Height, height, height is the order of the day on the final leg of the Globe40. Five days after the starting signal last Sunday in Recife, the eight teams are fighting their way north-west on their course to the start and finish harbour of Lorient, far to the west of the ideal line. "It's unbelievable to see how the French are just getting ahead of the Belgians again," said Melwin Fink the thrilling top duel on the fleet front and the favoured French Tribute.
The Globe40 final spurt: best via the West
Our own team has moved up two places to sixth in this morning's classification. These intermediate positions are currently quite theoretical because the positions are determined in relation to the finish in the north-east, but the fleet has initially orientated itself far to the west. "We are inevitably moving further west because we simply can't go any higher in the north-east trade winds. We have been travelling at full height almost the whole time," explained Melwin Fink.
The entire fleet is now following the motto "Best in the west". In a few days' time, the aim for everyone will be to circumnavigate the expanding Azores High in the best possible way. The young German team Next Generation Boating Around the World continued to occupy the most westerly position in the fleet on Good Friday. "We are currently the most westerly boat, but that won't be so bad," explained Fink, "because we have to sail around the Azores High anyway. We'll be stalking it from the west, taking what we think is currently the fastest route to get to the north."
It could go a bit higher than it is right now. But it is what it is." Melwin Fink
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink have also seen that "Crédit Mutuel" is working its way eastwards again. "We don't know how they do it," Melwin Fink admitted honestly. He continued: "They are travelling one and a half to two knots faster than us and are travelling higher. We hope that we can get there too, because we don't want to be that far west. But we don't have any other option at the moment. We can't sail any faster or any higher." The situation and the current positions of the boats can be viewed here via Globe40-Tracker track.
Back in the northern hemisphere: losses among the chasers
Looking at the rest of the fleet, Melwin Fink revealed on 3 April: "The others like 'Barco Brasil' and Lisa (editor: Lisa Berger/Wilson Around the World) are falling further behind. A bit more than us even. They are also slipping further to the west. It's an exciting situation that will remain that way for the next few days. Then it's all about getting around the Azores high to get into the westerly wind zone and then crashing into the Bay of Biscay with a westerly wind - hopefully downwind."
The crews can't expect much variety over Easter. "It will remain pretty monotonous for the time being," said Melwin Fink. "Our hopes here are that we can keep up. In these conditions, the boats at the front are simply fast. But we knew that beforehand. We're counting on the Azores high to make a small change. And that we can then excel downwind again. Unfortunately, we can't do anything else right now."
Everything is running smoothly on board the German Class40. "Everyone is fine with us. We are doing well. We are very motivated and are fighting our way north. It's fun!" said Fink about the mood in the team. It's slowly getting cooler, said the 24-year-old. That makes the work on the boat "a little less strenuous".
Sargassum algae annoy the Globe40 duos
However, after the equator passage the day before and back in the northern hemisphere, there is a natural "enemy" of the crews: Sargassum! Melwin Fink explains: "The biggest challenge is the sargassum. We have an incredible amount of it, constantly in the rudder and on the hydrogenerator, which is a bit annoying. Because we need it now that our engine has broken down. We don't have quite as much methanol for our fuel cell. That's why we have to cheat a bit now. But that's not a fundamental problem."
While Burke and Fink are doing everything they can to remain the third scow bow boat and keep pace with the Belgians and French, who have pulled away by almost 80 nautical miles, the top bow boats all lost miles before the weekend. The podium rivals "Barco Brasil" and "Wilson Around the World" were separated by just eight nautical miles. "Wilson" skipper Lisa Berger and her co-skipper Jade Edwards-Leaney are very ambitious and determined to keep their podium chances alive.
The Austrian reports almost daily on her social media channels with a variety of clips from the race. And also about her crew's adventures in nature. This week, a video that suddenly showed five creatures on board instead of two was particularly amusing. Three seabirds were guests on "Wilson". So-called brown noddies, also known as "noddies" for short, used the heads of the mixed duo and the Class40 to land and rest. Have you laughed today? It doesn't take a minute here... One fan wrote: "They've got a bird!" In fact, there were three.
Globe40: Preliminary decision on the Azores high?
After a rather slow start to the stage, the Globe40 teams expect to arrive in Lorient in mid-April. "We are still assuming 16 to 18 April. That remains realistic, even if the first few days were much slower than expected. But of course it depends on how we get around the Azores and into the Bay of Biscay," said Melwin Fink around two weeks before the finish and the decision on overall victory and the podium places in the two-handed race around the world.
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink are now also available in close-up. The documentary "All in" shows the young ocean strikers from many perspectives:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
