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9:32 PM Mon 15 Dec 2008 GMT
Less than 24 hours into the Portimao Global Ocean Race things are already starting to get interesting. The fleet has split tacks with the boys on Beluga Racer, alongside the leading solo sailor Michel Kleinjans on Roaring Forty, have chosen a south-easterly course away from Cape Point.
Heading due south are the early race leaders Kazimir Partners, and the British entry Team Mowgli. Two different strategies for tackling the critical first stage of the race.
After a rousing start to Leg 2 from Table Bay yesterday things quickly changed as the yachts found pocket after pocket of light patches. First to slow up was the early leader Michel Kleinjans who found his own private wind hole off Sea Point. He was quickly followed into the hole by Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme on Beluga Racer. Seeing their dilemma the Chilean team of Felipe Cubillos and Jos? Mu?oz headed offshore in the hope of better luck and could only look on in dismay when the wind filled in closer to land. They also found themselves in a bit more counter current as the ice cold Benguela Current drifts slowly northwards up the coast.
Then, in a fitting way, the South Africans aboard Kazimir Partners found their own private winds and took off. 'They were right alongside of us,' Boris Herrmann lamented. 'The wind got to them and not us and before long they were out of sight over the horizon.' While Beluga Racer sat going nowhere slowly with old nemesis Roaring Forty alongside, the brothers on Kazimir Partners, Peter and Lenjohn van der Wel jumped from zephyr to zephyr and took off. 'I think we were lucky,' Lenjohn said in an email. 'But then again I think we deserved a little luck.'
By nightfall all the sailors were treated to a spectacular sight as they tacked along the coast toward Cape Point. The Table Mountain range extends from the City of Cape Town all the way along the Cape Peninsula to Cape Point and as a setting sun sinks lower into the Atlantic the mountains take on a ruddy hue. It's dramatic, stunning beautiful to watch, and a fitting way to start a long offshore passage. As the last light left the sky all the yachts, with the exception of Kazimir Partners, could still be seen slowly making their way along the coast.
This morning it's a different story. Overnight the wind picked up from the south forcing the sailors to make some hard choices. There are two different schools of thought. Hedging their bets Beluga Racer and Roaring Forty are sailing closer to the rhumb line and therefore are leading their respective Classes. Further inshore and to the east the Chileans onboard Desafio Cabo de Hornos are following the same logic. The van der Wel brothers, as well as Jeremy Salvesen and David Thomson on Team Mowgli, have opted to head due south in search of fresh westerlies. Same too for Nico Budel on Hayai. It's a time honoured tactic, but only time will tell if it's a good tactic.
The veteran navigators of the early Whitbread Round the World races, now the Volvo Ocean Race, all suggest getting south out of Cape Town as quickly as possible but that's only if all options look equal. There is nothing in the immediate forecast to tempt the rest of the fleet into the southerly option. The first low pressure cell is still miles to the west. It's precisely this kind of scenario that makes ocean racing so interesting and the next 48 hours will be fun to watch as the Race Viewer gets it's usual heavy traffic.
www.portimaorace.com
by Brian Hancock
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Troughton Island, WA
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