Volvo Ocean Race: On course for the equator: the Doldrums lottery is underway

After seven days and around 3000 nautical miles at sea, the expected compression of the fleet has begun on course for the equator: Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team remains in the lead a few hundred nautical miles before the halfway point of the second leg, but the pursuers had already come very close to the boat flying the Chinese flag on Sunday evening.

Just 1.4 nautical miles behind, Xabi Fernandez' Spanish team Mapfre Dongfeng launched a massive attack shortly before the start of the second leg of the week. A further 6.3 nautical miles behind in third place, Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the winner of leg 1, was lurking for an opportunity to overtake. Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel has made the biggest leap forward in the last few days. On Sunday evening, the "yellows" were only 9.7 nautical miles behind the leading boat. At this point, Bekking's compatriot Simeon Tienpont and his team AkzoNobel were only four nautical miles behind the Dutch team Brunel, having given away a much better position two days earlier due to a mistake of their own. New signing and watch leader Chris Nicholson reported this surprisingly clearly from on board: "We have to get these stupid mistakes out of the system. There was a communication error when deciding on the next course. We could have been second, now we're fourth." In the meantime, it has even become a provisional fifth place.

It was noticeable on Sunday evening that comeback skipper Simeon Tienpont, who had disputed his role after being kicked out of the Dutch Court of Arbitration shortly before the start of the first leg, is not mentioned or quoted once in a very detailed, multi-page AkzoNobel summary of the first week of the leg, nor does he comment on the wrong decision. He is only listed as skipper on the crew list. Instead, his Australian crew mates Luke Malloy and Chris Nicholson report on the events in the message. Nicholson sharply criticised the team's mistakes, but did not name those responsible. In the same series of interviews from on board, the British navigator Jules Salter took responsibility for the misunderstanding between the watch and himself shortly afterwards. Skipper Tienpont is also only shown briefly and not very happily at the helm in the extensive clip. The following video from Saturday makes it clear that there was more frustration than pleasure on board "AkzoNobel" after the mistake.

At the end of the first week, Dee Caffari's team Turn the Tide on Plastic and David Witt's team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag struggled to catch up with a little more distance. Caffari's 50:50 mixed team was able to reduce the once three-digit mile gap to the top boat to just 44.8 nautical miles after re-emerging from "stealth mode", because the leading boats had reached the lighter winds around the squid belt first and had slowed down. Team Sun Hung Kai Scallywag was a further ten nautical miles behind in seventh and last place on Sunday.

The leading boats are expected to reach the equator early Monday morning. Unsettled winds are forecast for the next 48 hours, which could offer all Dongfeng chasers opportunities to rejoin the fleet. The Doldrums lottery is in full swing. The fleet is currently expected to arrive in the stopover port of Cape Town on 28 or 29 November.