The tension on board the boats could not be greater: During the eighth and penultimate leg, the positions change as quickly as the wind. Time and again, one crew or another gets caught in a lull. So far, only one crew has sailed consistently and focussed ahead on the course from Lisbon to Lorient in Brittany: the women's team SCA is still leading the fleet of seven VO65 yachts after the second night at sea. Skipper Sam Davies explained the women's concept for success, which is as simple as it is effective, on their way along the Spanish coast heading for the Bay of Biscay: "We just want to head north. There were no reliable wind forecasts and therefore no special strategy other than to always react to the current wind conditions and sail north as quickly as possible." So far, this concept has worked, while the male competition has taken turns stumbling.
Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team was hit particularly hard on the first night. The skipper was disappointed with the unsuccessful start for his team: "Unfortunately, it was a very bad start for us. That's not so good, because the comeback options are limited on this course. It's difficult to develop a strategy because the wind shifts so much. We had a clear strategy for the first night and that was a mistake. We should have sailed like the women with the wind shifters. Then we changed our minds and tried to move back to the left side of the course, i.e. to the west. That was a huge mistake that cost us about 25 nautical miles." After the second night, however, Caudrelier recovered a little from the initial blunder and rejoined the fleet.
On Tuesday morning, SCA continued to lead the field by almost nine nautical miles ahead of the Danish comeback team Vestas. Behind them, the field was bunched up again. There was only a four nautical mile gap between third-placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (just under 14 nautical miles behind) and Dongfeng Race Team (just under 18 nautical miles behind). The women were still among the fastest boats in the fleet and were the first team to pass the north-western tip of Spain at La Coruña. Some of the chasing boats moved directly along the coast in their race to catch up. There were still 427 nautical miles to go to the finish on Tuesday morning. The boats are expected to arrive in Lorient on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning. Before that, however, they still have a rough Bay of Biscay passage ahead of them. By Cape Finisterre on the west coast of Galicia at the latest, the wind and above all the wave height are expected to increase significantly. It was not just a message from on board the SCA women that promised: "Is it the calm before the storm? Speeds are decreasing as the fleet hugs the coast. But strong winds await us at Cape Finisterre."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
