Volvo Race – Turn the Tide go for the gap
Dee Caffari will take Turn the Tide on Plastic through the middle of the world’s second-largest barrier reef on Thursday in a bid to defend first place in Leg 6.
Caffari said she will thread her Turn the Tide on Plastic crew through the Grand Passage, a narrow gap in the barrier reef surrounding the South Pacific island chain of New Caledonia, in the hunt for the tiniest of time advantages.
Under pressure from rival crews Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and team AkzoNobel, some 40 miles west, Caffari and her navigator Brian Thompson opted for the bold move in the hope of gaining around 90 minutes.
As well as sailing a shorter course, Caffari is hoping her crew will be best positioned for the coming breeze when it arrives from the east.
“In about 120 miles there’s a reef lying at the top of New Caledonia,” explained Caffari, “There are two options – either go round the outside of it or go through the Grand Passage, through the middle.
“We’re going for the latter because we think it could gain us about an hour and a half. Every minute counts between now and Auckland.”
The competition behind TTTP is doing a similar thing but AkzoNobel and Scallywag to the west are going round the outside.
By tomorrow we will know which pays . .
This story is from sailweb.co.uk
