After a week marked by a strong presence of the trade winds in Cape Verde, the forecast for the start of Stage 2 is much calmer: light Northeast winds of 5 to 8 knots.
In fact, it is likely that the weakness of the trade winds will affect the fleet as it descends towards the doldrums, the zone of very light winds near the equator, which will cause a start to the stage that is as tactically fascinating as it is slow.
“First we will have to know how to read the influence of the islands on the wind, since they are very high and the wind is light” said Robert Stanjek, skipper of GUYOT environment – Team Europe.
“It seems we need to gain west to efficiently pass the doldrums. That is the conservative option for the first few days.”
“With the fall of the trade winds, the doldrums get a little bigger”, avisa Simon Fisher, del 11th Hour Racing Team. “It will take three or four days to get there and the wind should pick up again. Getting out of here and getting the start of that rebuild efficiently is very important.”
The departure time of Stage 2 is at 17:10 local time (18:10 UTC and 19:10 Spanish time), approximately 90 minutes before sunset, so the crews will enter the first night watch Almost immediately.
But with all the transitions they have planned in the first few days, there will probably be a lot of maneuvering to do and it will be difficult to find a moment to rest.
“The first part of the stage will be super tactical and there will be a lot of opportunities, so we all need to be very connected from the start” says Will Harris, who will skipper Team Malizia in the second leg.
Four of the five teams have made substitutions in their crews, and Paul Meilhat’s Biotherm is the only team planning to start with the same lineup.
“I think it’s important for us to have the same team because we have a lot of things to learn” dijo Melhat. “If we change the minimum settings, including people, it is easier to see what impact the changes have and learn from them” .
For Leg 1 winner Kevin Escoffier (Team Holcim-PRB), it’s all about continuing to do the things that led his team to get the most out of the boat en route to victory.
“We have known for a while that the boat is quite fast, or at least competitive with respect to the other boats” reflects Escoffier. “The main thing is that I am very happy with the team. For us it was the first time we had sailed together in the open sea. We had a lot of fun on board, we were in a great mood. Also, we had a good result. But it was the first. It does not mean anything. There is still a long way to go and we are focusing on the next challenge.”
report a bug
