Filmed on board working on the cockpit winches as Dongfeng continues on her way south in the Southern Pacific Ocean, Horace explained that he had decided to get a short haircut and had the “V” put in to remind him and his teammates at all times “to keep fighting and sail the boat faster.”
Like everyone else on board Horace is determined that Dongfeng Race Team will score its first leg win on this tough voyage to Itajai in Brazil. In the meantime the early stage of the leg continues to unfold as the fleet heads south around the eastern flank of a huge high pressure system.
Strong winds from the northeast are producing boatspeeds in the low 20s as the crews enjoy a fast ride down towards the Ice Exclusion Zone, now 500 miles due south. Once they get down there, the turn to the east will begin and they will hook into the first weather front taking them toward Cape Horn.
“For the first three days it is quite simple, going straight south to the Ice Limit and then turning round the high pressure,” explained Kevin Escoffier. “And then we have a front passing us and it will be a completely different story after that with a weather front that is quite windy.
“So now we have to get some sleep and rest to be ready for this part of the race,” he added, “because when you have so much wind for so long and a lot of gybes, you will get tired quite quickly – that is part of this race and that is part of racing in the Southern Ocean.”
Mid-way through their third day at sea, Dongfeng is lying in fourth place, just five miles behind the leader, Vestas 11th Hour Racing, which sailed around the outside of the fleet when the leading boats were stuck under a cloud, going from sixth to first.
