We are limping home. We are about 20 hours from the finish line with an expected eta in the dawn hours on the 24th. The wind looks to be cooperating today. Right now, we have eight knots of wind pushing us along on a nice beam reach angle.
We saw this leg as a good opportunity to get a podium place as we did not expect any hard running conditions, our known ‘Achilles heel’. We had ‘no excuse to lose’ as Dennis Conner used to say. In front of us we had a long upwind struggle in NE trade winds, which should do us, fine we thought…
We just finished the leg to Singapore. I have to be simple with my thoughts because I am too tired to get really in-depth.
A very happy bunch here on Telefónica Azul. We kept our heads cool today, and, as predicted, it wasn’t over until close to the finish.
All the talk on the Malacca Straits was of pirates, fishing nets, shipping and obstacles but it was the wind shifts and tide that we should have been focusing on.
For the first time this year, I have some Christmas feelings. It was this morning and it was all about excitement. Actually, the feeling is still there.
Light six knots breeze, calm water, there is no cloud in the sky. December 21st. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is sailing the Malacca Strait somewhere between Sumatra and Indonesia. Christmas is approaching and as to our Russian cold New Year with its New Year tree, it is simply impossible to imagine it here 250 miles off the equator.
As bad the day before was, so good was yesterday. In the early afternoon, we wiggled ourselves in the lead. A big call had to be made to go either inside or outside a group of islands, and since the sky was clear, we opted to stay inshore, as most likely we would keep more pressure.
It’s simply crazy. That’s the best word to describe what is happening in the Malacca Strait. After 10 days and 2000 miles of sailing, we’re now here four boats within only two – three miles apart, with the Telefónica Black ready to join the party only a couple of hours behind.
We are still sailing, which means that we are still in the race. We are almost 200 miles behind the leaders, but still pressing onward to the finish of leg three under sail…..
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