We are into our last sprint to Newport, which is less than 1,000 miles away. Yesterday the positions changed a bit and our close fight with Alvimedica put us where we are now.
The cold front we were waiting for finally came in and hit us – big time. We could see Abu Dhabi in the distance, and to port a bunch of grey clouds were gradually filling up with rain.
At first the clouds sucked the wind, leaving us stuck in the middle of the Atlantic watching Alvimedica getting away to windward. But then those same clouds stopped the Americans while we made progress to their leeward until we caught them. But then the rain came in and tackled us big time.
We were basically completely stopped when 50 knots suddenly kicked in. The blow knocked the boat completely on its side and we were close to losing the sails, which were stacked at the bow. If it weren’t for the lifelines, we would have lost at least two of them.
We had to change position and turn around the racecourse to regain control. The wind was coming from all directions and sailing was complicated. We pulled ourselves together, got back into the right position, and sailed in the new wind with the J1.
And guess who came out from the same cloud at more or less the same distance: Alvimedica. They obviously got the same wind, and we sailed within 0.1 mile of each other for more than 20 minutes… A SHOW! We’ve never sailed offshore against another boat for that long. You sometimes cross another team, or sail on a straight line together at a distance of 2 or 3 miles, but yesterday we were really close for really long. The guys really enjoyed the outside view of one of these boats, claiming this was something “really good for the race!”
“Four days left to the finish and we’re together, it’s impressive,” said André Fonseca.
We gradually grew apart and the lateral separation got bigger. We’re heading to Newport as we chase the leaders in an unsteady breeze, so we peeled to the FR0.
Jean Luc constantly updates the waypoints and the boat is in “full speed mode.” The noise of the sheets against the winches makes it almost impossible to sleep inside the boat.
#vamosMAPFRE
Fran