The seven crews of the Volvo Ocean Race have finally crossed the Equator and are now in the southern hemisphere. After two weeks of intense racing, this is an opportunity to rest and have fun for the "Equator rookies", even if not everyone's heart is in it. This first part of the leg has been difficult for the crews who have spent the northern hemisphere playing it close to the vest.
" Neptune did not spare us, leaving us little desire to go and play the marionette with him on this day of change of hemisphere. So we chose to go about our business. The bar and the adjustments for some, the banner for others [âeuros¦]"
"That said, we're going to cross the equator at least three times on this Volvo. So maybe it's just a postponement?" explains Yann Riou, on board Dongfeng.
Midway through the first stage
This weekend, the crews symbolically crossed the halfway point between Alicante and Cape Town (6,487 miles in total). After reaching the way point of Fernando de Noronha, they will begin a long crossing of the South Atlantic, heading for South Africa. For the moment, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is still leading the fleet, but only 17 miles ahead of its competitors. Next in line are Team Brunel, Team Vestas Wind and Dongfeng Race. Team SCA closing the gap.
The St. Helena high pressure zone will soon be waiting for the crews. In October, this zone of high pressure is regularly found on a fairly high latitude. In order to make sure they don't get stuck in it due to lack of wind, the teams would do well to go around it. Whether east or west, they will have to focus on the next few hours to be able to break away and gain in the south, before starting a turn east towards Cape Town. All techniques will be good to keep or take the lead. In the meantime, everyone is taking advantage of favorable conditions for gliding with a southeast wind of 16 to 22 knots for the boats to the north and slightly lighter for those to the south.
At the beginning of the week, weather conditions should be less favorable with thunderstorms, gusts and squalls to negotiate.
