“The way of winning this is watch by watch,” says Antonio Cuervas-Mons.
As Ñeti well says, this is a watch-by-watch work and the way to win is by taking it step by step. We are building, like ants, what could be a great victory for “MAPFRE” and as our mate Íñigo Losada says – making a comparison to a football match – this is decided in the 90th minute.
We have indeed seen on the last legs that arrivals have been so close that we were practically sharing with the rest of the fleet the welcoming that the Volvo Ocean Race had prepared for us at the Pavilion.
This is in fact all the more fun, as the anecdotes and race situations are still fresh to share with the other teams.
The cold has started and the first splatters have fallen on my shoes.
I have immediately put on my boats, coat and balaclava to avoid the horrible feeling of frozen water on my skin.
Less than a day to our arrival and the podium is looking exciting! We had a close encounter with Dongfeng – it was beautiful but painful.
The Franco-Chinese boat sailed at our stern for around 20 minutes without giving up, while I was preparing lunch (some powerful noodles with tuna). They tried to overtake us on windward but couldn’t, then they dropped down and tried on leeward.
When trying that attack, they flew a drone, which filmed some pretty incredible footage for sure – I hope they can enjoy it with their morning coffee (note to myself: “Get a drone…NOW!”).
With Alvimedica at 12 miles, Abu Dhabi at 25 and the girls at 36, the podium is being fought really hard by the 3 at the front and in this pure speed and no manoeuvre competition, the winner of this Atlantic crossing is going to be decided.
The guys are motivated, they want to win, this team is proving each and every moment that they’re here to win and not just to participate.
Vamos “MAPFRE”!
Fran
