BLOG LEG 7
Read moreThe guys are motivated, they want to win, this team is proving each and every moment that they’re here to win
WATCH BY WATCH
“The way of winning this is watch by watch,” says Antonio Cuervas-Mons.
Read moreOn port tack our eyes are on Lisbon
AND, FINALLY, THE WIND SHIFT!
“It was time to make a decision, and the crew was on deck discussing when to gybe. We finally decided to do it really quick as not to alert our opponents by moving sails and so on”
Read moreNo waves, little wind from the aft, and one of our opponents less than a mile ahead … Luckily we can not eat your fingers because we’d all be crippled.
ONE WEEK IN THE ATLANTIC
There’s about 1000 miles left to Portugal, about 4 days, and MAPFRE sails the Atlantic waters hand in hand with Team Brunel.
Read moreToday it’s more about speed than strategy, we are all sailing in a straight line and waiting for somebody to make the first move.
AN EXPECTED SHIFT
“A clear opportunity to open a gap will be the Azores High”
Read moreA failed sail change left “Brunel” behind and little by little we extended our advantage. When we were sailing next to each other, I was cooking and I almost thought they were going to sail into our boat.
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
“We estimate our arrival in Portugal in five days time.”
Read moreToday we’ll reach the southern part of the ice exclusion zone, and there’ll be several calls to make. We’ll see what awaits us. Is it going to be a gybe party or will we deal with straight line sailing…?
ICE EXCLUSION ZONE
After the sched, we were all really surprised to see Brunel was 22 miles ahead, and that sort of echoed in our heads for a while. For the first time, and quite radically, a boat had got away from the fleet in an extreme way. A spot of light wind they didn’t go through, a shift they were able to catch, and ciao Brunel.
Read moreThree days into this intense Atlantic crossing and we expect good winds to benefit us and take us to our destiny to the top of the podium.
THE FLEET IS CLOSE
An extremely shifty wind constantly bearing north makes our bow change direction like in a rollercoaster.
Read moreThe water temperature rose from 11 to 19 surprising degrees, and it’s much nicer. The cold doesn’t hurt anymore, and it’s easier to go through the night.
DAY TWO
On our second day at sea conditions are mild with a good wind, crossed waves and a 2knot current in our favour.
Read more“MAPFRE’s goal is to sail really fast to the high pressure to connect with the European trade winds with a good leverage, expecting the bungee effect to benefit us”, says Jean Luc Nélias.
GOODBYE NEWPORT
Our goal is a podium finish. The boat and the guys did a great job at the start of the leg and that put us in a really good position during the first hours.
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