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Volvo Ocean RaceTeam Brunel wrestles with the red boats

Tatjana Pokorny

 · 10.06.2018

Volvo Ocean Race: Team Brunel wrestles with the red boatsPhoto: Volvo Ocean Race
Stage 10, start
The scenario could hardly be more exciting: The trio battling for overall victory in the final sprint of the Volvo Ocean Race is also in the lead at the start of leg 10

The fleet was underway for a day and just under an hour on Monday evening, with Team Brunel in the lead and struggling to keep the two red boats from Dongfeng and Mapfre close behind at bay. As at the start, the teams continued to struggle with agonisingly light summer winds after passing Fastnet Rock. Brunel's yellow boat was only making progress at just under a knot of boat speed at around 6 p.m., while Dongfeng was making a little more speed behind it. The three top teams were less than a nautical mile apart. Vestas 11th Hour, Team AkzoNobel and Dee Caffari's Team Turn the Tide on Plastic were also sailing within sight and changing positions within a nautical mile of leader Brunel.

A lull in the summer sailing fun for the teams in the Volvo Ocean Race. Leg 10 has started in slow motionPhoto: Volvo Ocean Race A lull in the summer sailing fun for the teams in the Volvo Ocean Race. Leg 10 has started in slow motion The intermediate results from Monday evening, around 6pm. The positions of the yachts change quickly in the calm...Photo: Screenshot/Volvo Ocean Race The intermediate results from Monday evening, around 6pm. The positions of the yachts change quickly in the calm...

At "happy hour" at Fastnet Rock, as Dongfeng's helmswoman and trimmer Carolijn Brouwer cheerfully described it, her team was still leading the fleet. All the boats had arrived there almost simultaneously. Only David Witt's crew Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag had already caught a gap of almost 50, at times even up to 80 nautical miles, because they had missed a "Tidentor" and had to anchor last night. In the meantime, the "Scallywags" were enjoying a speed of 13 knots again as they chased to catch up, while their rivals, who had hurried away, were all crawling around Ireland's south-west tip.

Thoughtful faces on board Vestas 11th Hour Racing. The doldrums are a particular headache for the navigatorsPhoto: Volvo Ocean Race Thoughtful faces on board Vestas 11th Hour Racing. The doldrums are a particular headache for the navigators

At the height of the infamous Fastnet Rock, which has so often caused rough conditions for sailors, Brunel's onboard reporter Sam Greenfield had written: "Fastnet Rock is in sight. As is the rest of the fleet (apart from Scally). 6 knots TWS and 6.5 knots boat speed. The Irish coastline is beautiful! Early this morning we were visited by 'Gitana', the foiling 100-footer. If Yann and Thomas (former Brunel crew members) were on board, then the team sends their regards!" An hour earlier, Bouwe Bekking had delivered his first lines on this leg: "We can see Ireland now and the wind is picking up. The boats behind us will catch up. As will we on Dongfeng."

Fastnet parade: The fleet sails towards the famous rock as if they had made an appointment and were not fighting each other for every metrePhoto: Volvo Ocean Race Fastnet parade: The fleet sails towards the famous rock as if they had made an appointment and were not fighting each other for every metre The start of the 10th stage provides the navigators, like Team Brunel's Andrew Cape here, with plenty of food for thoughtPhoto: Volvo Ocean Race The start of the 10th stage provides the navigators, like Team Brunel's Andrew Cape here, with plenty of food for thought

The latter prophecy was realised shortly afterwards: Brunel took the lead from Dongfeng, but is now itself being harried from behind again. Positions are constantly changing in the flat conditions. This will only change when the pressure increases again.

Several teams always have men or women in the mast in the very light winds. There they keep an eye out for the wind and the competitionPhoto: Volvo Ocean Race Several teams always have men or women in the mast in the very light winds. There they keep an eye out for the wind and the competition

"This leg is complicated," explained "Turn the Tide on Plastic" skipper Dee Caffari, "lots of land on both sides, lots of tidal gates, plus some oil rigs and wind farms. It's going to be a tough time for the navigators. Especially as we will have visual contact with the rest of the fleet the whole time. There's a lot going on."

Click here for the tracker and the interim results

This was the start on Sunday. In the meantime, the fleet has passed Fastet Rock

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Tatjana Pokorny

Tatjana Pokorny

Sports reporter

Tatjana “tati” Pokorny is the author of nine books. As a reporter for Europe's leading sailing magazine YACHT, she also works as a correspondent for the German Press Agency (DPA), the Hamburger Abendblatt and other national and international media. In summer 2024, Tatjana will be reporting from Marseille on her ninth consecutive Olympic Games. Other core topics have been the America's Cup since 1992, the Ocean Race since 1993, the Vendée Globe and other national and international regattas and their protagonists. Favorite discipline: Portraits of and interviews with sailing personalities. When she started out in sports journalism, she was still intensively involved with basketball and other sports, but sailing quickly became her main focus. The reason? The declared optimist says: “There is no other sport like it, no other sport with such interesting and intelligent personalities, no other sport so diverse, no other sport so full of energy, strength and ideas. Sailing is like a constantly refreshing declaration of love for life."

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