Behind her that leaves Dongfeng Race Team in a big battle with Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Team AkzoNobel for second place on a Leg 4 which is now offering fast sailing on flat water in warm conditions.
The issue is second place in the race overall. Dongfeng Race Team and Vestas started this leg tied on points in second place behind MAPFRE (currently fifth on this leg +166).
Dongfeng claimed the runners-up spot on her own in Melbourne by virtue of beating Vestas in Leg 3, but if Vestas gets into Hong Kong ahead then she will assume that position and Dongfeng will slip to third.
Of course predicting finishing places is conjecture at the moment – yacht racing being the most unpredictable of sports, anything could happen - but you can bet your money on one thing: Charles Caudrelier and his team will be doing all they can to squeeze the last ounce of pace out of Dongfeng in the next couple of days, trying to get ahead of Vestas.
Today the red and white Volvo Ocean 65 sponsored by Dongfeng Motor Corporation is in third place, 88 miles behind Scallywag and 18 miles behind Vestas, with Team AkzoNobel 15 miles further back in fourth.
The latest position report showed gains for all the chasing boats over Scallywag as the leader sailed into a bank of clouds about 1,000 miles due east of the northern tip of the Philippines. But the weather looks good for Scally now as she moves into the influence of the strong winds of the northeast monsoon.
As Dongfeng closes on the South China Sea, she recently crossed the deepest part of the world’s oceans – the Mariana Trench – when the depth reaches 11,000 metres (11kms, seven miles, 37,000ft). No danger of running aground there…but at the surface the atolls, reefs and banks of Micronesia, which have been a real issue at times, are now behind the boat.
This has been an exhausting leg with a horrendous stretch in the Doldrums in the middle. Now it is all about keeping the intensity up as the drag race continues in the final stages…
