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Abu Dhabi are flying if the tracker is to believed. They have smoked the rest of the fleet and could be doing 15 kts compeered to the new leader Pumas 9kts. If this is true it would have to be one of the best tactical decisions of this 2nd leg so far as they should take the lead at the next update.

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If you replay the last 24 hours in the tracker with the speed setting set to 20 mins per second (on the left hand slider at the bottom) there are a couple of periods where Sanya and later Groupama and Camper just stop for a while. And there does not then appear to be a sudden jump afterwards.

 

It would be interesting to know if these are tracker glitches, i.e. the data just stopping for a while (but they don't seem to be because the boats concerned seem to lose considerable position as a result) or whether they are the boats actually parking for a while while the others are smoking not too far away. If it is the later it makes for interesting analysis... there must be some BIG holes and/or kelp banks or something going on.

 

Or has there been gear damage with the stories not breaking yet?

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I had put the sudden jumps in progress to be tracker glitches, but you might be onto something there kiwi. A number of the boats have hit holes, but going from no speed to lightning is a bit weird. However I think this leg is showing telefonicas weakness as it hasnt preformed well in the light stuff so far so in the volvo so I dont think they have gear problems.

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Huge gains to Abu Dhabi as the lead groupama by 5nm while Camper has lost 10nm. More pressure closer into shore and they stayed out with Puma and got burnt. Photo to come shortly

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Theres something up with the trackers as Groupama currently show been south with Camper between them and Abu Dabi but Groupama are supposidly close to the leader than camper and it shows Sanya not far behind Abu but yet 40 miles behind theres a glitch somewhere

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There has been nice pressure in shore, however groupama, Puma and Camper could hit better pressure further south first and take off. Its been great racing over the last 24 hours and everyone bar Sanya have proved that they could win this leg. I am hoping that Sanya splits from the fleet at some point as if they play follow the leader they will loose.

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After a difficult night traversing the Agulhas Current, four of the fleet of six boats are now free of it, while Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Sanya Lan (Mike Sanderson/NZL) have yet to make their escape. With the weather in the Agulhas zone set to worsen these two should complete their crossing in the next few hours.

 

According to weather experts, the fleet will continue to battle with the effects of a thermal low-pressure system south of Africa, which is being intensified by a cold front moving from the west.

 

The fleet has split in two around this new weather system. New leg leader, Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is positioned to the north of the pack, theoretically well placed to sail fast angles should the two low-pressure systems merge to form an easterly moving cold front.

 

If this happens Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing along with PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA), CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA could enjoy strong west southwest winds which will propel them quickly in the right direction.

 

However the low-pressure system is proving sluggish and unstable and has not moved as predicted to the southeast. Instead it has remained quite static and last night the fleet was close to the centre of this system that produced huge gusts and big rainsqualls.

 

Further north if Telefónica gets ahead of the system before it starts to move, Iker Martínez and his team will have strong north-northeasterly winds which could give them a perfect angle to power over the southern pack.

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Here comes the PR (better late than never)

 

 

After a hideous night bashing across the Agulhas Current, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has now reached a road block. It is the windless trough between the two low-pressure systems, which have threatened, but not yet evolved into one. It is now a race to get through the light and fluky airs of the trough and reach the new northerly breeze of the second front.

 

“It’s the key to the whole leg,” says Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker, whose yacht Azzam has been jostling for the lead on and off all day today and is currently in second place. “It’s about who can get through this trough in the best shape. If we can get to the trough, then we will have good northerlies and we will be fast all the way into the high pressure, the ridge of high pressure known as the Indian Ocean high. If we can’t, then we are going to sit here for days bashing up against it.”

 

In this leg three years ago three teams including both Team Telefónica boats detached from the fleet and stayed north. History repeats itself now when, once again, there is a substantial split in the fleet and overall race leader Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP), is 150 nautical miles in the north.

 

The team’s navigator, Andrew Cape, made the same move three years ago when navigating PUMA’s il mostro, and today at 1600 UTC, Telefónica became the new leg leader, with an eight-mile lead over Abu Dhabi. The positions remain unchanged at 1900 UTC, although all but CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) have made losses in the last three hours.

 

Discussing tactics, helmsman Charles Caudrelier said the crew of Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA), were going to heed the old adage, ‘if you don’t know where to go in the Atlantic, you have to go west; and if you don’t know where to go in the Southern Ocean, you have to go south’. “We got that wrong on the first leg, we will respect it this time,” the Frenchman said. Groupama 4 is the furthest yacht south and clearly taking the adage seriously!

 

 

 

The crews of the six-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday after coming through a notorious ocean danger zone that made for conditions variously described as heinous, brutal and exciting but resulted in no major damage.

 

Racing from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, the boats have spent the opening days of the leg skirting the tip of Africa, a course that took them directly into a treacherous area of strong currents and huge waves.

 

The choice of when to cross the Agulhas current split the fleet, with CAMPER, Groupama and PUMA making their run early, leaving Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Team Telefónica and Team Sanya to carry on longer along the coast before trying to cross.

 

By 1200 UTC on Wednesday all six boats had made it through the zone, an experience the crews are unlikely to forget. With winds up to 30 knots overnight the crews fought to slow their boats down to avoid damage from crashing off the huge waves.

 

Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker described the conditions when they approached the Agulhas zone. “We were running down wind in about 25 knots of wind and the seaway was heinous on starboard gybe,” he said.

 

“We really had to slow the boat down a lot to keep things together. We took the principal of get across (the current) as quick as we could and when we ventured across it was windier, 30 to 35 knots, but we managed to get across it with a kite and a full main.”

 

CAMPER’s Rob Salthouse said: “We gybed off the African around four this morning coast and took a chance to get across the Agulhas Current, which is normally a pretty rough, bumpy ride. It didn’t let us down.

 

“We had a pretty bumpy fast ride across the current. It’s hard to stop the boat banging and crashing as you go downwind in those conditions. So that was wet and a little bit exciting at times.”

 

Groupama helmsman Charles Caudrelier described the experience as “pretty brutal”.

 

“We went from light airs to quickly built wind and a very messy sea,” he said. “As a result we had to slow the boat. To preserve the boat and the mast we couldn’t sail at 100 per cent. We had waves from every direction and the boat didn’t stop slamming: a lot of stress on boat, the structure and the rigging.”

 

Overall race leader Team Telefonica were the last to make their run at the Agulhas current and crossed in the far north in flatter conditions than the rest.

 

Navigator Andrew Cape said that in the end the experience was nothing out of the ordinary.

 

“It wasn’t as bad as I though it was going to be. Because we were a bit further north, it was a bit flatter. We had quite a bit of wind, the current increases our wind speed so we ended up with an easy 25 knots gusting 28.

 

“The boat was certainly going fast through the waves, nose-diving a few times, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was all pretty straightforward -- not a drama.”

 

Safely through the Agulhas region the fleet is now focused on finding a way through a trough of unstable conditions and into stronger steadier winds.

 

Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante says the way the fleet negotiate this trough could be key to the whole leg. “The trough is linking two quite static low pressure systems and getting through will be tricky,” he said. “Whoever can find a way through first will have a big advantage.”

 

On board current leader Abu Dhabi, skipper Ian Walker said he and navigator Jules Salter were pouring over every weather update. “If we can get through this trough we will go straight into good northerlies and we will be fast all the way into the high pressure,’” he said. “If we can’t get through then we will be sitting here for days bashing up against it.”

 

 

 

 

After a difficult night traversing the Agulhas Current, four of the fleet of six boats are now free of it, while Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Sanya Lan (Mike Sanderson/NZL) have yet to make their escape. With the weather in the Agulhas zone set to worsen these two should complete their crossing in the next few hours.

 

According to weather experts, the fleet will continue to battle with the effects of a thermal low-pressure system south of Africa, which is being intensified by a cold front moving from the west.

 

The fleet has split in two around this new weather system. New leg leader, Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is positioned to the north of the pack, theoretically well placed to sail fast angles should the two low-pressure systems merge to form an easterly moving cold front.

 

If this happens Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing along with PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA), CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA could enjoy strong west southwest winds which will propel them quickly in the right direction.

 

However the low-pressure system is proving sluggish and unstable and has not moved as predicted to the southeast. Instead it has remained quite static and last night the fleet was close to the centre of this system that produced huge gusts and big rainsqualls.

 

Further north if Telefónica gets ahead of the system before it starts to move, Iker Martínez and his team will have strong north-northeasterly winds which could give them a perfect angle to power over the southern pack.

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Has anyone seen the actual sailing instructions for this leg?

 

http://noticeboard.volvooceanrace.com/w ... dendum.pdf

 

Makes interesting reading, particularly the East African Exclusion Zone.

 

On the tracker it appears they are basing their rankings on distance to Abu Dhabi, but in reality they are going nowhere near it. I think the Maldives has been mentioned as the drop off point, and that makes sense given that the Maldives are just outside the exclusion zone.

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I have to say that it is necessary to call bullshit on this leg. Who knows where they are sailing to? "Expedition" on SA, who claims to know where they are heading, has called the order of lead in complete reverse to the tracker. This morning the local radio is proclaiming Camper "langiushing" at the rear of the pack when apparently they aren't so bad local PR for them.

 

W.....T......F?!

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Ill get back to your post Wineglass if I find some more information about where they are going, but im sure others would stand a better chance of finding it out. Its a shame that the news here say there at the back fleet, when they wont be in several hours. Camper are smoking compeered to Telefonica as they have hit the pressure first so the next six hours will be interesting.

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PR updates again. I will do a week review today before i head of to Kawau (i think) for the weekend

Strong winds and rain squalls from an unstable trough have created a “second start line” amongst the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as the six yachts continue to shuffle positions, proving that the race to Abu Dhabi remains anyone’s to win.

 

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG skipper Ken Read described the conditions as some of the most frustrating and mentally exhausting of his sailing career as the fleet continue to sail at the same pace as the menacing trough.

 

The crews have reported the wind dropping to less than 10 knots and just minutes later gusting in excess of 25, making for countless sail changes and exhausted sailors, who are virtually falling asleep standing up.

 

Read said despite more than 160 nautical mile distance developing between leg leader Telefónica in the north and Groupama sailing team in the south, the unpredictable conditions meant there was very little separating the fleet.

 

“It is anyone’s race, more so than any race I’ve been in in my life,’’ he said. “This is crazy. It’s 100 per cent a second start line.”

 

“It’s been hard and very taxing mentally trying to deal with it all. Each time we sit here and talk about it we make an argument that we would rather be further north or further south.

 

“Just a little while about I said to Tom (Addis), ‘We were talking about gybing earlier this morning to get further north, do you remember why?’ and he said, ‘No I don’t’ remember why anymore’. So I think it’s going to be very interesting.”

 

Team Telefónica’s helmsman Jordi Calafat agreed, saying that the leg had only just started and there were plenty more challenges ahead as his team lead the fleet east towards the Indian Ocean high.

 

However, Telefónica have had their own challenges on board, including the loss of skipper Iker Martínez’s toothbrush after the Olympic gold medallist, no doubt exhausted, applied skin cream instead of toothpaste.

 

Media Crew Member Diego Fructuoso reported that Martínez had fortunately packed a spare – a report that goes against the long-standing sailing myth that sailors never take two, and even cut off the end of their toothbrushes to save on weight.

 

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were trailing in second place by just under 20 nm at 1300 UTC, followed by Team Sanya, PUMA, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Groupama sailing team, who are trailing by 130 nm in the south.

 

At 0900 UTC today it appeared that Groupama were cashing in their losses when the team tacked and headed north, however just 20 nm later they tacked back to an easterly course.

 

Skipper Franck Cammas explained the move: “There is a possibility to cross the trough in the north tomorrow night, and we are trying to reduce the gap to cross it with the others.

 

"Our idea at first was to go south, we had a long term strategy there. We worked on that for the past two or three days. The other ones have been more pragmatic and stayed in the middle.

 

“Now, to try to cross with the other ones tomorrow night, we have decided to get closer from the fleet.

 

“It was a tough and unpleasant decision. But at some point you need to limit the risk and not to lock yourself in an option, which was good at first and is now not as relevant because of this opening in the north.

 

“We are all on a same longitude so everyone will in a funnel to cross that very small hole. It will be a new start Saturday morning.”

 

Volvo meteorologist Gonzalo Infante said the next 24 hours would continue to prove frustrating for the sailors. More stable winds could be expected when the trough dissipates as it meets a high-pressure system over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

Tonight, as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet pushes on through the Indian Ocean on Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, leg and overall leader Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) is under threat from the backmarkers.

 

Although the order of play remains unchanged, northerly yacht Telefónica is facing a challenge by Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) and CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS), the two yachts furthest to the south. Both boats are averaging speeds over 18 knots and Groupama 4 has made a substantial inroad into Telefónica’s lead, taking out 30 nautical miles in the last three hours.

 

CAMPER is looking particularly sweet in her position furthest to the east and is now benefitting from a steadier northerly breeze. Groupama 4, just 17 nm to the south, is climbing steadily up to join her, while Sanya Lan (Mike Sanderson/NZL) is almost level pegging with Ian Walker’s Azzam further north again.

 

By tomorrow morning it will be clear who the winners and losers are, at least until the fleet reaches the next hurdle, the parking lot known as the Indian Ocean High. This is an area of light wind that sits beyond the low-pressure system that the fleet must swerve around before turning north in search of the trade winds and, finally, the dreaded Doldrums.

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from groupama

 

Leg 2 : Cape Town - Abu Dhabi

Day 5 - Door slamming

 

 

 

The whole of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet are stumbling into a front which is slowly crumbling away, but most importantly shifting eastwards, leading to a succession of accelerations and braking which won't let any of the crews through to the other side of this weather barrier for the moment. Groupama 4, positioned furthest South, has opted to link back up with the bulk of the fleet so as to try to go through this virtual gate in the same zone.

 

 

 

This has been going on for over 24 hours now! Indeed the six VO-70s are blocked between a steady westerly breeze coming in from the Atlantic, and a north-east to easterly breeze generated by the Mascareignes High. Between the two, a rainy front is slowly shifting to the centre of the Indian Ocean. Each time a yacht gets close to this front, it stalls dramatically, then gets caught up by the westerly wind which in turn pushes it back into this windless zone. As such, the crews are performing a succession of advances with over twenty knots of downwind conditions and stops in the evanescent breeze, which have been setting the tone for this second leg since the crew left the African coast… And the weather situation doesn't look set to change for the next 36 hours!

 

“As soon as we approach a front, the wind drops! And behind it the breeze kicks back in with a fairly strong south-westerly wind… For now, there isn't enough wind to switch from one side to latch onto the north-easterly tradewinds. The situation is a little banal, since everyone is being forced to remain behind this apparent barrier of windlessness to the North-South. That's why the fleet is on the same longitude” indicated Franck Cammas during the radio session at noon this Thursday.

 

In their sights

The complicated weather situation has resulted in either a southerly option, such as that of Groupama 4 or a northerly option such as that of Telefonica, with neither bearing fruit since everyone comes to a standstill in front of this gate which slams shut each time one of the boats come near! Basically, the whole fleet is sailing along the same latitude this Thursday afternoon (38° East) with a lateral separation of nearly 200 miles. This new start line should bunch up again in the coming hours as the navigators have now adopted the attitude that there's as much chance that one of the VO-70s will slip into a little vein of air via the North as there is to the South. Indeed, the Spanish are gradually slipping towards their closest rival (Abu Dhabi) and the French are climbing up towards the New Zealanders. It's likely that this North-South separation will amount to just fifty miles or so at the start of the weekend.

 

“A passage is shaping up ahead of us, which is shifting across towards the East at around fifteen knots. Our initial idea was to pass via the South with an opening in three days' time, but a depression is being created a little further North and it could enable us to clear this front on Friday evening. As such we've decided to close on this ‘gate' and clearly the whole fleet has the same idea! As a result there will be less separation and everyone will get going again at the same time: that's when the race will really begin… from Saturday morning.”

 

This barometric minimum, which is in the process of forming, appears to be positioning itself in front of Puma and Camper: as such Groupama 4 is seeking to gain ground to the North-East whilst Telefonica is plunging more towards the South-East. In 24 hours' time, the standing is unlikely to suffer any big upsets, other than the fact that the deficits in terms of distance to the goal will diminish to virtually nothing on Friday evening: the race will really be on then as they begin a long beat in the north-easterly tradewinds all the way to the island of Madagascar! As a result it will have taken one week of preliminaries for this second leg to really get underway…

 

Indian shaker

“We've decided to limit the strategic risks by closing on the fleet again. Added to that, we also have to keep an eye on the gear as the seas have been very tough since we passed the Agulhas Cape. There is a strong easterly swell which is hitting us front on, with short waves hitting us from the West: we're even jumping off the waves sailing downwind! None of us can go at it hammer and tongs for fear of breaking gear. Things should gradually calm down once we're past the front…”

 

The situation is far from comfortable then aboard Groupama 4, even though the opportunity to come back in contact will make the next stage of the race more instructive for Franck Cammas' crew. The French boat shouldn't be penalised by this strategy change as it will benefit from a good South-Westerly air flow, whilst the other boats will continue to stumble into the front. In any case, the progress towards Abu Dhabi isn't very fast: just 950 miles covered in four days! And the beat into the tradewinds isn't promising to be very quick either, especially as a weak tropical low is forming offshore of Madagascar, which will further complicate the climb up to the equator…

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Camper continues to head south as Telefonica continues to lead. Its still a mine field out there and if the boats dont watch it they will run into a massive whole that is appearing infront of them. There will be lots more lead changes I am sure in the next 48 hours as the boats continue to jostle for position. Team Sanya with the slowest boat in the fleet are doing a great job of sticking it with the fleet and are in a great position to knock one of the better boats off at this rate, unless they get caught in the doldrums for several days.

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I think the Maldives has been mentioned as the drop off point, and that makes sense given that the Maldives are just outside the exclusion zone.

 

it looks like the maldives are well inside the "stealth zone" to me.

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