Offshore

American ocean racer Brad Van Liew today sailed over the finish line of the VELUX 5 OCEANS and into the record books, winning every leg of the 30,000-mile challenge for the second time in his solo sailing career.

 

Not only is the 43-year-old now the only sailor in the 29-year history of the VELUX 5 OCEANS to have taken clean sweeps in two races (having also won each leg of the 2002/3 edition in class two) but he is also the first American to race solo around the world three times.

The crew of the Spirit of Izivunguvungu have been rescued after the yacht was damaged during the return from the Cape to Rio race, the City of Cape Town said on Friday.

Estrella Damm’s lead remains steady as Alex Pella and Pepe Ribes are challenged on both sides of their course SSE towards Gough Island.

To their west, still the quickest boat in the fleet in slightly wind pressure and a more NE’ly breeze, Foncia was on exactly the same latitude as the Barcelona duo this morning.

Virbac-Paprec 3 was back on the race course last night after leaving Récife at midnight (UTC) after replacing their mainsheet track. Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron are in sixth position now, 275 miles behind the leader, Estrella Damm, and some 70 miles behind Foncia.

Distances between the leaders of the Barcelona World Race are compresssed by a combination of factors this morning, not least boat speed relative to each other. The two leading boats are now sailing their more westerly track towards their Recife technical stopover. As they benefit from the position they have held more to the west of Virbac-Paprec 3, closer to Brasil, Foncia are closer to Recife and look set to 'pit' first some four or five hours ahead of the race leader on the standings.

The slow down for the leading duo in the Doldrums has allowed the chasing pack to claw back some morale boosting miles. Of course they can see as well as the duos on Virbac-Paprec 3 and Foncia that they are due for a similar experience as the winds drop for them, and that the top two IMOCA Open 60’s will emerge into stronger easterly breeze in a few hours.

While Jean Le Cam (FRA) and Bruno Garcia (ESP) make steady progress towards Santo Antao in the Cape Verde islands after losing their mast yesterday evening on Président, there has been another small increase in the lead of 17 miles overnight.

Invest in the west, gain to the south. That is the maxim as the leaders of the Barcelona World RACE enjoy brisk downwind trade wind sailing some 390 miles out to the east of the Mauritanian coast.

Progress down to the latitude of the Canary Island today does not look like it will be very easy for the leaders. As they work downwind in quite unstable breezes, increasingly a mix of westerly and NE’ly, it will be a demanding spell for the leading four of five boats who may see themselves shedding a few miles on those who are pursuing them.