You can’t help but notice the blue boat back in the fleet after six legs. It’s been tough, and I’m sure it’s been difficult for them as well. The fact that they are back sailing with us today stands for the “Yes, we can” mentality.
We had a great start, once again in a very light breeze. The backdrop was impressive and a lot of fans were out on the water to wave us goodbye.
After two hours sailing in the Tagus River we left for our new destination: Lorient, France.
There were several options as to how to sail up the Portuguese coast. Abu Dhabi, Alvimedica, Brunel and ourselves stayed as far from land as possible. Dongfeng, SCA and Vestas stuck to the coastline.
As always during the first 12 hours of a leg, the pressure was high and errors were costly. There is no room for mistakes in this sprint; you have to sail fast and in the right wind.
But the latter has been very shifty and we had to change sails several times, going from the MH0 to the J1. We went from no wind to 15 knots.
No one has been able to gain from this. We’ll see a lot of changes in the positions in this leg.
#vamosMAPFRE
Francisco Vignale
