The Franco-German Guyot Environnement - Team Europe continued to lead the Ocean Race fleet on day ten of the second leg. However, from a lead of well over 100 nautical miles the day before, only 37 remained on Saturday afternoon. Accordingly, "Guyot" skipper Robert Stanjek, navigator Sébastien Simon, Anne-Claire le Berre and Phillip Kasüske corrected their course and turned their bow to the west: out of the winds that were too flat on the edge of the St Helena High and towards the chasers on the "southern motorway".
Setback: Team Guyot's big spinnaker burst
Another reason for Team Guyot's recent loss of miles is the large spinnaker that burst. Robert Stanjek reports from on board: "Yesterday I was still asleep when an alarm suddenly sounded. Everyone rushed on deck and we realised that the spinnaker had torn. That was quite surprising because there wasn't much wind. We slowed down and almost pointed the boat into the wind. Then we caught the parts of the sail that were flying around the profile and the big piece that was floating in the water."
Robert Stanjek continued: "We managed to collect everything and leave nothing floating in the water. It took us about eight to ten minutes to get everything back on board. A record time. Then we pulled up the A3 and are still sailing with it. The team did a great job and mastered the crisis! There are still 2,500 miles to Cape Town, our motivation is intact and we will fight to the end."
Team Malizia reduces backlog considerably
The competition is also fighting. Everyone wants to win the poker game around the huge and very mobile St Helena High. This will result in a race to the south over the next few days. Boris Herrmann's "Malizia - Seaexplorer" was recently the fastest boat in this race. At the start of the weekend, the German-flagged Imoca was sailing at 17 to 19 knots and more in winds of between twelve and 14 knots - with an increasing tendency. The express to the south could allow the boats positioned to the west, and Team Malizia in particular, to make further mighty leaps forwards.
From Friday morning to Saturday afternoon alone, the Malizia crew led by skipper Will Harris was able to reduce the gap to the leaders from a good 230 to 82 nautical miles. This is roughly what Boris Herrmann's skipper representative had hoped for two days earlier when he said: "We will encounter a cold front and then hope to make up ground." This positive trend could continue for Team Malizia for the time being. However, the leg to Cape Town, around 2,600 nautical miles away, still harbours a few more hurdles for the teams to overcome. These include the final approach to Cape Town, for which very light winds are once again expected.
It is clear that all boats will now dive very deep into the south before they can turn east again and head for Cape Town. With the fleet's arrival in the next port of call expected to be delayed by at least 48 hours, all crews have started to ration provisions and onboard energy slightly.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
