Volvo Ocean Race - Less than 10 miles to Auckland finish
by Volvo Ocean Race on 28 Feb 2015
MAPFRE - Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 Francisco Vignale/Mapfre/Volvo Ocean Race
The wind has switched half turn and the boats are now beating upwind to the finish, MAPFRE has held their lead and with the change in direction look quite safe. Team Alvimedica who was catching up at speed has slowed right up, caught in light winds behind the Tiritiri Matangi island. With less than 10nm to go to the finish and a fair 10kt wind holding, the slow patch looks to have been removed from the equation and arrivals look like they could be around 0800 UTC.
Last log for this leg and there is plenty going on. 12 hours ago the boats were tacking up the New Zealand coast and now they are downwind, Velocity Made Good (VMG) running through the Hauraki Gulf.
It’s incredibly tight for the front three boats with two nautical miles of separation between Mapfre in the lead, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in second and Dongfeng in third. Having just passed the Flower Point at 0600UTC, all the boats were heading southeast away from the land until Mapfre took the opportunity to get some separation from the other two. They gybed off on a 1.4nm-dog leg before gybing back to cover the other two.
3nm later all three boats gybed onto what at the moment looks like the layline for the next turning waypoint at Rangitoto Island. It’s a critical time for Ian Walker’s crew as they need to get vital points over the overall race leader Dongfeng, so it’s a balancing act between engaging Mapfre in a gybing battle and protecting themselves against being overtaken.
Without a doubt Dongfeng is trying to work out how to overtake Abu Dhabi and Ian and his navigator SiFi are trying to work out how to get Mapfre behind them but in front of the French-Chinese boat.
It’s at this time in the race when it becomes less about being an ocean race and more about the boat-on-boat tactics that only dinghy sailing can teach you. Luckily for both boats they have plenty of this on board! Mapfre with Xabi Fernández, Rafa Trujillo – who lives in Auckland – and Rob Greenhalgh and Azzam with Ian Walker and Luke Parkinson. It will be interesting to see if the war games come out.
Meanwhile Team Alvimedica has been creeping up on the podium pack and at 0545UTC was only 6nm behind. By not getting sucked in to the pack they have been able to sail their own angles for best VMG while the others have had to be covering and protecting themselves from too much separation.
The Duchies on Brunel have also caught up and are now 25nm from the leaders with the girls on Team SCA 35nm. This is by far the closest leg of the race yet!
The next few hours will be exciting to watch with the local wind sources showing wind in the south of the gulf at five knots from the northeast and just seven miles south of that, two knots from the south. Having left China three weeks ago, the last 10 miles of this leg will be brutal on the mind.
Arrivals are coming up – don’t miss the action!
If you’re in Auckland – come down to the Viaduct Harbour to welcome the sailors after three weeks at sea!
If you’re online – download our app for iPhone and Android or check out our website for live video coverage of the arrivals.
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