But it is all change now as they tackle the Doldrums and one look at the Volvo Ocean Race Tracker shows progress has not been easy. The straight lines are long gone and in their place there is a meandering wiggling pattern.
The crews on the red boats have been working hard with every windshift, squall, rain storm and cloud, trying to make gains towards the east where they hope the narrowest of this unpredictable zone will be.
In the latest position report, midway through their 10th day at sea, Dongfeng is lying in fourth place, 32 miles behind the new leader, Team Brunel. MAPFRE is right on Dongfeng’s tail, five miles back in fifth place.
Who’s following who? The two red boats have been match racing continually throughout this leg and look set to carry on fighting as they head south toward the Equator, now just 150 miles due south of them.
It’s not easy to stick to another boat, day after day. Yesterday MAPFRE lost 13 miles in one six-hour period when the Spanish crew got stuck under a cloud, allowing Dongfeng to overtake and re-establish her lead.
Images from on board Dongfeng show a happy crew with Kevin Escoffier, the resident comedian, making everyone laugh with his latest jokes. Driving duties have been shared in recent hours by Marie Riou, Carolijn Brouwer and Jeremie Beyou. Navigator Pascal Bidegorry has also been spotted on the wheel.
Of course there has been a little celebration on the Chinese boat sponsored by Dongfeng Motor Corporation to mark Chinese New Year today too, with Black sending new year’s greetings to his family and friends back in China. This is the year of the dog which celebrates the birth of people who are not afraid of the difficulties in life…difficulties like, for example, trying to race a one-design yacht through the Doldrums?
Up ahead, meanwhile, the weather picture looks pretty horrible. After a band of west-northwesterly breeze blowing just south of the Equator, a huge hole in the weather is opening up behind Cyclone Gita. Will we see the boats heading a long way east to avoid the worst of this before doubling back towards New Zealand?
Latest position report at 0700 UTC:
1. Team Brunel. DTF: 2 542nm
2. Team AkzoNobel. DTL: 1.4nm
3. Turn the Tide on Plastic. DTL: 8.8m
4. Dongfeng Race Team. DTL: 32.3nm
5. MAPFRE. DTL: 37.7nm
6. Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag. DTL: 46.8nm
7. Vestas 11th Hour Racing. DNS.
