Volvo Ocean Race: "Sun warriors" in ice water

On Saturday evening, the leading boats had just under 1,500 nautical miles to go to the finish harbour in Cape Town. The first leg is approaching its showdown. The decision on victory will probably not be made until shortly before the finish on 5 or 6 November. Four boats have recently managed to pull away from the field. Behind the leaders, Dongfeng Race Team (19 nautical miles behind), Team Brunel (23 nautical miles behind) and Team Vestas Wind (57 nautical miles behind) are waiting for their chance.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing continued to lead the way towards the Cape of Good Hope. Although Ian Walker and his men have recently had to concede the lead to Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team, they have come back each time. "Azzam's" on-board reporter Matt Knighton noted in his blog: "On deck, the guys encounter white wave walls as they surf down the four metre ocean waves. When one of these rides ends in a wave trough, Azzam's bow ploughs into the next one, sending ice-cold seawater across the deck with a force that can knock you down. The best thing about it: it's just the introduction to sailing in the Southern Ocean."

The teams on board the beaten boats struck a different note. The Spanish team Mapfre lagged behind the leading teams by more than 350 nautical miles and was therefore unable to fulfil expectations. Even more serious is the fact that the women's team is more than 550 nautical miles behind SCA. Anbord reporter Corinna Halloran wrote on Saturday: "We take each day as it comes. Every day is different, every hour is different. 'At this point, the rich will get richer,' Libby said yesterday. We all felt like balloons deflating. The distance kept increasing! Yesterday afternoon we couldn't reach our performance figures, even though we had our best sailors in the right positions. They said the boat felt slow but couldn't work out why. By late afternoon, everything had changed. The wind picked up and decided to linger a little longer than forecast. The waves began to crash over the bow. And we were sailing fast. Everything felt a little better. Not even the position report was as agonising as usual."

Team Brunel's reporter Stefan Coppers spoke humorously: "In the stern of the boat is the Spaniard Arrate. Hidden behind his balaclava, he endeavours to imitate the temperatures in his beloved Santander. But alas, not even the mountains of warm clothes that this Spanish sun warrior carries with him can protect him against the cold. It's foggy, the water is cold and the wind gauge shows 28 knots. A huge wave rushes across the foredeck and turns the cockpit into a bathtub filled with ice water. Arrate takes another look at the navigation corner: "More than usual today."