Formation flying

Painful 36 hours ahead as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet converges with the Moroccan coast

Image above courtesy of Expedition and Predictwind

Having emerged from the Strait of Gibraltar yesterday morning, there were some varying tactics between the boats that have ended up having considerable bearing on the present positions of the boats.

Sam Davies and her crew on Team SCA had done an excellent job to make a break from the rest of the fleet in the Strait, but then opted to continue on to the west while the rest of the boats put in a small hitch to the WSW before taking shift putting them en masse on to a WNW heading, with Team Vestas and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing furthest south. This left Team SCA furthest north, but furthest west.

The objective at this point was to make use of a cold front out to the west and the resulting wind shift from the southwest to the more favourable northwest on the opposite side of the front. In her position Team SCA was aiming to be 'first to the shift' while the boats further south were looking to be in the best position and further down the race track once the shift had come through.

At 20:00 UTC yesterday evening, Team SCA crossed the front some 50 miles due south of Cape Finisterre, but by this time Alvimedica and MAPFRE had all but caught with her. At this point the wind had piped up to 30-35 knots giving the crews their first taste of 'proper' offshore racing. The southerly group crossed the front around an hour later and after this reshuffling of the pack it was Adu Dhabi Ocean Racing that came out ahead, with Team Brunel and Team Vestas Wind immediately astern of her and with the rest of the fleet behind and to the west and, sadly, with Team SCA unable to consolidate their lead, now back in sixth place.

Since then the wind has held at around 260-280° and the boats have been playing the shifts with Team Alvimedica edging out to the west with Team Vestas Wind astern of her. At the latest sched, Charlie Enright's team appears to have gained a small advantage to the west, the wind having dropped to around 10 knots and backed to 250-260°.

At the latest sched (0940 UTC) Team Alvimedica still leads in the east while Team Brunel is a nose ahead on the charge out to the west, just 25 miles off the Moroccan coast. Over the last few hours the wind has gradually veered into the northwest, enabling the boats to come on to a heading of around 200°, allowing to track along the coast rather converging with it, staying just west of the continental shelf and the rough water that typically is found above it.

The evil high that will dominate proceedings over the next few days is currently centred due east of the Canaries and with the boats entering its northeast quadrant so the wind is currently in the northwest. However over the next 24 hours the high is expected to edge east and elongate along a NE-SW axis. As a result the boats will see the wind slowly decreasing over the course of today and all but disappeared by tomorrow morning. The forecast indicates that this pain will last until late tomorrow afternoon when the wind will fill in from the north by the African coast as the high contracts slightly in this area. It will only be by the time the boats are approaching the Lanzarote that the northeasterlies are expected to fill in enabling them to get back up to speed.

Effectively all the boats are following the route that nailed Groupama (although not to quite so great a degree) in the last race.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing OBR Matt Knighton reports:

The sky was turning a darker shade of grey under the clouds and Chuny was at the helm of Azzam, driving deeper into the North Atlantic.  To our left, Team Vestas Wind was keeping pace as Chuny looked at his old skipper, Chris Nicholson’s boat warily. You could tell there was a friendly rivalry out on the open water. 

With a flick of the hand as if to swat him away, he grinned and steadied his eyes forward. “It’s not about being more experienced sailor," he said in his broken English. Pointing to his head he continued: “It’s about being a smarter sailor. I can have many years sailing, but still act foolish. You always need to sail smart.”

With his words still ringing, we were about to find out how right he was.

Over the next hours and night fell, the wind continued to build from the southwest. Quick to notice the change, Chuny ordered a sail change minutes before it built into the low 30s. A smooth transition in moderate conditions that could have taken much longer in stronger breeze - a result a gain of several tenths of a mile.

The wind shifted and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing jumped on the transition tacking south. Ian Walker shouted on deck, “I can barely see the end of my nose! Get everyone up on deck.”

One is reminded, this is where gains can be made - pushing the boat to it’s maximum.  And in this heavy wind, fast reaching drag race we’re in, it won’t be the more experienced crews that eek ahead, it’ll be the smartest.