night and dawn, sailing upwind as to be able to pass the exclusion zone and sail with no restriction again.

Onboard we couldn’t sleep again and that reflects on the team’s faces, tired from all the gybing and tacking.

Sailing in this intense way is really interesting… during the first 36 hours we sailed neck and neck with the others and strategy played a big role between the light wind patches, exclusion zones, tacks, gybes, tankers, islands, rocks, and the five other boats. You don’t even get the time to sit down and eat.

It draw my attention that there’s not a lot of marine life in these waters. No dolphins no flying fish, and just jellyfish. I hope we can them soon again.

Amory Ross reports from Team Alvimedica

This one-design thing is exhausting! With the exception of Dongfeng who broke away from the peloton last night, the fleet is closer than we were hours after leaving Abu Dhabi. It feels at any moment that you’re gaining on one and losing on another. Last night we were lined up and it reminded me of a running drill we used to practice in school called Indian Sprints, where the last person in a line would have to sprint to the front and as soon as he got there, the new last person would follow, and so on and so forth the line would recycle; everyone gets a chance to be the locomotive and the caboose.

Last night was no different: we all had our moments at the front and at the back and you just had to be patient and relentless and keep at it until it was your turn to shine.

We have a phrase on a bunk down below that reads, “Maintain the Intensity,” and there is no question now, having other boats around keeps the focus high and the intensity maintained. It makes sense how a group of boats can be faster than the one. It happened last leg as we watched Abu Dhabi, Dongfeng, and Brunel sail away as soon as we fell of the back. Having someone nearby pushing you all the time, something to constantly gauge your performance by, it eliminates the extraneous chatter.

There’s a more humorless demeanor onboard but maybe we’re discovering that’s a faster one, too. I’m sure there’s a tradeoff to be found though for now we’re happy and excited to be here in the thick of it going blow for blow with the race leaders. It’s where we feel we belong.
Big picture, we’re trying to hedge north towards the coast of Iran where a more predictable sea breeze is forecasted to fill. That will help everyone get east towards India, which will in turn allow us to get south. The coastline and its steadier winds dominate the playbook, but of course we don’t want to lose touch with the fleet, especially now that we understand its significance. Ultimately, we want to make sure we’re the locomotive when that sea breeze begins to build! It could be a clear case of the rich getting richer, and it could happen very quickly.