Abu Dhabi: Four of the six boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet taking part in the round-the-world sailing race suffered big hits on Tuesday as the Southern Ocean provided its roughest ride of the race in 12 dramatic hours.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) also endured a drama-filled night, reporting a ‘night of two gybes: a wild one in pitch black with a massive wipeout’ and then a ‘controlled one at 30 knots’ on a turbulent Leg 5.
The Emirati boat recovered to move within 14.2 nautical miles (nm) of leaders Team Brunel, with Mapfre in third, 19.5nm adrift of the Dutch boat. Team SCA lost 38nm with their struggles, to fall 132.2nm behind the leaders.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are leading overall, thanks to their superior in-port series record over Dongfeng Race Team. Both have eight points after four legs.
Team SCA, Dongfeng Race Team and Mapfre all did Chinese gybes from Monday to Tuesday, but the three crews escaped injury despite the boats crashing over in a massive seastate and 40 knots of wind (75 kilometres an hour).
Chinese gybes are caused by either strong wind or a big wave. They force the main sail to slam over, with the boat ending up on its side in the water, and the keel on the wrong side pinning it down.
Damage was still being assessed in the aftermath of the incidents, although Dongfeng Race Team appeared to have avoided any serious problems with the boat.
They were first to reveal a Chinese gybe, with their on-board reporter, Yann Riou, revealing: “It took two to three hours to sort out the mess. The boat was on her side, we took 300 litres of water in to the boat through an air vent.”
Then Team SCA were in a similar situation, according to the all-women team’s on-board reporter Anna-Lena Elled. “We ended up on our side for maybe two to four minutes before slowly getting back in the right position.” she told race headquarters.
The crew was assessing the damage and already starting to effect some repairs, Elled continued.
The boats were expected to reach their Leg 5 destination, Itajaí, Brazil, on April 4.
In all, the boats will cover 38,739nm, visiting 11 ports and every continent. The global race is scheduled to finish in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27.
