Leg 7, Day 9: Cape Horn is coming up and it is going to be wild

If you look at the latest video coming from Dongfeng in the wild heart of the southern Pacific Ocean, you will see that in the big seas and powerful winds 1,400 miles west of Cape Horn, the red and white Volvo Ocean 65 is shipping ridiculous amounts of water.

The 65s are wet at the best of times with the crews getting hammered in an out-of-date way that no IMOCA sailors do any longer (or even François Gabart).

Right now the bow wave is producing torrents of water and a good yardstick of its sheer weight and volume is that the boom is being lifted – distorting the shape of the mainsail – as each bow wave comes thundering down the deck.

For the sailors this really is the time to think about safety – to make sure they are holding on – or clipped on – before doing anything outside the cockpit. Who would want to be working the bow of a boat like Dongfeng right now? Take a bow, Jack, Horace and Kevin.

Despite the horrendous weather conditions, the fleet is still racing with undiminished intensity. Team Brunel is out in front with a 31-mile advantage over Vestas 11th Hour Racing in second place. But the next four boats are within 14 miles of each other with Dongfeng handily placed in third position, 36 miles behind Team Brunel.

On board Dongfeng, Horace has been filmed at the chart table. The young Chinese sailor, who might one day skipper his own Volvo Ocean Race entry, has been checking out the state of the race and the weather on the course for Cape Horn, now just 72 hours away.

“I am looking at the other competitors to check their boatspeed and the last position report and the next 24 hours and where we are going and what we are going to do,” he said.

“In the next 4-6 hours we are going to gybe so that will be a busy night. Also it is not too far to Cape Horn where we will arrive on the 29th – so go fast!”

Indeed it looks like breakneck sailing all the way to the tip of South America where the winds are forecast to be violent and dangerous, with a northwesterly of 40-50 knots, gusting 60 (“Storm/Violent Storm” on the Beaufort Scale) and seas of 8-9 metres.

In the last 2-300 miles to the most feared headland in world sailing all the crews are likely to be in “survival mode” when, for a few hours at least, the most important thing will not be the race but getting round in one piece without damage to people or boats.

Latest position report at 0700 UTC:

1. Team Brunel. DTF: 3,316.2nm
2. Vestas 11th Hour Racing. DTL: 30.9nm
3. Dongfeng Race Team. DTL: 36.7nm
4. Turn the Tide on Plastic. DTL: 39.7nm
5. Team AkzoNobel. DTL: 45.2nm
6. MAPFRE. DTL: 45.5nm
7. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. DTL: 203.4nm