The field was split into two camps on Sunday afternoon. Team Brunel, Dongfeng Race Team and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing sailed into the Arabian Sea at a speed of ten to twelve knots in a medium wind from a north-easterly direction. Brunel and Dongfeng had chosen a slightly more easterly course than Abu Dhabi, which paid off. During the night, both sailed past the team, which is determined to be the first to arrive in its home port of Abu Dhabi. But nothing is lost yet, on the contrary. At midday, the gap between Dongfeng and Brunel was just three nautical miles. The two have been engaged in an incredibly close match within sight of each other for days. On Saturday, Dongfeng took the lead first. Brunel reporter Stefan Coppers gives a very amusing account of this phase of the race:
"Side by side with Dongfeng, 24 hours a day. We can smell their dinner! 'They're like sticky rice,' says Louis Balcaen, 'we'll never get rid of them. Once, when they made a wrong manoeuvre, we heard French swear words like Merde and Putin! Our boys sang 'everybody is kung-fu fighting' with a grin on their faces."
But that was to have its revenge. Coppers:
"A black cloud could be seen in the distance. We were sailing at 15 knots on the Speedo and the big top gennaker. The Chinese boat was only sailing 300 metres downwind and they changed their top headsail for a smaller one. A good decision, as it turned out.
Not only was rain coming out of the cloud, but also 30 knots of wind. The keel bomb was coming out of the water, the masthead gennaker was taking on a lot of water, and the Brunel boys were trying to hold on to anything they could grab. Some of them had been taken out of their bunks a little too late and were still sleepy on the grinders. They changed the sails in their boxer shorts. Dripping wet, they had to watch as Dongfeng overtook and sailed without any problems. In two minutes, they made a nautical mile. I rubbed my eyes.
Did I see right? At the rear of Dongfeng, a couple of guys were singing Dutch songs and smiling euphorically. But he who laughs last, laughs best!"
At the moment, the Brunel crew is smiling as they have managed to get back ahead of Dongfeng. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had already been over twelve nautical miles behind at one point, but kept catching up, most recently by five nautical miles in just three hours, after which they were only just under five nautical miles behind.
The decision on this leg, which still has around 1300 nautical miles to sail, seems to be between these three teams. Mapfre, Alvimedica and SCA are further behind than they have ever been since the start of the race; Mapfre's most recent gap was over 180 nautical miles and SCA's over 260. In addition, they had not yet reached the fresher winds of the leading trio and had lost all three miles. Only Mapfre still seems to have a chance of catching up.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
