FOLLOW THE FLEET ON LEG ZERO STAGE 3 WITH THE YELLOWBRICK TRACKER HERE
The fleet of Volvo Ocean 65s left Plymouth on Thursday for the third race of the Leg Zero qualifying series – weaving their way through waves of tired/euphoric sailors from the smaller boats still on their way to the finish line in the Fastnet.
© Marc Bow/Volvo Ocean Race
The latest challenge for the Volvo Ocean Race teams is a short sprint from Plymouth to St Malo, via a buoy next to the Needles, and everything points to another tight finish.
For the first leg along the English coast back towards the Isle of Wight, the fleet will be sailing downwind in 10-15 knots before reaching across the English Channel where they’ll arrive off the Normandy coastline in the early morning.
The fleet will sail through a famous tidal acceleration zone called the Alderney Race that will accelerate the boats by up to 8 knots, so look out for record speeds in light winds. The Volvo Ocean Race might be an ocean race, but by Friday morning they’ll be sailing down a river!
This race is the first time America’s Cup winning helmsman Peter Burling will sail with Team Brunel.
© Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean Race
Joining Brunel puts Peter in competition with his Olympic and America’s Cup crew mate Blair Tuke who is sailing on MAPFRE, but also means that he joins Kyle Langford, wing trimmer for Oracle Team USA in the last Cup.
With the winner and loser of the America’s Cup on the same boat, there should be plenty to talk about during the next 45,000 miles…
Follow Leg Zero Stage 3 on the Yellowbrick tracker here:
Plymouth to Saint Malo tracker
Update at 1600 UTC:
Shortly after the start, a big split in the fleet developed. MAPFRE, Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Turn the Tide on Plastic headed south to stronger wind, but were forced to sail more distance, whereas Brunel led Dongfeng Race Team, team AkzoNobel and Sun Hung Kai/ Scallywag along the coast over a shorter distance, but in less wind.
When the two fleets crossed, MAPFRE had gained more than a mile over the boats who had taken the northern route, and they did it with less effort.
In comparison with the one gybe that MAPFRE did, Brunel did 17! Their arms will be burning as each manoeuvre not only requires whipping a 390 square meter gennaker (the equivalent of 1.5 tennis courts) from one side to the other but also carrying all the sails that aren’t actively being used from one side to the other. That’s hard work in the hot sun.
