Global race sets sail
Volvo Ocean Race’s six-strong fleet finally set sail for ItajaÌ, Brazil, yesterday after Cyclone Pam kept it waiting in port nearly three more days than planned.
Organisers and skippers agreed to delay Sunday’s planned start for the fifth leg until Wednesday 0900 local time (2000 Tuesday GMT), because of the threat of the weather system that killed at least 11 people in Vanuatu. The boats will now escape any serious threat from the weather but still face a treacherous 6,776-nautical mile stage through the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn and into the Atlantic to ItajaÌ in south-eastern Brazil.
In the last race in 2011-12, five of the six competing boats suffered serious damage and only four completed the leg. Conditions are likely to be the toughest in the nine-month race so far with waves around Cape Horn on the southern tip of Chile sometimes reaching 30 metres (100 feet).
Many see the leg as a key staging post in the overall race. “There’s nowhere else on earth where you can do so much fast downwind sailing for so long,” said Simon Fisher, the British navigator for current leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.
“It’s going to be the first time the whole fleet sees a lot of wind for an extended period and it might shuffle the pack. Keeping in one piece all the way to the Horn is important, because that’s where the race will be won and lost.”
The boats are expected to arrive in ItajaÌ around April 7. China’s Dongfeng Race Team were the first crew to exit Auckland’s waters.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, headed by British skipper Ian Walker, lead the standings after four legs with Dongfeng Race Team level on eight points but with an inferior record in the in-port series which is the tie-breaker.
Team Brunel (Netherlands) are on 14 points ahead of Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S, 16 points), MAPFRE (Spain, 18) and Team SCA (Sweden, 24).
The team with the lowest points tally will win the nine leg, 38,739 nautical mile race that visits 11 ports and is scheduled to finish on June 27 in Gothenburg in Sweden. —Reuters