In the second part of the first leg, a pre-decisive phase begins: The crews are looking for the ideal course with Cape Town as the destination harbour. The St Helena High ahead harbours great opportunities, but can also bring dramatic losses. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's onboard reporter Matt Knighton described the work of his navigator Simon "SiFi" Fisher as follows: "SiFi is currently looking at what looks like coloured spaghetti, which in this case has been thrown onto the South Atlantic. Each coloured line marks a different route to Cape Town. At last count, we had 15." Under the given circumstances, leading the fleet of seven VO-65 yachts is both a pleasure and a burden. If the front runners run into flat wind fields, the pursuers can react and sail round them.
Success comes to those who can sail through the South Atlantic High with maximum wind. On the 16th and 17th day at sea, the leading trio already got a taste of possible upcoming scenarios. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing as well as the Dutch team Brunel (26 nautical miles behind) and the Danish team Vestas Wind (45 nautical miles behind Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing), which had recently come on strong, only recorded average speeds of around ten knots, while speeds of between 15 and 19 knots were consistently achieved a little further back in the field. 205 nautical miles separated the leaders from the women's team SCA, which has since dropped back to last place - also because the Spanish team Mapfre now held the top speed on this first leg at 24 knots. The fastest 24-hour mark still belonged to the US team Alvimedica with 429 nautical miles. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing defended the best average speed over 57 per cent of the second longest leg of the race around the world with 6,487 nautical miles at 20 knots.
And because Helena is greeting us so early, the first teams are worrying about their fuel supplies. Anbord reporter Yann Riou from the Dongfeng Race Team noted in his blog: "The truth is that we're getting a bit nervous about the diesel situation on board right now. To explain it simply: Without diesel, there is no electricity. And without electricity, we're pretty much sailing blind and drinking salt water." The successful American match racer Sally Barkow from the SCA women's team described life at sea with a good comparison: "Life on board is like life on a mountain - on skis. And on this mountain you have to cook, eat, sleep and work. It's not easy."
Greetings from home come just in time. This wonderful video makes sailors and fans happy:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
