The seventh day of the seventh stage has begun. The Spanish team Mapfre, which is leading in the overall standings, was able to defend its lead overnight. Behind them, Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel fought their way up to second place, just two nautical miles behind. Dee Caffari's team Turn the Tide on Plastic has recently made an enormous leap forward with a plus of more than 32 nautical miles and is only about 5 nautical miles behind Mapfre in third place.
Team Brunel plows through the Southern Ocean. While the nine-man crew is taming the yellow boat, on-board reporter Yann Riou manages to capture this scene with a drone
Half time on the first section of the seventh stage from Auckland to Cape Horn
Auckland can be seen on the left edge of the picture, Cape Horn on the right. The dark red areas show that the wind will continue to increase
The jibe chase along the ice border on the Cape Horn course produces a new sequence with each new position report that the race committee publishes every six hours and also makes available to the teams. The fourth-placed AkzoNobel team with skipper Simeon Tienpont was 16 nautical miles behind Mapfre on Saturday morning. Charlie Enright's comeback team Vestas 11th Hour Racing had dropped to 5th place, almost 20 nautical miles behind. The Dongfeng Race Team, which dropped to 6th place, recently caught a gap of 32 nautical miles. Still in 7th place, David Witts Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag is still lagging behind the fleet, but was able to make up 32 nautical miles recently. On board Vestas, the crew recorded breathtaking top speeds of up to 37 knots on longer surfs.
Uncomfortable workplace at the wheel of AkzoNobel
Nick Danam Steuer for the Vestas 11th Hour Racing team - another wave has just hit him
The strongly changing positions are due to the zigzag course that the boats follow along the ice line drawn by the race committee for their protection. It looks like the boats are moving like bouncy balls - up (north) and down (south) to the east. The teams are not allowed to sail further south, even if they want to. The aim is to minimize the risk of collisions with broken pieces that have been driven north. The teams cannot sail too far north either, because that means too many extra miles. This results in the clearly visible zigzag lines in the tracker.
Dongfeng sailor and Nacra17 world champion Marie Riou is exhausted after a long night of jibing
Even hands can tell stories like this pair from Alex Gough in the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team
And the teams have another important task to perform in the stormy winds that have increased again this weekend: be fast! Because the many jibes required are easier to do in the harsh wind conditions and with high waves at high speeds. If you know that up to six tons of pressure are exerted on the gennaker winch alone, the basic rule becomes understandable: the faster the boat, the less pressure in the sail, the lighter the jibe. If a jibe works particularly well, it should ideally take around 15 minutes. At night and in extreme conditions, it can devour up to 50 or 60 minutes, including damming.
As is so often the case, the toughest job has to be done by the bow people. Bouwe Bekking writes in his latest blog: "Changing sails is not easy. Especially not for our bowman Carlo. He takes the blows of the waves. And we don't even want to talk about having to do the work without gloves. That means very cold Fingers. But he's a tough thing. " Bekking also dared a first look at the Cape Horn Passage, which could become a real challenge for the teams due to the expected winds: "For me it will be number 9. For others the first. They are scared that Neptune Stop by again. But don't worry. He won't be after you. He could just visit us for a cigar and pat them on the back."
Here you can find the current interim results