Dubai: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker admits the crew face a tough task to catch up with the fleet in the latest stage of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Abu Dhabi's Azzam boat suffered damage soon after the start of leg five from Auckland, New Zealand, to Itajai in Brazil. A bulkhead in Azzam's bow, securing a heavy weather headsail, ripped clean out soon after leaving port on Sunday, so they took the decision to return to Auckland and carry out repairs.
That delayed them by about 24 hours, leaving them a lot of ground to make up on the fleet in the 12,408km leg.
British Olympian Walker has now written in his blog: "Despite an exciting day or two gaining many miles over the fleet, it is now clear that the leaders are escaping in strong downwind conditions to the south east of us. We have to head north to evade some light winds and the gap between us and the leaders will grow considerably. Everyone on board knows the likely scenario, so we begin our own race against time.
"We still hope to catch the fleet up — it may just take a little longer than we had hoped. For a start the weather has a habit of changing, plus 6,000 miles is a long way to Brazil. Right now it looks like there is unlikely going to be an easy way back into this leg — probably not until after Cape Horn.
"One result of this is that it means we are going to be all alone across the Southern Ocean. Our safety net — the other boats — will be hundreds of miles away downwind. This is not ideal but it is a situation we knew was very likely when we left Auckland 24 hours after the fleet. It is something we will consider in every decision and move we make.
"Another result is that as a team we will need to work hard to maintain the intensity required to sail these boats fast."
One piece of good news for Abu Dhabi is that leg leaders Sanya are being held up after having a rudderstock sheared off. The crew were assessing their options after making the boat watertight again on Wednesday.
