Tiesiai iš jachtų - spalio 29, 2014

Merginos be vėjo, pracūzams sutriko akumuliatorius, kuris galėjo juos pašalinti iš varžybų. Bet  viskas vėl stojo į savo vėžias - visi gaudo geriausią vėją ir teisingiausią maršrutą link Keiptauno. Pranešimai apie ledkalnių zoną šiek tiek sujaukė kortas.

Forrest Gump once wisely said: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." That could never be more true than today. Except our chocolate got squished as well; it's still good, we still love it, but it's just been a bit sticky and messy the last 24 hours.  

Last night, as we happily made our way southwest, we got caught under our own personal rain cloud that sucked every ounce of wind. Our "parade" was both literally and figuratively rained on. By morning, we were 90 miles behind MAPFRE, and by 1pm, we were another 49 miles behind. Unsure if "gutted" gives the best description of the mood of all of us on board - but it felt like we had all been stabbed in the stomach.

Yes, today was not easy, but we did not allow ourselves to slow us down - we sailed with the conditions given and sailed at 100% performance.

So, as I've said before: don't rule us out. Don't expect anything but the best from us. Don't stop believin'. There is still thousands of miles left, and with a newly added "Ice Gate" in the Southern Ocean, the next couple of days racing may get even closer. We are fighting and that's the most important part. After all, who knows what chocolates we'll have tomorrow...

Corinna Halloran, OBR
Team SCA
Go to team website 

Someone flicked the switch last night. We cruised in considerable comfort for the majority of yesterday evening until a shady grey cloud line crept up from the west. It had all the signs of significant breeze, enough to get the full compliment of crew on deck for a speedy sail change.

We waited, we looked and we were patient! Zero materialised, nothing in the cloud line. Two further attempts of front line clouds move in towards us. Zero, then wallop! It came at 24-26 knots of fun, pure surfing enjoyment. The darkness rolled in before I had any opportunity to capture the excitement. The night didn’t disappoint either, many gybes, stacks and then re-stacks later we sailed our way into the best pressure. It did however finally drop out light.

This is where the leaders gained distance and the pack behind compressed.

Wouter doesn’t seem fazed by any of this, his concern now is setting up for the sling-shot east, believing we are in the right placed area when the low-pressure systems develops to the west of us.

Brian Carlin, OBR
Team Vestas Wind
Go to team website 

Might have been one of the nicest days out we’ve seen although not from a sailing perspective… I guess this is what you’d expect on the edge of a high-pressure system. Bright skies, warm on deck but light-ish breeze. Fortunately the winds never really dipped below 10 knots allowing us to keep good pace. Almost no sea state makes sailing at 15 knots feel like you’re standing still if you’re down below deck.

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.

Matt Knighton, OBR
 
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
 
Go to team website 

Early in the morning an alarm goes off showing that we only have 30% battery power left, and that we need to charge. The engine starts but the batteries won’t charge. We switched everything off, satellite, computers, lights, GPS. We then got in touch with land and let them know. 

Michel and Iker got on to it and couldn’t find the origin of the problem, and we thought we might have to head to land. We then found out we could charge them when isolated, but not at the same time. Could have something to do with the water issue from the other day, or maybe there’s something not functioning properly we don’t know of.

Now everything is working again but we know that if this happens in the days to come, which are going to be hard, that could get very, very serious. We are getting ready for tough sailing conditions, we checked the mast and the winches. As Iker says, in the south, anything can happen, and the best prepared will get a better result.

Francisco Vignale, OBR
MAPFRE
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We’re using two different kinds of weather files: the European and the American models. They aren’t always on the same page. You've got to pick your side. That’s why we’ve seen the boats take different routes for the past couple of days. Verdict in a few days.

As far as everything else goes, life goes on onboard Dongfeng. These strategic questions keep us awake. We’re also discussing the arrival date in Cape Town. This date sets the number of days off we’ll have before the Leg 2. Sensitive topic…

Yann Riou, OBR
Dongfeng Race Team
Go to team website