Globe40: Thriller finale in the top duel, Burke and Fink on the verge of a comeback

The transfer of the after their mast damage The journey of the German Class40, repaired on La Réunion, is complete. The 3600 South Atlantic nautical miles from Cape Town to Recife have been mastered. Melwin Fink and his transfer crew with Sebastian Dziwisch and Christian Schulzeck have brought the German Class40 into the final Globe40 leg harbour of Recife. There is now plenty of time to prepare the boat for re-entry before the start of the sixth and final leg to Lorient on 29 March.

Globe40 comeback in sight

After dropping out on stage three, Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink have their sights set on their Globe40 comeback. "I'm pretty happy that we're now in Recife. We'll start preparing for the race now, then go into the final battle, the last stage back to France," said Melwin Fink after arriving on 10 March. Three missed stage classifications will throw the youngest crew in the field to the back of the fleet after stage five.

Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink's dream of circumnavigating the globe was shattered halfway through stage three when their mast was damaged. But they have set their sights high once again for the final spurt. "Of course, we followed the race the whole time and were a little sad that we couldn't fight ourselves. It was always close. We would have preferred to play with them," said Globe40 skipper Melwin Fink in Recife.

The boat is in good condition. So are we. We will give it our all, we have nothing to lose. We want to show what we're capable of," said Melwin Fink.

While Team Next Generation Around the World is now preparing in Recife for the final act in Globe40, where Lennart Burke will also be joining them next week on 20 March, an increasingly gripping battle for victory on leg five is raging at sea. "The others are putting on a very exciting race. They have very well-prepared and strong boats. That's cool to see. Hopefully we can jump back into the race on the next leg and fight with them again," said Melwin Fink.

"Crédit Mutuel" under pressure

Ian Lipinski and Antoine Carpentier are no longer alone at the front of the fleet. The Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium team had to make an early repair stop and initially had to contend with light winds during the subsequent chase. In the meantime, however, Jonas Gerckens and Corentin Douguet have worked their way back up to the leading "Crédit Mutuel" in sensational fashion.

Credit Mutuel's lead of up to 612 nautical miles has melted away to just 12.8 nautical miles, like a piece of chocolate under the Brazilian sun! And the Belgians keep up the pressure. A good 650 nautical miles away from Recife, the two undisputed top teams of this circumnavigation are engaged in an exciting duel on Class 40 yachts.

Heavy losses of 80 nautical miles in 24 hours led to this scenario - it was expected by the "Crédit Mutuel" crew in view of the wind forecasts, but it doesn't make it any better. The bug-to-bug race that is once again unfolding recalls the finish of the second leg from Cape Verde to La Réunion, when all three Scow-Bug boats, including Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink, crossed the finish line within nine minutes.

The endurance duel is also reminiscent of the fourth leg to Valparaiso, in which "Crédit Mutuel" and "Belgium Ocean Racing - Curium" crossed the finish line at the same time, so much so that the race organisers crowned them both stage winners.

French or Belgian: Who will win stage 5?

So now it could come to another final thriller. The hunted French and their Belgian hunters know what is at stake. The Belgians lead the Globe40 classification after the prologue and four stages with 15 points ahead of the French (17 points).

If the "Crédit Mutuel" crew can finish the stage ahead of the Belgians, both teams would start the final stage level on points. If, on the other hand, the Belgians were able to overtake the French to the finish, they would have the best chance of winning the Globe40 on the last section into the start and finish harbour of Lorient under their own steam.

Breathlessly, they head north along the Brazilian coast. "We're constantly adjusting the boat and the sails, we're pretty busy. It's hard to find the right moments to sleep. We've seen the lights of oil platforms and even their flames in the distance and crossed the courses of some cargo ships," says Antoine Carpentier, describing the current daily routine on board "Crédit Mutuel".

The difficult game with the light winds

Antoine Carpentier also described how difficult it is to tame the capricious wind conditions in the South Atlantic: "We sometimes sail faster than this front, overtake it and then come into less wind, so we slow down. It catches up with us, brings us more wind, we accelerate again, overtake it again and so on. We had a wave from behind and an oncoming wave, which probably explains why we found it so difficult to maintain 100 per cent performance."

Everything is fine on board the Crédit Mutuel. I'm going back on deck, the wind is shifting for the thousandth time today!" Antoine Carpentier

Behind the two front boats, whose showdown is expected to take place off Recife at the weekend, the battle for third place on the podium and further valuable points is still undecided. The French "Free Dom" defended third place in the fleet on Wednesday morning, just 480 nautical miles behind the leader "Crédit Mutuel", and thus the top position among the top bow boats.

Final stage sprint in Globe40: "Wilson" crew fights for podium place

Your lead over the resurgent "Wilson" crew with Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney had shrunk to just 18 nautical miles. The Austrian and her Welsh C-skipper remained in contention for third place on the podium, even in volleys of squalls. They recently defended a lead of around 33 nautical miles over Richard Palmer and Rupert Holmes on the British "Jangada Racing". They, in turn, are battling bow to bow with José Guilherme Caldas and Luiz Bolina on "Barco Brasil" for fifth place.

For the time being, the red tail light continues to hang in the stern of Melodie Schaffer's "Whiskey Jack", which, however, was only 20 nautical miles behind "Barco Brasil". There has never been such a compact leg with such small gaps between the two groups of scow and pointed bow boats in this form before. It promises high tension right to the finish - from the first boat to the last. Click here for Globe40 trackingwhich updates the positions every four hours.

Melwin Fink in an interview after arriving in the last Globe40 leg harbour Recife and before the comeback: