CAPE TOWN Dec 18 (Reuters) – Chinese outsiders
Sanya zoomed into the lead on leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race on
Sunday after a spectacular gamble helped reinvigorate the stage
from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi.
All six teams had been frustrated during the leg by a cold
front lying tantalisingly in front of them, hampering the
fleet’s progress with rain squalls and unstable winds.
Sanya are the only one of the six teams not racing in a
latest generation boat and are lucky to be sailing at all after
a collision forced them out of leg one.
Unable to compete with the newer boats on pure speed, they
decided on Saturday to turn back on themselves and head sharply
north in search of better weather and within 24 hours the move
had taken them to the front.
However, there is a lot of risk involved. They could yet
face massive 40-knot headwinds with their only escape route cut
off by an anti-piracy exclusion zone.
But for now they are enjoying the feeling of having passed
Abu Dhabi going in the opposite direction, while leaving all
their rivals poring over the weather data and scratching their
heads.
“I’m sure there are some puzzled people on the Abu Dhabi
boat we passed at the moment,” said Sanya skipper Mike
Sanderson, who had to oversee a round-the-clock repair effort in
Cape Town.
On Abu Dhabi, British skipper Ian Walker said: “Sanya have
made a brave call which could bring strong dividends if it
works, but obviously playing with tropical systems comes with
significant risk.”
Groupama also decided to gamble but with a very different
strategy. They pushed on further to the south than their rivals
and managed to punch through the cold front on Saturday. That
gave them stronger and much steadier winds and they tore forward
at a rate that took them up to second place.
Continued…
