MAPFRE looking to arrive in Melbourne ahead of Christmas

With just over 400 nautical miles to go to the finishing line off Melbourne, MAPFRE is on a final push to draw first blood on the double-point scoring Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Before they can add to their advantage on the leaderboard, the Spanish team must negotiate a pesky high-pressure system threatening to encroach from the west, bringing lighter winds, not to mention the tricky currents and tidal gates between them and the finish line.

But with a lead of nearly 100 nautical miles, they are in a very enviable position.

“It’s looking that way. It’s been a tough leg and until yesterday it’s been so tight with Dongfeng and we’ve been pushing so hard,” said skipper Xabi Fernández today. “Now it’s true, we have stretched a lot and if we don’t have any problem we should be all good.”

The key to being in this position today, Fernández explained, came from their strategy earlier in the leg, when they resisted the temptation to do something ‘crazy’ and instead just kept it close, tucked in tight behind Dongfeng when the Chinese/French team was the early leg leader.

“It was so important to always keep it tight. And sometimes the way to do that is to follow the leader. We fought very hard to keep it always close and then of course every new system is an opportunity for the guy behind and we took it. It was hard when we were chasing them – they are hard to catch – and then the feeling when we passed them is unbelievable.”

Behind the leading pair, there is intrigue in the battle for the final podium position between Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Team Brunel. At one point last night, Brunel jumped ahead on the distance to finish measurement for a short burst, before the Vestas team clawed back the lead. And then, skipper Charlie Enright and navigator Simon Fisher (SiFi) elected to go into Stealth Mode.

“We use Stealth Mode when there’s something going on tactically,” explained SiFi. “Brunel have been chasing hard the last few days… and applying a bit of pressure. The gybe last night and our moment to choose when to come back to the north is important so we thought going in to Stealth Mode would keep them guessing a bit as to exactly where we are. There are some tactical options as to how far east/west you want to be when you start to head to Melbourne and if they don’t know where we are they’re forced to pick their own lane.”

Brunel has done that – and is charging ahead with the highest speed and is racing in the strongest wind among the boats on the 1300 UTC position report. The question is whether Vestas 11th Hour Racing is seeing the same conditions. That will be revealed when they reappear at 1900 UTC this evening.

For the chasing three, it’s a matter of getting far enough east to avoid the light winds of the high pressure system before turning up towards the finish. That turn will be a welcome one by the crews, as each mile to the north brings warmer wind and water temperatures.

The ETA for MAPFRE is early Sunday afternoon UTC.

Leg 3 – Position Report – Saturday 23 December (Day 14) – 13:00 UTC

1. MAPFRE -- distance to finish – 429.9 nautical miles
2. Dongfeng Race Team +94.7 nautical miles
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing --- Stealth Mode
4. Team Brunel +155.3
5. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag +408.3
6. Turn the Tide on Plastic +440.9
7. team AkzoNobel +822.4