After the shock, frustration and helplessness from two nights ago, when we dropped to fifth, the new day brought new opportunities, and a new strategy.
As the day broke Alvimedica was just two miles away; we decided to try and make some lateral gains on our MH0 in order to move closer to the front pack when the shift kicked in.
This got us sailing right behind Alvimedica. The chase started and we peeled to the A3 because we couldn’t progress laterally any more. We cut down from 1.9 to 0.8 miles hoping the shift would help us pass them.
Jean-Luc has been moving back and forth from the nav station to the deck the whole day. He was looking at the wind, at Alvimedica, at the waves, at the seaweed and at the clouds, and we were staring at him like he was crazy.
At 19:30 approximately the shift came in and we gybed to leeward of the fleet, surprised to find out that after the call we were together with the top three boats which had already gybed at least one hour ahead of us.
Abu Dhabi had been as far as 45 miles of lateral distance – they were now 10 miles away in that direction and we could see them. Finding out we haven’t lost track of them, there was a sigh of relief onboard.
We are getting closer to a possible thunderstorm among a high and a low pressure. Rain and unstable winds. There could be a restart again.
“The one who gets out of here first will have the biggest chances of arriving first to Newport”, says Rob Greenhalgh.
In the afternoon, Ñeti climbed up the mast for a check that showed everything was perfect.
Last time this exact same crew sailed together, we made it first to New Zealand.
We are back in the pack and we want to win. Just 4 days left until Newport, and the tiniest mistake can cost you the leg. Focusing is key now.
#vamosMAPFRE
Fran