Where are we?
As of Thursday afternoon UAE time, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Azzam had just taken the lead in the fourth leg of the race from Sanya, China, to Auckland, New Zealand. Ordinarily, with less than 500 nautical miles to go to Auckland, this would be a critical lead change.
But such has been the nature of this leg that it is unlikely to be the last change. Azzam had been on Dongfeng’s tail for the last couple of days, both boats visible to each other at various stages.
What happened?
Despite several setbacks, including a damaged sail, Dongfeng have been superb, just staying ahead of Azzam through the second half of the leg. But on Thursday afternoon they caught a bad cloud formation that shut down their breeze and let Azzam slip ahead.
"The wind has been all over the place and we have been changing sails like lunatics," Azzam skipper Ian Walker wrote after the change. "Finally we seem to have the right sail up and somehow we seem to have come out in the lead."
So no point celebrating right now?
Not at all. Azzam taking over from Dongfeng Race Team was the 26th lead change in this leg. Five of the six boats in the leg have held the lead at some point during the leg. Any little slip by any boat has been immediately punished by the others.
For long periods through the middle of the leg Team Brunel were in charge and built up the most commanding lead, as much as 60nm ahead of second place at one point. But for the most part it has been very tight, with usually less than five miles between the frontrunners. Even as late as Thursday, the spread between first and last in the fleet was just 46nm.
How has Azzam’s leg been?
Consistency is what Walker has demanded all through the race and as the only team to finish on the podium in every single leg and in-port race, consistency is precisely what he has got.
In this up and down leg, Azzam's relentlessness has been astonishing. If you scan through the 150-plus position reports the race sends out (detailing the fleet position every three hours) in only six of them have Walker's men not been in the top three. They have led for quite a bit and have been in second place for an eternity.
Every other boat has led, or dropped back in the fleet for long periods of time. Azzam has been in the hunt and the hunter for the longest period and the lead change had been a long time coming.
When do they arrive in Auckland?
As of the afternoon positions report, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are 448.5nm from New Zealand with their slim lead.
Light winds are expected now in the finish to Auckland and a few tricky cloud formations of the kind that tripped up Dongfeng are still to be negotiated.
But race organisers expect the fleet to start arriving in Auckland some time between noon and 4pm (UAE time) on Saturday afternoon. It will likely be another close finish – Walker says he expects, effectively, a drag race to the end.
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