At present the boats are sailing fast straight at the tip of South Africa, reaching in a strong northerly wind in cold conditions but on a relatively flat sea.
For the past two days they have been riding a frontal system that has propelled them across the south Atlantic. But this band of strong wind is gradually getting eroded by high pressure ahead and it looks as though there will be one more difficult phase ahead for navigators as the crews encounter an area of light winds near the finish.
For the men and women on Dongfeng this is both a challenge and an opportunity as they seek to make up the miles and places lost, having slipped from first position to fourth two days ago. The latest reports show that Dongfeng under skipper Charles Caudrelier has been making good progress in its hunt for at least a podium finish.
This morning the red and white Volvo Ocean 65, sponsored by Dongfeng Motor Corporation and carrying the hopes of China in the race, had made it up to third place, 27 miles behind the leader MAPFRE, skippered by Xabi Fernandez. But Dongfeng was only a mile or so behind second placed Vestas 11th Hour Racing skippered by Charlie Enright and sailing in very similar conditions to the north, and to windward, of MAPFRE.
Over the last 24 hours Team Brunel has been sailing in so-called “stealth mode” when its position is not shared with the other boats or the wider world. During this period Bouwe Bekking’s team opted to switch from the leeward side of the leading bunch to the windward edge. In the process they have lost miles and places and moved from second to fourth and are now three miles behind Dongfeng.
This has been an exciting leg from the start in Lisbon. The climax looks a real nail-biter. Perhaps MAPFRE will get through to win, but the next three boats are neck-and-neck and Caudrelier and his multi-national male and female crew will be fighting for every inch as they try to secure at least second place over the next four days.
The mood on board Dongfeng will have improved dramatically with the latest position information, but crew members were already in a positive frame of mind as evidenced by a revealing interview given by Carolijn Brouwer to the Chinese Olympic sailing gold medalist Lijia Xu.
Brouwer was asked what had happened when Dongfeng lost places. “That’s what yacht racing is about,” she replied. “Sometimes everybody makes mistakes and the winner is actually not the person who sailed the perfect race. The winner over the line is the person or the crew that makes the least mistakes. What we’re doing right now is heading east towards Cape Town under very nice conditions and the crew is just focused on sailing the boat as fast as they can to just try and get every mile back to our opponents.
“Everyone has their heads held high and is fighting really hard for every metre basically because there is still a long way to go to Cape Town and a lot could still happen, so we can still bounce back,” she added.
Brouwer explained that Dongfeng’s routing took her too close to the edge of the St Helena high pressure where light winds slowed the Chinese boat in comparison to rivals who were further west. “We got stuck in a little bit of a hole, swallowed up by the high pressure that we got too close to unfortunately,” she said.
The Dutch star said she is missing her son Kyle and the comforts of a soft and warm bed. “I’m looking forward to some clean clothes, some deodorant and to be able to put my head down on a really nice fluffy pillow with clean sheets,” she said.
