AUCKLAND OVER THE HORIZON

100 NAUTICAL MILES TO GO

The first sight of Dongfeng at sunrise this morning but still approximately 100 nautical miles from the finish line. Unfortunately as much as Wolf desired Team Dongfeng to stay at the forefront of Leg 4 until the race ends, Mapfre has taken the lead position.

Kevin Escoffier of the Dongfeng race team keeping an eye on the competition.

SCA Leader of the fleet racing to Auckland - So just wake me when we get there.

AUCKLAND RACE VILLAGE EXPO

AUCKLAND RACE VILLAGE OPENS TOMORROW

Friday the 27 February marks the day that the Auckland Race village is open to the public. For a good idea of what the exhibitions will look like, do page through some of the older blogs especially the Cape Town Expo, to see the various displays, events and activities. As can be seen, the Volvo Ocean Race villages are meant to be deliver a uniform experience throughout the race, but the culture of each specific city gives it a completely different charm. Abu Dhabi delivered a different experience from Sanya and so will Auckland. Kiwi culture is interesting and exciting and they take their sports seriously, especially water sport. The Ocean Race fleet is due to arrive from Saturday onwards. Today is the 17th day of the  Sanya to Auckland Volvo Ocean Race, and Dongfeng Team has once again snatched the lead position from Team Abu Dhabi. They have been rubber banding for position between Mapfre and Abu Dhabi for the past two weeks. However, it is Wolf desire, as indicated on his placard below, that they stay in the lead for the rest of the leg but most probably for the rest of the race. It would be the most amazing thing if Dongfeng won Leg 4 of the Volvo ocean Race as well considering it's  Charles Caudrelier’ birthday today. Lets keep our fingers crossed for the Chinese team.  Theses some great pics of leg 4 below.

Auckland by night.

Enthusiastic Wolf.

Aerial view of Auckland City.

LEG 4 SANYA TO AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND

VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEG 4

The Sanya to Auckland race started of with a bang. Lots of jubilation and lots of fun.  Since Dongfeng won the previous leg, it had a edge to the rest of the fleet and hence once again the leader of the pack. When the fleet approached the  north coast of the Philoppines Islands they split into two groups. Abu Dhabi, Alvimedica and Dongfeng were in the one group that sailed towards the Philoppines  and along its coast. Whereas Mapfre, Brunel and Team SCA in the group veered off and sailed north east towards the south coast of Taiwan where they experienced better wind conditions than the Dongfeng group. This was a turning point in the race for everyone. Abu Dhabi immediately took the lead from Dongfeng which was quickly snatched by Mapfre. This all happened just 10 days ago. Each team taking the lead for a short while from another.  Within the last 4 days Brunel took the lead and thats where it stayed. It is the 12th day of leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race and the fleet has reached the halfway mark of Leg 4 of the Sanya to Auckland Volvo Ocean Race through the North Pacific Ocean enroute the South Pacific Ocean.  Currently Abu Dhabi is in second position, followed by Team Mapfre, then Team Alvimedica followed by Dongfeng. Dongfeng is in fifth place as they reach the Bismarch Sea with its multitude of little islands. Soon the fleet will be sail through the Solomon Sea then into the Coral Sea. The fleet is due to reach Auckland, New Zealand on the last day of February.

Mapfre taking strain

Dongfeng 

Team Abu Dhabi hard at work.

Auckland New Zealand.

DONGFENG LEG 3 RACE WINNER

Dongfeng just raced into Sanya harbour at the Volvo Race village, completed and won leg 3. Congratulations to the entire race team for their amazing display of seamanship and competition. Since this morning 9:40 Dongfeng has progressively gained speed, only covering about 16 nautical miles in the three hours before midday. Then they progress some 20 nautical miles in the next three hours leading to mid afternoon.  Through dusk and early evening they covered about 27 nautical miles  and in the past 3 hour slot covered about 40 nautical miles racing through the Chinese sea. They are sailing a good three knots faster than the rest of the fleet. At this rate they are destined to beat the clock and arrive in Sanya China shortly before 00 UTC. This is really astounding, covering some  4670 nautical miles in 23 day 14 hours, which roughly equates to an average of 8.25 nautical miles per hour. Their time at sea was a little more than 550 hours at sea in constant motion.

Meanwhile the rest of the fleet lost momentum and time, with the closest competitor - Abu Dhabi, followed by Alvimedica then Mapfre, Brunel and lastly Team SCA who is expected to arrive by Thursday 29th. But they are doing really great in the Volvo Ocean Race considering the were short of "dead reckoning" when when their electronic navigation system gave up the ghost and their main head zero tore and the bowman suffered a back injury and forced to take shore leave. 

The Dongfeng Race Team

LEG 3 SANYA STOPOVER

VOLVO OCEAN RACE VILLAGE EXPO

It's about 72hrs to the end of Leg 3. But the last few hours of straight-line sailing is going to be most strenuous on the sailors. Currently the fleet is tacking upwind along the Vietnam coast with Dongfeng still in the lead by a good 40 nautical miles. Straight-line upwind sailing requires tacking every half hour to an hour, and it entails moving a half a ton of sails and kit from port to starboard and back against a heel of 20 to 30 degrees. To make matters worse, the swells are fairly large and frequent, causing all the yachts to be airborne for a few seconds at a time, only to smack their hulls when they drop back into the water. Something like surfing with a Volvo 65. But when a Carbon fibre hull beats on water, the sound is much louder than that of an aluminum or fibreglass yacht, frazzling  the nerves of everyone below deck and making the entire boat reverberate.  This kind of sailing action can cause the sails to tear. 

Apparently Team SCA tore their mast head zero on Friday and they had computer issues shutting down their electronic navigation for a few hours. Yep! its going be tough for everyone. In Vietnam several locals live on their boats and there are  thousands of  fishing boats in the water as well. Hopefully they will not get too close to the racing yachts as to obstruct their speed, let alone collide with one of them.  Talking about collisions: one big problem in Vietnamese water is that their fishermen catch prawn at night without any lights, so the racing fleet needs to be extra vigilant and extra careful not to run into one of these unlit fishing vessels  in the dark of night. With the moon in its last quarter, there won't be much light at night in anycase, so guys forget about sleeping, get out there and keep a watch for those submerged floating containers and those unlit fishing boats.

Dongfeng Race Team Best Performance in Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race - Abu Dhabi to Sanya

Sanya Volvo Ocean Race village Expo fireworks display.

There is definitely enough wind in Sanya to get the fleet there in double quick time.

Dongfeng spectators or just interested Volvo ocean Race fans

The Volvo Race Expo displays shipped from Alicante to Cape town to Sanya.

Beating the drum is what the Chinese and the Indians have in common

Dongfeng cultural display artists wearing Indian motive clothing

Dongfeng cultural display with a  South American Indian flavour.

All eyes on the Volvo Ocean Race app.

Dongfeng Race Team members getting the lions share of attention because Dongfeng crew has exceeded expectations

LEG 3 ABU DHABI TO SANYA VOLVO OCEAN RACE DAY 18

Dongfeng Race Team is still in the lead and has been in pole position for at least the past 17 days. Within the next five days they will reach Sanya if all goes well and the weather holds. Speaking about whether, for the past few days the sailors on all the boats were all emotionally moved because of intermittent wind conditions  in the Malacca straits and with the strong currents dragging them in reverse causing them to down anchors and loose time and distance. Considering the  moon was almost full, its gravitational pull of springtide made sailing conditions even less ideal. Not to mention the heat of the equatorial conditions. The yachts were all between 4 nautical miles  to 10 nautical miles of one another.  The mood onboard Dongfeng was especially grim since their GPS showed their speed, going backwards. This could mean that the rest of the fleet may catch up or they could drift onto a sand bank. But regardless of conditions, Dongfeng has managed to enter the South China Sea between the Islands of Malaysia and heading towards the Spratly Islands north west of Brunei whilst the rest of the fleet is still at Singapore.

The Malacca Strait is  one of the largest areas for shipping in the world and the route for 80% of Oil tankers as can be seen in the images below. Shipping traffic near Singapore is really intense  and the straits of  Malacca is renown for abundance of  fishing boats, floating plastic debris, chunks of Styrofoam. There are even floating tree trunks and planks which could damage a rudder irreparably.

The Picturesque Sanya Hotel  Phoenix Island Hainan China

The 108 meter tall Guanyin Statue of NanHai Sanya Hainan Island China

Dongfeng GPS readings showing their speed is going backwards.

Dongfeng entering into the Malacca Straits.

Calm water and no wind in equatorial waters with fishing boat in background

The Doldrums, no waves, to tide, no wind.

Mapfre in close proximity to a fishing vessel dragging a net, in the Straits of Malacca.

The fleet sailing through the shipping lanes.

Fishing nets of these fishing vesels are of great concern to the yacht fleet

LEG 3 VOLVO OCEAN RACE DAY 9

VOLVO OCEAN RACE DAY 9

The fleet have now past the Maldives, a group of Islands quite similar to the islands of Mauritius, Seychelles Reunion, were Vestas Wind wrecked. All of them are  close to  the tip of India  passing Sri Lanka  sailing close to the recommended sailing guideline. Soon they  will approach the Andaman Islands in the bay of Bengal close to the Thailand coast, north of Sumatra. Dongfeng is still in pole position and has been in first place virtually from the start of leg 3.

The girls hasn't been doing too badly and still staying within binoculars distance from from the rest of the fleet.