By Alex Petersen
For the eight powerful 70-foot yachts heading for Cape Town in the Volvo Ocean Race it has been a weekend of intense preparation.
Sailing down the coast of northern Brazil has been in manageable breezes of 12 to 18 knots. But that is about to change radically, as a big low pressure cell is set to peel off the coast of Brazil heading for Cape Town with predicted gale-force winds of 40 knots, and seas and waves to match.
After coming through the doldrums, the fleet is still remarkably close together, with the four leaders, Ericsson 4 of Sweden, skippered by Brazilian Olympic medallist Torben Grael, the US entry Puma Racing skippered by Ken Read, Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker of Britain, and Telefonica Black headed by Fernando Echavarri of Spain, have been swopping the lead almost every few hours.
But Ericsson 4 is marginally further south, and likely to be first aboard.
But last night and today the fleet still has to first negotiate some light winds before catching the roller-coaster. Media crewman of Ericsson 4, Guy Salter, said: "Nobody is really looking forward to sailing in 40-knots. It will be bumpy, wet and bloody uncomfortable, but hopefully fast."
A point echoed by Ian Moore, navigator on Green Dragon. "It's easy for things to unravel when its blowing 40 knots," Moore said
But the stormy conditions will also provide the chance for one or more of the boats to beat the current record distance of 563 nautical miles sailed in 24 hours set in the last race. But attractive as that record may be, the other crucial task for the crews will be at times to slow the boats down to avoid breakages, which could be crippling.
For the boats at the back of the fleet, the current worry is whether they can catch the weather system. "For those boats not aboard this train, it will be a long walk to Cape Town," said Moore.
The four back-runners are Telefonica Blue, skippered by Hollander Bouwe Bekking, 39 miles behind the leader, Delta Lloyd, 78 miles back, Ericsson 3, 81 miles, and Team Russia which is 183 miles behind.