Light upwind sailing for Portimao Global OR fleet

12:24 PM Wed 17 Dec 2008 GMT

'Team Mowgli hard on the wind - www.ambitionracing.com' Portimao Global Ocean Race

In the Portimao Global Ocean Race, by playing the safe middle ground, the German team of Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme aboard Beluga Racer have placed themselves in an unassailable position.

They are not quite the most southerly boat in the fleet - that honour goes to Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson on Team Mowgli - but they are significantly further south than the on-the-water leader Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty, and in the exact right place to catch a ride on an approaching cold front. A German team sailing with German precision.

Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty continues to lead the entire fleet but his lead is dwindling and at the 08:20 UTC poll Kleinjans was just 37 miles ahead of Beluga Racer. All of the boats are sailing hard on the wind on starboard tack hoping to keep clear of a tiny region of high pressure located just to their south. Roaring Forty is in more wind and sailing well, but Michel will have to tack over to get south to hitch onto the approaching low and that should scuttle his lead.

The fastest boat in the fleet at the most recent poll was Desafio Cabo de Hornos. The Chileans were averaging 10 knots and on a distance-to-go basis were only five miles astern of Beluga Racer, but like Roaring Forty they too will have to come south on a bad tack. You have to be impressed with the way Herrmann and Oehme have played a very tricky hand to once more come out on top.

In the next few hours Team Mowgli will cross the fabled 40th parallel and be the first boat into the Roaring Forties. The wind will not be roaring, in fact the wind has been practically snoring since the start, but as they say about the weather in New England; just wait a minute and things will change. There is a strong low pressure system swirling to the south and west of the fleet. The edges of the low are packing 25 - 30 knots of wind with a lot more closer to the centre. The weather maps are very good at predicting the tracks of these lows, but weather is weather after all and it's not an exact science. For now the low is tracking slightly to the north of east and if it continues on its trajectory the entire fleet will find themselves experiencing their first Southern Ocean blow.

Communications from the boats has been very quiet as the sailors settle into the routine and position themselves for the deep south. It's quiet out there and the sailing is good, but things will change by late in the day Thursday and the fun and games will begin. This is precisely what all the sailors have come for and they will be looking forward to the change from light upwind, to strong downwind.

Leaderboard at 08:20 UTC
DTF in nautical miles

Double-handed
Beluga Racer - 6811
Cabo de Hornos - 6817
Kazimir Partners - 6835
Team Mowgli - 6844

Single-handed
Roaring Forty - 6811
Hayai - 6841

www.portimaorace.com/

by Brian Hancock

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Light upwind sailing for Portimao Global OR fleet

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