Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) could have to deal with boat-breaking conditions during the opening 48 hours of the seventh leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts on Sunday and sees the yachts race from Newport, Rhode Island, in the US to Lisbon, Portugal.
The Abu Dhabi team’s skipper, British double Olympic silver medallist, Ian Walker, said they expected to take a severe pounding from big seas thrown up by strong winds blowing against the flow of warm waters of the Gulf Stream.
“Wind against current can be a nasty combination,” Walker said. “The two opposing forces drive up large steep waves, which can act as take-off ramps for the yachts. Get the landing wrong and you can easily break the boat.”
ADOR takes a six-point lead into Leg 7 and UAE sailor Adel Khalid said the priority for the opening section of the 2,800 nautical-mile Atlantic crossing would be to get Azzam through the turbulent Gulf Stream waters unscathed.
“It’s a delicate balance between sailing fast without risking serious damage that could put you out of the leg,” Khalid explained. “We need to be cautious but we are also need to keep in touch with the rest of the fleet.”
Leg 7 — the shortest so far — sees the fleet return to Europe for the first time since leaving Alicante, Spain, last October and is expected to take between eight and ten days to complete, meaning little or no time to recover ground in the event of a breakdown.
ADOR navigator Simon Fisher said he was expecting a complex weather scenario for the Atlantic crossing, during which, as well as negotiating the Gulf Stream, ADOR will also have to find the fastest way around the Azores High — a persistent but unpredictable vast mid-ocean area of light winds blocking the way to Lisbon.
“The Azores High can change shape, move about, or even split in two,” Fisher said. “Timing is going to be key as the weather routing shows a wide range of very different options depending on how things play out.
“The truth is, we can only plan ahead so much and we will need to think on our feet a lot on this leg.”
Having been narrowly beaten to the US on the previous leg from Brazil by their closest rivals Dongfeng Race Team, Fisher said he and Walker would likely try to stay close to the Chinese/French crew again to minimise the risk of losing points.
“The maths works in our favour if we can finish ahead or right behind them,” Fisher said. “However, when you are racing across oceans that’s not an easy thing to do.”
Australian actor Ryan Kwanten will sail with the Azzam crew for the preliminary one-hour inshore section and will jump from the Abu Dhabi yacht’s stern at the Newport leaving marker.
