As life and the wind play out, non-sailing can sometimes be faster than a tactically fought battle on the water. This is what happened at Cape Horn, where Telefonica took a break from laminating due to damage in the bow area and also took the opportunity to unload bowman Antonio, who had injured his back. Three days ago, the gap had grown to around 400 miles and the race could easily have been declared over.
But lo and behold, while the leading duo of Puma and Groupama were racing in the doldrums, Telefonica minus Cuervas-Mons got back on the road with a fresh breeze after only 17 hours of standstill and are now only 58 miles behind. Nothing has been decided, and with a bit of luck the Spaniards could even fight for the stage win. They already have the psychological advantage of catching up on their side and have absolutely nothing to lose. Accordingly, they are aggressively sailing a more easterly course than the leading duo, who are skirting the Brazilian coast and nervously looking over their shoulders.
On the other side of the continent, Camper arrived in the Chilean harbour of Puerto Montt and was craned immediately. The boat doctors, who have arrived with heavy equipment, will probably need four days to get the red racer afloat again. The black-hulled Abu Dhabi, which will be joining Camper, will probably have to face a darker future. The persistent silence on the part of the team and the organisers regarding the repair gives rise to fears that the hull, which has been hastily screwed together with bolts, will need more than a bucket of epoxy and a few layers of carbon fibre fabric. "When I'm in the sat nav, I'm close to the damage," joked skipper Ian Walker. "I can tell the helmsman how he's driving." What he means by that: carry the boat on his hands so that it doesn't get any worse.
It is still around 700 miles to the finish in Itajai, Brazil. The winners are expected to arrive on Thursday or Friday.
On both sides of South America
