All four boats racing
to Itajaí are finally making speed
as the wind returns to Roaring 40s.
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It is still a far cry
from traditional Roaring 40s weather,
but at least one critical element
has returned - the wind.
Biotherm, 11th Hour Racing Team and
Team Malizia are all finally on the
move after a frustrating period of
unusually light, warm, and calm
conditions.
While the unusual weather
suited Team Malizia as they worked
through the day and into the night
on Wednesday to repair their damaged
mast, it was received far less well
by the sailors on Biotherm and 11th
Hour Racing Team who could only
watch as Leg leading Team Holcim -
PRB raced away from them, one full
weather system ahead.
"We are moving again, after 24 hours
in the high pressure system," said
Biotherm skipper Paul Meilhat. "Now,
it's 'let's go'. It's still not very
windy, but much better than before.
We are happy to be going faster with
the boat and not listening to the
flapping of the sails. It's good!!"
Biotherm
has found the wind
It has turned out relatively well
for Biotherm, who have converted a
trailing position to the south into
a second place on the leaderboard,
by virtue of getting into the new
wind ahead of 11th Hour Racing Team.
In fact, the American team has found
misfortune over the past couple of
days. Ensnared in a high pressure
bubble of near calm winds, Charlie
Enright's team has even made miles
to the west - away from finish - in
an effort to get into the new breeze.
As of Friday afternoon UTC, they are
back, moving at 20 knots through the
water, but still struggling to turn
in a more favourable direction as
the calms remain in their path. But
media crewman Amory Ross writes the
team is just happy to be moving
again:
"With one final gybe to the south
this morning it feels like we’ve
finally escaped the clutches of the
high. We have 10 knots on the water
and 15 knots at the top of the rig
and while we may be heading
southwest, at least we’re making
progress towards the new wind. In
the end the high did roll us and we
did drift around for the better part
of 12 hours; all somewhat
foreseeable after we fell off the
back of the low. What’s also
foreseeable, and you can already see
happening, is the new wind filling
from the west will first aid
Biotherm and then Malizia before it
finally reaches us. C’est la vie..."
All in all a tough opening week for
the American team, but with 30+ days
of racing remaining, plenty of time
to turn things around.
For Team Malizia, the news is
positive. Repairs appear to have
gone as well as they could have
hoped and the team is moving at
speed again, if still a little bit
cautiously as they allow as much
time as possible for the resins to 'cook'
or cure in the repair at the top of
the mast. But the prognosis is
positive.
“I am so happy, we are back sailing,
the workshop is cleaned away and
most things are fixed on board," was
the message from skipper Boris
Herrmann on Friday afternoon. "I
feel so ready for the next part of
this race, it fills me with energy
to think about what we have just
achieved across the whole team and I
am ready to go for the rest of this
Leg! The race is still on, we aren’t
far from 11th Hour and Biotherm and
the race is still long!”
At the head of the fleet, it's also
all positive for Team Holcim - PRB.
The opening five days could hardly
have gone better, as skipper Kevin
Escoffier sits nearly 600 miles
ahead of his closest competitor.
See the
latest boatfeed from Team Holcim -
PRB
“We will stay in this low pressure
system – like four or five days –
and afterwards it will be different
and we will have some gybes to do
and not a straight line, like today,”
Tom Laperche said from on board the
leader.
“And yes, behind us they have fallen
into the high pressure and they have
a lot of light wind over the next
two days, but our routing is not
very clear for the next week, so I
don’t know if they can come back or
not.”
That is the flip side of such a
commanding lead - it can be
difficult to cover your opponents
from 600 miles away. But this is a
good problem to have.
Racing back to Cape Town, GUYOT
environnement - Team Europe is about
250 miles from a weekend arrival at
the V&A Waterfront, where everything
is prepared and ready for a
significant repair operation.
Thomas Cardrin is the head of the
Tech Team of GUYOT environnement -
Team Europe: "Workshop and storage
containers were brought back and the
work area prepared. The cradles are
back, the RIB has to be back in the
water, the big fenders are ready. We
have made a lot of phone calls to
order all the equipment we need to
repair the damaged area - carbon
fibre, resins, etc. To do this, we
need to check how to reinforce the
starboard side, which has not been
affected so far, for the next Legs.
We need to prevent the damage from
occurring on the other side as well.
"The expected arrival of the yacht
is on Saturday afternoon, maybe in
the evening. We will prep the mast
for Sunday. Sunday midday we should
be able to take off the mast, put
the boat on the cradle out of the
water, wash it and inspect it. By
Monday morning the plan for the
repairs will be in place and we will
start working."
Looking at the continuation of the
race, Thomas Cardrin sees a range of
possibilities: "The best option is
that we repair very quickly and the
yacht can start again, so that it
goes to Itajaí on the normal track,
finishes the Leg around Cape Horn.
The other option is to go directly
to Itajaí to be there in time to get
everything ready for the start of
the fourth leg."
All
of the media from the boats,
including videos and photos, is
here
The latest position are on the
Race Tracker
Follow the racing at
www.theoceanrace.com and
www.eurosport.com/sailing/
Release:
The Ocean Race 1973
S.L.U., Alicante, Spain
