It turns out that Charles – probably because he was in a rush and thought of getting a haircut only after the barber shops had closed in Itajai – got the Chinese sailor Black to do the job for him.
Of course Black was supposed to sail on this leg to Newport but a back injury forced him to stay ashore. As far as his career as a hair-dresser goes, he may have some way to go, judging by Charles’ current pretty savage look.
Speaking to the OBR Jeremie Lecaudey with the camera rolling, Charles gave full details. “My haircut has been made by a non-professional as you can see – his name is Black,” said Charles, clearly making no attempt to disguise the identity of the architect of his new look.
“He tried to do his best but unfortunately we didn’t have the good tool (not sure what he is referring to here - scissors? razor? comb?) anyway, nobody can see my haircut until Newport,” Charles added hilariously. “You can photo-shop my haircut (until then)!”
Horace, meanwhile, knows how Black must be feeling having to miss the leg because Horace was forced to miss out on the Cape Horn leg in the last race, also because of injury.
“I know it will be very, very disappointing for Black to have an injury and not be able to sail this leg…I know how he must be feeling,” said Horace. “For the moment, what we can do is win this leg and sail well.”
Jack Bouttell has been settling into the offshore routine and trying to get back into the rhythm of watches. “We got into a pretty good sleep pattern ashore and it was quite nice ashore,” he said wistfully, “but we are slowly getting back into it. It’s not actually too hot yet but in a few days it will be horrendous downstairs,” he added.
Dongfeng was leading the fleet but the large exclusion zone around the busy Campos oil field due east of Rio, that runs up the coast for 120 miles, has turned the order inside out. Now the previous backmarkers Turn the Tide on Plastic and Vestas 11th Hour Racing are in the lead by virtue of being furthest east, while the rest of the fleet are on a losing tack, sailing away from the mark to get round the zone.
Dongfeng however is still in third position, 14.5 miles behind Turn the Tide on Plastic with MAPFRE fourth, another three-and-a-half miles back.
Position report at 06h00 UTC:
1 - Turn The Tide of Plastic 4 559nm from Newport
2 - Vestas 11th Hour 0.7 nm
3 - Dongfeng Race Team 17.01 nm
4 - MAPFRE 18.7 nm
5 - AkzoNobel 20.04 nm
6 - Scallywag 20.06 nm
7 - Team Brunel 25.03 nm
