After yesterday's wind-induced castling, the field was pulled apart and shuffled. The phalanx of the fleet, now sailing east again, is now more than 60 miles wide and was occasionally led by the New Zealand Camper, which seemed to be able to make the most of the wind shifts. But then there was Telefonica. The Spaniards, of course. They used to be right at the back. But after the repair of the Code Zero, they had set their sights on the northern outer lane and then dashed through the field at by far the greatest speed until they had caught everyone else. As a result, they found themselves at the front in the evening position report. "They're fast, as always," observed Puma skipper Ken Read. "They'll probably be at the front going into the Straits of Malacca too."
Read and his previously leading team had dropped back to fourth place, but overtook Groupama again. The gaps between the first four boats remain small, which creates excitement for the passage through the dreaded and approximately 500-mile-long Strait of Malacca. Large ships, small ships, often unlit fishing boats, little wind from all directions and a lively current make this passage highly unpredictable. Additional watches, frequent sail changes and stowing the spare sails, which have to be dragged across the deck to the new windward side at every tack or jibe, will keep the sailors on their toes for several days. All this in temperatures that turn the inside of the boat into an oven. With temperatures of more than 40 degrees and high humidity, the free watch has a hard time finding sleep. The sailors' best friend: the small fans mounted above the tubular bunks, which whir quietly away.
From Friday 1 pm the Tracker display the positions with a delay of just one minute, allowing viewers to follow the battle in the Strait of Malacca almost in real time. The timing of the entry is particularly piquant, with the teams choosing the shortest route but wanting to avoid the calm zone near the coast of Sumatra. Abu Dhabi and Team Sanya, who cannot keep up with the others purely in terms of boat speed and are already more than 30 and 60 miles behind Camper respectively, are hoping to catch up again with tactically skilful sailing. To make matters worse, the weather forecast predicts thunderstorms, lightning and thunder. So it will be interesting again.
More on the Event page and about the Live stream the YouTube channel and the apps for I-Phone and Android.
Before entering the Straits of Malacca
Current positions and distances in the Tracker.
This article was originally published on 26 January. The text has been updated to reflect the current status.
