It has taken nearly two weeks of hard, grinding sailing but some order is finally beginning to emerge in the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. It is an order that Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam will be particularly happy with, finding themselves as they do, as one of two frontrunners breaking away from the rest of the fleet.
The first leg is roughly halfway complete and a couple of key tactical moves, according to Azzam skipper Ian Walker, have helped Azzam pull away. As he spoke to The National, via a satellite-phone link, Azzam had worked hard overnight to pull away from Team Brunel and build a lead of roughly nine nautical miles.
“I wouldn’t say we expected to be in the lead but we hoped to be in the lead,” Walker said on Thursday. “We were confident we were strong but I think the first week shows all the teams are strong. It took us quite a while to grind out a lead and that was because of a good tactical decision around the Cape Verde Islands.”
That gambit allowed Azzam to concede a significant lead, then overcome it, with plenty to spare, and seemed to emphasise the value of experience about the Abu Dhabu boat, which sailed north of the Cape Verde littoral as several younger, less-experienced boats, sailed through the islands.
Azzam steered clear of the islands because the doldrums were approaching. That is the name given to the equatorial regions of light winds and calm seas, a stretch that has, climatically, been confounding for sailors for centuries.
“The whole fleet hugged the African coast when we went through the Mediterranean because the north-easterly trade winds are very weak and there is more wind on the African coast,” Walker said.
“That meant the fleet was a long way east. Now, traditionally, for a good passage into the doldrums you need to be a long way west, which meant a big commitment that we go all the way on the African coast to be one of the furthest boats west.
“We had to give up a lot of miles early on to do that. Only two of us went north of the Cape Verde islands and we were a lot of miles behind at one stage. But the payback came two days later when our westerly position gave us a better approach and transition through the doldrums.”
Now the leg will settle into a pattern. The fleet is out of the doldrums and the leaders passed over the equator late Thursday and yesterday were due to round Fernando de Noronha, an island off the east coast of Brazil that VOR organisers mandate they pass.
Now come a few days of sailing due south. Walker reckons Azzam will go pretty far south “into the Roaring Forties” – the strong westerly winds in the southern hemisphere that should take them across the south Atlantic.
Barring mishaps, not much movement in the order of the fleet is expected now. After the grind, the crew may even get time to catch up on their sleep. Through the doldrums, Walker had a 12-hour stretch without sleep, an unusually long stretch given the four-hours-on, four-hours-off routine most boats follow.
The crew has been in good shape, the on-board reporter Matt Knighton apart, who has been suffering from a sore throat.
“Everybody else is in great shape,” Walker said. “We’re eating well. It’s been easy sailing conditions thus far and now we won’t have too many sail changes over the next few days so we can catch up on sleep. The situation is excellent on board; everyone is enjoying it but trying to maintain our focus and slog as hard today as we did on the first.
“We’ve just focused on getting into the front because we knew whoever was in front at this stage of the race will extend that lead. So for the moment it is very enjoyable but also we are very much on our guard because the weather can conspire against you any time.”
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
