Dongfeng Race Team leads the way at the Aarhus Fly-By

Charles Caudrelier and his crew on Dongfeng executed a perfect rounding at the Aarhus turning mark set inside the Danish port city’s harbour where thousands of people watched the Chinese-flagged yacht lead the fleet.

Dongfeng enjoyed surprisingly stable wind conditions as she beat into the harbour and then appoached the mark, leaving it to starboard before turning downwind on her way back to the Norwegian coast for the next windward mark.

Behind Dongfeng, MAPFRE – one of two rivals along with Team Brunel that could win the race overall - was 0.4 of a mile astern as Caudrelier turned the bow back out to sea. As Dongfeng went downwind that advantage increased to almost a mile.

There are now 620 miles to go to the finish of the race at The Hague, consisting this short downwind section, then a long reach/beat up to a new virtual mark off the Norwegian coast and then a reach and a run down the outside of Denmark to the finish in Holland.

On board Dongfeng the hectic pace continues with Jack Bouttell, the bowman, revealing that he has had just two sessions of sleep lasting three minutes each. He was hoping that once the boat goes upwind again in the Kattegat, he might get the chance to have a bit more time in his bunk but he was not sounding very confident.

Approaching Aarhus, Caudrelier was on the wheel with navigator Pascal Bidegorry on deck, checking lay lines and making sure they sailed the shortest course possible.