The Azzam crew will choose caution over risk when dealing with the rough conditions expected today as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet leaves Sanya, China, for Auckland on Leg 4 of the nine-month, round-the-world event.
“Our approach to the whole race is generally quite conservative,” Simon Fisher, navigator for the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing boat, said yesterday by phone.
“A nice situation to be in, when you can afford to be conservative. It means you are a good team, doing well and not feeling like you have to take a big risk.
“Our mantra is always, ‘finish on the podium or close to the podium’.”
Azzam is one point behind leaders Dongfeng Race Team after finishing first, third and second in the first three legs, respectively.
A three-way tie at the top became a two-boat race when one of those top three, Brunel, straggled home fifth in the third leg to fall four points adrift of Dongfeng, the China-backed team.
The 5,264-nautical-mile fourth stage looks set to begin in some of the most difficult conditions the race has experienced with an upwind battle to round the northern tip of the Philippines before angling south-east towards New Zealand.
“When we leave, we will sail into building winds and building seas,” said Ian Walker, the English skipper of Azzam.
“It’s going to be pretty bumpy. I’m sure we will have some difficult conditions.”
Fisher said he rarely thought about his foul-weather gear on the previous leg, which was sailed mostly in calm seas and light winds.
“The last leg was mentally draining,” he said, recalling the test of avoiding collisions in the crowded Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea.
“This will be more demanding, physically, especially the first few days – strong winds and big waves. Certainly, much more hard work.
“It’s quite a demanding leg.”
Fisher will be involved in an early decision that could have significant ramifications as the leg unfolds – how far north and east to sail past the Philippines before giving into the yearning to get south.
“We need to go south and east but the more south you go early the harder it is to get east easily,” he said. “So, strategically, we’re always looking to get east early.”
The leg will take the fleet down the eastern side of the Philippines, leaving New Guinea to starboard before sailing east of the Solomon Islands.
The islands dotting the course thin out as the boats approach New Caledonia before making the dash to Auckland.
The fleet faces doldrums in the Pacific Ocean, just south of the equator, and potential tropical storms in the southern hemisphere.
Azzam have made one crew change, with Australian trimmer and helmsman Phil Harmer returning after missing the third leg because of illness and injury to allow his replacement Neal McDonald to resume his role as race director.
Dongfeng are changing out half of their eight-man crew, which raised eyebrows, given their Leg 3 victory, but French skipper Charles Caudrelier said the team were sticking to their strategy of giving experience to Chinese sailors, who have sailed in pairs as the race unfolds, among an otherwise European crew.
Success in a race of one-design boats has gone to the crews who eke out short leads and are first to reach areas of stronger winds, which can quickly produce a lead of 10 or 20nm.
Another factor taken into the racing calculus is keeping the boats and sails from breaking as a crew pushes to the limits.
“That’s very important in terms of long-term strategy,” Fisher said. “You have to look after the boat as well as the people.”
No one is saying this leg will be more difficult than the next – Leg 5 into the frigid Southern Ocean and around the tip of South America – but it could be tougher than anything seen so far, Walker said.
“It’s tropical cyclone season in the southern hemisphere so there is always that risk,” he said.
“Going to be plenty of challenges, that’s for sure, not least to beat everybody else.”
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
