Volvo Ocean Race: With Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility: Brunel creates excitement

For almost a week now, the fleet of six boats on leg 6 from Hong Kong to Auckland has been struggling through the hot doldrums around the equator. Dee Caffari had already quoted "And every day the groundhog greets the groundhog". With temperatures of around 45 degrees below deck and light to very light winds, this nerve-wracking leg of the race around the world is in danger of being considerably prolonged. Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel has now been the first team to use a stealth cap, switching to "stealth mode" and thus becoming "invisible" to the competition and the fans on the position reports.

A look at the current wind and weather conditions reveals why this move has come at an interesting time. To the west and in the cover of New Caledonia, the leading boats heading for Auckland are currently travelling in a very low-wind zone again. However, the wind forecast for the coming hours indicates a possible, albeit not risk-free, shortcut. While the winds are expected to remain around 4 to 6 knots for the front runners on their current course for a long time, the forecast for an alternative course close to the coast of New Caledonia is twofold: the low-wind corridor is expected to be narrower here, which would allow for a faster passage. And: In just a few hours' time, the forecast of around 10 knots of wind could mean a much faster passage southwards. So has Brunel put on the cloaking cap in order to sail closer to New Caledonia without being seen? Or is the stealth cap just a symbol for a deceptive manoeuvre? The result of this tactical measure will be revealed in 24 hours. The teams are allowed to switch to "stealth mode" a maximum of once per leg.

On board Brunel, the crew had already been thinking about who in the team could be which character in the film Top Gun the day before they left for "invisibility". This is how America's Cup star Kyle Langford came up with his new nickname "Iceman". Bouwe Bekking explained the advantages of sailing under a cloak of invisibility: "If you put on Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility, you can surprise the others with radical decisions. Or make them think you're doing something radical."

Without Brunel, the compatriots of Simeon Tienpont's team AkzoNobel took the lead in the intermediate classification on Friday morning. They positioned themselves the furthest west of all the boats and were initially rewarded with the lead. But how close the pursuers are! After around 5000 nautical miles, David Witt's second-placed team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag was only 4.7 nautical miles behind AkzoNobel early on Friday morning. A further two nautical miles behind them lurked Dee Caffari's team Turn the Tide on Plastic. And the tail-enders Mapfre and Dongfeng were also able to further reduce their gap overnight and are now only around 50 nautical miles behind AkzoNobel. As slow as the current leg has seemed recently, it threatens to become dramatically exciting as the remaining 1200 nautical miles approach. The compression continues. All six boats still have a chance of winning this leg.