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9:36 PM Fri 7 Nov 2008 GMT
The race has tightened considerably as a weak front sweeps across the South Atlantic bringing strong winds and some superb sailing to the leaders of the Portim?o Global Ocean Race.
The lead that the German team of Beluga Racer once enjoyed has been halved over the last 36 hours, and while co-skippers Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme are into some good breeze now, they are not completely out of the woods. The area of high pressure that blocked their path toward Cape Town remains in the way forcing Beluga Racer, as well as the chasing three boats, to dive even deeper south.
'We know that we are facing some risk at the moment as the high is not that secure to predict,' Boris commented in an email. 'The problem for us has been that we have been so separated from the rest of the fleet sailing in a completely different weather pattern. Both the European and the US weather models predict that the high will let us through south. That's what we hope to be able to. In that case we could line up with the rest of the fleet on a similar south track. Hopefully still in front of them.'
At the 12:20 UTC poll Beluga Racer was almost on the latitude of Cape Town but judging by the forecast they are going to have to dive down to around 38 or 39 degrees south to get under the windless high pressure. This will add distance to their leg but they should enjoy some lively sailing and give them their first taste of what Leg 2 will be like. With just over 1,600 miles to go to Cape Town their lead seems very secure but not if the chasing Chileans have anything to do with it.
Three hundred miles astern of Beluga Racer, Felipe Cubillos and Jos? Mu?oz aboard Desafio Cabo de Hornos have a bone in their teeth sailing in strong winds. Cubillos has his game face on refusing to reveal anything in his daily log. They have fought their way into a southerly position and moved 30 miles ahead of Team Mowgli, but Felipe knows that the airwaves are public and will not reveal his strategy for the next 1,000 miles.
'We are today the boat that is the furthest south,' he wrote. 'Even more than the Germans and this explains why they have decided to leave the east and come to the meeting in the south. Still, many miles still separate us. What will we encounter down here? This depends essentially on two factors: the weather, the intensity and direction of the wind, and the psychology of those tough German sailors. Forgive me if I say no more but there remains 10 days of racing and still an interesting transition from one high pressure to another as well as deciding how we deal with arriving in Cape Town.'
Aboard Team Mowgli the mood is similar, as is the sailing. The British boat is due north of the Chileans sailing in similar conditions. 'We have had pretty constant winds,' Jeremy Salvesen wrote. 'We have also had some great sailing with boat speeds of nearly 17 knots with wind gusting up to about 25. The problem is knowing what it's going to do over the next week or two as we make our approach to Cape Town and therefore what routing we should take to get there. Each forecast we receive seems so substantially different from the previous one that it is making our routing decisions difficult. One thing is for sure though that this race is very far from over and it will be very interesting to see where each of us go and how the positions switch back and forth over the next few days.'
The stronger winds means tougher conditions both above and below decks. 'Everything is well on board,' Salvesen continued, 'although much tougher as we head more to windward. The sea is rough and the boat is bouncing and slamming into the waves a lot. The new mainsail doesn't have any drain holes in it and collects water in the reefed part of the sail requiring emptying every three hours - a cold and wet task!'
Both Desafio Cabo de Hornos and Team Mowgli have passed the leading solo sailor, Michel Kleinjans on board Roaring Forty. On a distance-to-go basis Roaring Forty was just six miles astern of Team Mowgli. Kleinjans, in an email to race HQ admitted that he has experienced some problems with his autopilots but added, 'It's been a bit of a worry but the pilot is working OK now. I will have to have a closer look at the ram to see if I can't mount it some other way.
More will be reported on Hayai and Kazimir Partners as information comes in from both boats, but for now both teams are enjoying good conditions. Nico Budel has had his mainsail down for repairs and has been enjoying tinkering around on board. Hayai leads Kazimir Partners by over a hundred miles. At the 12:20 UTC poll Kazimir Partners was 950 miles astern of Beluga Racer with 2,614 miles to go to Cape Town.
www.portimaorace.com
by Brian Hancock
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Mount Wellington, TAS
