Volvo Ocean Race, in attesa di andare ad est

[singlepic=622,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Atlantico – Una gara di pura velocità. Passato il cancello di Fernando de Noronha, gli equipaggi protagonisti della Volvo Ocean Race hanno lanciato i loro scafi verso sud, proseguendo in modo tutto sommato inatteso la navigazione lungo la costa brasiliana invece di spingersi verso il centro Atlantico nel tentativo di guadagnare rapidamente terreno verso Città del Capo.
Separati da una manciata di miglia, gli scafi al comando sfruttano quindi condizioni meteo pressochè identiche in questa fase della tappa e ad avvantaggiarsi è chi può contare sul mezzo più veloce. A giudicare da quanto visto in queste ore, nessuno pare in grado di tener testa a Ericsson 4 che, navigando con prua 155°, si è tenuto più al largo rispetto alla costa brasiliana ed è riuscito a sfilare gli avversari da sottovento.
Come detto, i distacchi restano davvero esigui e non passa aggiornamento senza una piccola rivoluzione in classifica: dietro al team di Torben Grael insistono infatti Il Mostro, secondo a quattro miglia, Telefonica Blue, terzo a sei miglia, e Telefonica Black, sceso dal primo al quarto posto ma comunque attardato di appena otto miglia. Dei migliori fa parte anche l’ottimo Green Dragon, sceso leggermente più stretto rispetto agli avversari e ora quinto a undici miglia da Ericsson 4.
Scelte tattiche identiche anche per gli equipaggi più attardati. Stupisce l’ottimo comportamento di Team Delta Lloyd che, nonostante abbia a disposizione una barca vecchia di quattro anni, tiene il passo degli avversari e si tiene a debita distanza dal fanalino di coda Team Russia, ponendo tra sé e Kosatka, Ericsson 3, scivolato nelle retrovie dopo due settimane vissute da leader.

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Three’s company
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] After a tough 24 hours of sailing almost upwind, today the sheets have been cracked off and the eight-strong Volvo fleet is reaching making life onboard is a little easier. “We can boil water without having to hold the kettle so that it does not jump out of the galley,” says Mikel Pasabant from Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri).
But, as the fleet keeps trucking south to skirt the South Atlantic High, at dawn this morning the leaders, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael) had unwelcome company. Il Mostro (Ken Read) was just a few miles to leeward of Telefónica Black and the leading four, including Green Dragon (Ian Walker) and were in a tight bunch.
Brad Jackson from Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael) says he is reminded of the close racing of the Volvo Ocean 60s, predecessors to today’s Volvo Open 70, when he says that the top four boats were all in sight of Ericsson 4 yesterday. They have also been joined by Puma Racing Team, which Jackson says, they are little tired of.
“Three’s company out here in the Atlantic,” says Ken Read cheerfully. “We have been accused of making this a match race so far because we have been in very close contact with Ericsson 4 for just about half of the race. So today we lost Ericsson 4 off to leeward and on comes Telefónica Black to take their spot in rotation.”
Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking) who because of her easterly position is showing less distance to the finish, which puts her in second place currently, also had unwelcome company, but not in the form of another boat.
“It seems to be a dangerous strip of highway we are on today,” writes navigator Simon Fisher. “We had a very near miss with a very nasty looking log covered in barnacles and a metal and all sorts of other things that would be perfect for removing appendages.
“After a quick breath of relief, and some joking about how we may have found ourselves in Rio some months sooner than planned, we had another near miss. This time it was something living. We couldn’t make out properly what it was, but, judging by the hole it left in the water, and the speed it went away, it was pretty big and not best pleased to see us. We’ll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for the rest of the afternoon,” he says.
Fighting at almost the bottom of the league is Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander). Ahead of them is Team Delta Lloyd (Ger O’Rourke) and behind them, the Russian Team (Andreas Hanakamp) with Kosatka. “This is a hard time for us,” says MCM Gustav Morin. “It doesn’t feel like our hard work is paying off,” he adds. Morin says that according to their watch captain and race veteran, Magnus Olsson, it is a known dilemma among ocean-race veterans, that, after one and a half to two weeks of sailing and not doing too well, it doesn’t take much for the crew to get grumpy. “We just need to focus on what we can do better all the time and think positive. See the good stuff that we do. I like to talk about what has gone wrong and then just leave that behind,” Olsson advises the crew.
At 1300 GMT today, boat speeds were averaging 15 knots plus, with Ericsson 3 recording the highest average of 18.3 knots during the hour preceding this position report. Both the Ericsson Racing Team boats recorded the highest 24-hour run of 383 nautical miles. The whole fleet had made small gains, with Team Delta Lloyd making the most, but only a mere eight nautical miles.
It won’t be until the fleet turns east and hooks into the strong westerly breeze that will take them on course to Cape Town, that a true picture of which boat is in pole position will emerge, and, at present, no one has made that move.

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