The leading crews in the Volvo Ocean Race are currently in the middle
of the most physically demanding hours of the race to date. Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE are gybing back and forth as they
zig-zag in an east-southeasterly direction, trying to stay as close as
possible to the southern boundary of the race course, imposed by the
Antarctica Ice Exclusion Zone (AIEZ) – a virtual line implemented to
keep the crews away from dangerous icebergs.
"During the next 30 hours we are going to gybe at least every hour,
so it's just a nightmare," said Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier. The reason is simple. Gybing these boats takes all hands. The
off-watch crew is wakened and either brought on deck to assist with the
manoeuvre or stay below to shift all the gear from one side of the boat
to the other. The entire procedure can take around 30 minutes of hard
physical labour. And the leaders are gybing more than once per hour at
the moment.
"It's not a pleasure. You have to stack everything, so you have to
move about 600 kilograms," Caudrelier explained. "The boat is moving,
you can't sleep, you have to change everything. It's just horrible...
But on the positive side, we are ahead of MAPFRE and fighting for first
place. So it's good!"
“We have been in visual sight of Dongfeng from the end of our night
and all this morning, with both throwing gybes along the ice limit line,
as winds are weak further to the north,” writes MAPFRE navigator Juan
Vila in a report to race headquarters. “From early this morning we have
so far done 17 gybes in less than 11 hours.
“All is good on board and morale is high, especially now we are back in touch with the leader.” They should be happy. Yesterday at this time, the gap to Dongfeng was over 15 miles. 24 hours later it is just 5 miles. At the back of the fleet, team AkzoNobel is back up to sailing at 100 per-cent after a second attempt at repairing the broken mast track held firm.
“All is good on board and morale is high, especially now we are back in touch with the leader.” They should be happy. Yesterday at this time, the gap to Dongfeng was over 15 miles. 24 hours later it is just 5 miles. At the back of the fleet, team AkzoNobel is back up to sailing at 100 per-cent after a second attempt at repairing the broken mast track held firm.
“We’ve loaded up the mainsail now and no dramas, it’s a way better
job,” said Nicolai Sehested from on deck as he watched the sail load up.
“We knew after we did this second one it would be a good one and now
it’s holding.”
The team is sailing fast and making up miles; in fact, they’ve sliced
their deficit by an incredible 125 miles over the past 24 hours. That is partly a reflection of general compression in the fleet. The
boats are all closer today than yesterday. But it’s certainly a good
sign for team AkzoNobel as they try to get back in touch on the race to
Melbourne.
Leg 3 – Position Report – Sunday 17 December (Day 8) – 13:00 UTC
1. Donfeng Race Team -- distance to finish – 3,103.3 nautical miles
2. MAPFRE +5.3 nautical miles
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +53.3
4. Team Brunel +74.3
5. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag +83.1
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +133.4
7. team AkzoNobel +250.8
2. MAPFRE +5.3 nautical miles
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing +53.3
4. Team Brunel +74.3
5. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag +83.1
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +133.4
7. team AkzoNobel +250.8
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