Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4 Day 17

Pressure is on in drag race to the Cape

Groupama 4 and Franck Cammas have yet again put more distance between PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, as they begin what’s expected to be an 800 nautical mile drag race towards North Cape at the tip of New Zealand’s North Island. At 0700 UTC this morning, Groupama had drawn out a comfortable lead of 94.90 nm, which increased to 105 nm at 1000 UTC as the team averaged speeds of 16.5 knots, while PUMA had dropped 10 nm and were sailing three knots slower.

As the leaders begin what will be a fast and furious 800 nm drag race, the effect of a low-pressure originating off Fiji will be a big influence on the approach to North Cape. To sail high and avoid much of the upwind work will carry the risk of sailing too close to the centre of the system where the breeze is slight. Sailing low in more pressure for longer could involve more than 200 nm on the wind in order to get round the cape. It is a trade-off between how close to the centre of the low to go and how many miles to sail upwind.

Presently the system has not moved dramatically, although it remains unstable. Once round North Cape, provided the low-pressure stays stationary and does not spin over the centre of New Zealand, the last miles for the fleet could be in a wind corridor, which will make for a dramatic finish on Saturday morning UTC.

At 1000 UTC today, the leaders were clear of the wind shadow caused by the French island of New Caledonia, passing 120 nm to leeward. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) meanwhile is keeping a good eye on Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and CAMPER with Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS). With Groupama now so far ahead the only opportunity for the American team to overthrow them is if they run into light airs on the southern side of the North Island, something that has won and lost previous races.

Presently CAMPER in fourth place are contending with unseen reefs in their path, requiring them to alter course substantially to avoid the shallow areas of seven – 10 metres.

“We’re trying to sail fast and keep in the pressure and make some gains on the guys behind and the guys ahead,” said race veteran Tony Rae this morning. “Hopefully they [Groupama 4] will soften up and we can carry on with a bit of pressure.”

Fifth placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) lost power and lights on board briefly when a switch cover in the engine bay melted. Crisis was averted by helmsman/trimmer Simon Fisher tracing the problem and replacing the switch, but at 1000 UTC today the team was 244 nm in deficit.

Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) in sixth position are disheartened by losing so many miles. They are now 383 nm off the lead, not knowing where they went wrong having been in touch with the pack for most of this leg.

“There is plenty of time after the leg to go over and pinpoint the spot where we hurt the most and attempt to debrief it, but for now, it’s looking forward, getting to Auckland and possibly chasing down some boats,” said navigator Aksel Magdahl.

Position Report at 10:02:41 UTC:

www.VolvoOceanRace.com

Blog from the Seas (by Amory Ross, MCM, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG)

“It’s like running around with a bungee chord tied around your waste [in the waves]. You take three steps forward, the boat drops out, and you take two steps back.” – Casey Smith

LOCATION: 100 miles W of New Caladonia
BOATSPEED: 14.6
WINDSPEED: 14
HEADING: 181-degrees
SAILS: Big jib, staysail, full main
DISTANCE TO FINISH: 1200 miles

We have a strap that we tie from one end of the galley entrance to the other. It’s a preventer so that when upwind sailing is at it’s worst and you’re tucked inside cooking on the high side, you don’t risk losing your grip on the boat and falling all the way to leeward. It’s an important piece of equipment, but one I hate seeing in use; it usually comes with a great deal of discomfort. It’s like a status, like a Code Red or a Defcon 4. The preventer’s in place, life will suck for the next period of undetermined time and your body will hurt today.

Fortunately, it’s only been about four hours since I put that strap in place, and it’s probably time to take it off. The awful upwind conditions – a surprise to us all – are coming to an end as our proximity to New Caledonia has helped ease the large swell and rough sea state at blame. The island’s “lee-fect” (yes, I just made that up) also impacts our wind, which has dropped considerably, too.

Besides being the final significant landmass on our charts until New Zealand, New Caledonia is also proving to be a valuable point of relative reference. Going to the east of the island never really proved a viable option, so all six boats have used it’s northwestern corner as a loose waypoint, and it’s done well to bring the east and the west back together again for the first time in weeks. We haven’t seen another boat since the East China Sea, but that may change soon. Telefónica and CAMPER have done fine getting out of their low road and this is going to be a very close race south, especially when and if things slow up as expected during the approach to Auckland. Now comfortable leads could disappear and there could be plenty of passing lanes and park-ups.

It would be a shame to sail all this way and have the prospects of that hard work hinge on a few days of light air lingering near the finish, but that’s part of racing, whether ‘round the buoys or the world, and we’re all preparing for it!

- Amory