Volvo Ocean Race Conquering the Equatorial Calm

Image Source Volvo Ocean Race Leg 6 Brazil-US

Volvo Ocean Race fleet continues tight wrestling with mid to slow winds since the start of Leg 6 from Brazil. Teams are battling to make their way to equatorial waters and beyond where winds are expected to pick up and take them to Newport US.

Leg 6 compared to previous parts of the World Ocean Race is more about strategy and wind making than facing ocean extremes. After passing the worst parts of the Indian Ocean and South Pacific as well as South Atlantic the fleet departed from Itajai Brazil with destination set North for US Newport. Arrival date for US was set for May 6 to May 8th. Positions have shifted revealing that slow and mid winds and calmer tropical Atlantic coastal waters present new challenges which teams use for their advantage. To the date nothing is settled.

On April 28th Volvo Ocean Race live tracking monitoring application revealed to the world the latest positions. Team Brunel and MAPFRE battled for lead. DONGFENG Race Team and ABU DHABI wrestled for third and fourth position and Team SCA and ALVIMEDICA raced for the fifth and sixth. Average wind speeds showed an easy 16 knots.

On April 20th international press reported that the start at Itajai was “painfully slow”. Today teams are getting used to the conditions.

Sailing upwind or in slow and mid speed winds can be as stressing as sailing the fastest and harshest waters. When a boat designed for full speed sees its majestic sails deinflate and stalls to zero the anxious silent moments seep in with desperation. Reading the maps and knowing that there is more of that to come until reaching faster waters does not alleviate the tensions.

The moods of the crew were revealed through the online diaries. To make things even more interesting teams are sailing so close to each other -at eye distance that any radical change is clearly observed by competitive teams. Heat which continues to increase as boats move closer and closer to Equatorial waters warns on harsh times ahead.

“When the engine is started to charge batteries the inside of the boat becomes an inferno and sweat is instant. There are few which keep grips on their shirts and everybody is drinking a lot of water,” Volvo Ocean Race reported.

Accustomed to the high speed ocean dynamics of Leg 5 -which bordered the aggressive South Pacific and opened the powerful south Atlantic Teams struggled the first days to adapt to the conditions which the calmer waters of Leg 6 presented.

Slow and mid-wind calm sailing mastery can be as beneficial as fast extreme sailing. Taking in the reality is the first move. Spotting moving breezes which are not revealed in maps through naked eye ocean surface observation, lowering mid weights to avoid tide dragging in no-wind-zones, use of tides, sail and wind seize, and several other strategies are used in mid-wind sailing.

The calm equatorial waters are no place for continual maneuver. Mistakes in sail changes or bold tactics can drive a boat far into the final positions. Technical failures or damages in slow and mid wind zones are as damaging to positions as they are in high winds zones.

On the final days of April Teams of the Volvo Ocean Race after having sailed almost half way around the World continue their slow pace in search of the Alisian Winds. First to touch the gentle Alisian Winds will pick up real speed and break distance from the fleet.

Volvo Ocean Race warned Teams on the Bermuda high pressure blocking system, the low pressure traps of the east coasts, the Mexican Gulf Current and other Caribbean Ocean mysteries.

Ocean Life News in Brief

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