The B&G Report - Volvo Ocean Race - Leg 6 Week 1 Review
by Mark Chisnell on 23 Apr 2015
Onboard Team SCA – Sophie Ciszek, Justine Mettraux, Carolijn Brouwer, and Dee Caffarri on deck shortly before the sunsets - Leg six to Newport – Volvo Ocean Race 2015 Corinna Halloran / Team SCA
Top Volvo Ocean Race correspondent, navigator and sailing analyst, Mark Chisnell writes a regular report for B&G on the current race and trends he sees developing. This week he looks back at the first week of Leg 6.
Leg 6 Report 1 – Newport Bound
It was a slow start to Leg 6, as the teams got underway from Itajai, Brazil for their journey back into the northern hemisphere and the finish at Newport, Rhode Island, USA – a ‘mere’ 5,010 miles away.
It was so light at the start time that overall leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were caught on the wrong side of the line, and had to go back. Fortunately, no one else was going anywhere in a hurry and they were soon back in the mix. After an hour of drifting, the race officials eventually shortened the inshore section of the course, and released the fleet to head for the USA, once they got to the first mark.
We predicted a light wind start last week with the South Atlantic High centred on roughly the same latitude as Itajai, about two thirds of the way across to Cape Town. It was forecast to provide a light north to north-easterly headwind from the western quadrant of the high (remember in the southern hemisphere the wind rotates anti-clockwise around a high), and so it turned out.
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