Unimaginable, this blink-of-an-eye final. At the last Volvo Ocean Race, back then still sailed on one-design VO65 boats, it was hard to believe. But now, with such different yachts that have such different strengths and levels of maturity?
What must already be a martyrdom for the skippers and their crews - after more than two weeks of hard, tireless work, standing condensed into a flotilla almost in formation off Cape Town - is of course also potentially nerve-wracking for the teams ashore.
This is because the order in which the Imocas finish determines the order in which they are craned ashore to be overtaken, one after the other. Whoever comes first has an enormous time advantage - even if there are only minutes between victory and a place at the finish line.
Even if most teams report only sparingly about problems on board so as not to inadvertently make the competition stronger themselves, it is foreseeable that the composite experts, riggers, electronics engineers and sailmakers will have their work cut out for them.
At 11th Hour Racing, it is rumoured in the Race Village, a foil may be due for replacement. In any case, there is a fairly large transport box on their premises, which can hardly have any other contents, if you exclude hot air.
On the maintenance area behind Quai 6 at the edge of the harbour, four storage trestles are ready to receive the crashed boats. Apparently only Paul Meilhat and his team Biotherm want to do without a pit stop on dry land - for budget reasons or because his boat has remained largely undamaged? Unclear.
In any case, the Verdier design had to be feverishly laminated and tinkered with in Alicante right up until the last day before the first launch. It is said that three additional frame ribs were used or reinforced after the structure weakened during the Route du Rhum and the subsequent return passage.
Team Malizia, probably the most transparent campaign in the Ocean Race, let it be known shortly after the calms that the aft edge of the starboard foil was cracked. As a result, the boat designed by VPLP could not be sailed completely full - but this did not stop the crew led by Will Harris, who had taken over the skipper role for Boris Herrmann, who had injured his foot, from achieving 500-plus nautical mile times.
With her strength in heavy seas and strong winds, but also with her early westerly positioning off the Rossbreiten, "Malizia - Seaexplorer" made it from last to first place, which she defended until Saturday evening.
So how long is the job list for the technical team? Stu Mc Lachlan, the boat captain, appeared relaxed on the day before arrival. He usually is, because he has experienced and fixed everything in his career, but his equanimity was absolutely convincing.
The foil problem doesn't seem to be of serious concern to anyone; it seems that only the trailing edge on the shaft of the starboard wing is damaged, which has no structural function. The repair plan is in place and should take no more than two or three days.
To be on the safe side, however, the team is flying in a composite expert from France who specialises in structural analyses and will "x-ray" both foils. If no further delamination is discovered, the boat will set off in 100 per cent mode on the third, longest and toughest leg, from Cape Town to Itajaí.
To repair the foils, Team Malizia had full carbon profiles specially baked in an autoclave to reinforce and stiffen the aft edges on both sides in order to better withstand the torsional loads occurring between the upper and lower foil bearings. They will replace the laminates that were applied to the boat in Alicante shortly before the in-port race. Their strength will be significantly higher.
Today, three men corrected the vertical alignment of the spare rudder on the shaft - by just 0.5 degrees. As there was no time to optimise both rudders in Alicante, only one was worked on there. The other will now be swapped for the replacement profile - which will also make "Malizia - Seaexplorer" even better.
There is only one thing that is unlikely to be solved, and it is one of the biggest problems for the sailing crew: the annoying howling at speeds above 20 knots, which is likely to be the minimum speed for long stretches in the Southern Ocean. Stu Mc Lachlan told YACHT online: "Even if nobody wants to hear it, we can't get rid of it."
The reason: unlike the competition, the hull is not a sandwich construction with a high-strength foam core, but is made of full carbon fibre. You have to imagine it like a drum: The cushioning effect of the foam is completely absent. This is the reason for the howling sound that is present in every video from on board, which is significantly lower on the other Imocas.
In view of the 12,750 nautical miles and probably more than 30 days of leg three, this is not good news for the sailors. On the other hand, it means they have the strongest boat, which has already proven its superiority in heavy weather thanks to its bow shape.
Faced with the choice of travelling slower and a little more comically or faster and louder, the answer for Boris Herrmann, Will Harris, Rosalie Kuiper and Nico Lunven will probably be clear.
Enjoy the thrilling finish. May the best team with the strongest nerves win! We will be reporting tomorrow on all channels and live from the finish line. On Monday, there will be a detailed background - and no doubt one or two previously untold tidbits from on board.
Jochen Rieker
Herausgeber YACHT
