Dongfeng Race Team first Volvo to the Rock
The seven one design Volvo Open 65s finally reached the Fastnet Rock at around breakfast time this morning with the Chinese entry Dongfeng Race Team in first place, making the turn south at 0758, followed by Team Akzonobel, MAPFRE, Sun Hung Kai Scallywag, Team Brunel, Vestas 11th Hour Racing and with the Dee Caffari-skippered Turn the Tide on Plastic bringing up the rear almost an hour later.
As to the conditions they were experiencing on the return journey back across the Celtic Sea, Dong Feng skipper Charles Caudrelier, who won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2011-12 with Groupama, said: “It is very, very complicated. Everyone has gone into the corner and the wind is very, very shifty. MAPFRE was far behind us and they caught a big shift and they seem to be ahead now. There are shifts of 20-40° and the same with the wind speed. For a long time, we had 10 knots and the others had 15. Now we all have the same wind, around 16-17 knots. You would make a good choice and gain a lot, but then for one hour we had five knots less.”
At the time Caudrelier was estimating their arrival at the finish being around 0200 Wednesday.
Tonight the bulk of the Rolex Fastnet Race will be progressing across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock. In IRC One, the Mylius 15e25 Ars Una of Italian Vittorio Biscarini late this afternoon was approaching the Fastnet Rock, having recovered the lead from the French crew on Codiam.
In IRC Two, Gilles Fournier and Corinne Migraine’s J/133 Pintia still had just over 50 miles to sail to reach the Fastnet rock but had extended her lead on corrected time in her class, having pulled more than 5.5 hours ahead of second-placed, British favourites Nick and Suzi Jones’ First 44.7 Lisa, skippered by RORC Commodore, Michael Boyd.
Leaders in IRC Three, both on the water and on corrected time, were half way to the Fastnet late this afternoon with Arnaud Delamare and Eric Mordret’s JPK 10.80 Dream Pearls easing ahead of the doublehanded crews – Ian Hoddle and Oliver Wyatt on the Sun Fast 3600, Game On, and Ed Fishwick and Nick Cherry on Redshift Reloaded. All three boats were jockeying for the lead on the water with Dream Pearls closest to the rhumb line to the Fastnet Rock.
Meanwhile in IRC Four, the JPK 10.10s have been suffering, allowing the upwind weapon that is Paul Kavanagh’s Swan 44 Pomeroy Swan to take the lead ahead of Chris Choules’ Sigma 38, With Alacrity.
