On Friday, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing was still upwind of the field on a beat with wind from port out into the South Atlantic. During the night, the wind shifted to the right and died. Something happened that regatta sailors usually only know from inland lakes: The four boats lying to leeward tack, the wind continues to shift and they can tack with a nice arc. Abu Dhabi, on the other hand, tacked a little too early in the tack, couldn't get to the fresh wind and was overtaken on the outside. Later, the four boats that are now upwind also get an extra turn to the left with more wind and are able to gain more speed with a better angle to the wind.
As if that wasn't enough, Team Alvimedica turns northwards much earlier and also overtakes Abu Dhabi in the meantime, so that the overall leader is suddenly last. The team was able to fight its way back up to fourth place. But the gap to the leaders is still large. Dongfeng leads by around ten nautical miles ahead of Mapfre and Brunel, followed by Abu Dhabi, SCA and Alvimedica by around 20 nautical miles.
Was that already a preliminary decision? The route to Newport no longer seems to present any major strategic challenges. Hope remains: "We don't know whether that was the critical part of the leg," says Abu Dhabi reporter Matt Knighton, "or whether there's still something to come later, perhaps in the Doldrums. There's still a lot of the race left."
Tomorrow the boats will cross the equator.
How experts comment on the decisive tactical situation - including former participant Tim Kröger from Hamburg
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
