Following the VOR on the virtual tracker thingy is fun. Having…
Following the VOR on the virtual tracker thingy is fun. Having raced a bunch at night along the coast of Southern California while growing up, one thing I learned is that overnight races are often won and lost during the hours of darkness, especially in an area where the afternoon sea breeze tends to give way to light and variable once the sun shuts off.
That dynamic has been on display these first two nights of Leg 1. Last night Team Vestas Wind cut across the fleet, sailing extra distance to go from being the farthest offshore to the farthest inshore, got a favorable wind shift and took the lead.
A short while ago, as darkness closed in and the wind went light, the women of Team SCA (the pink boat on the tracker above; *eyeroll*) did the same thing, getting to the right of the fleet and taking the lead.
It’s a long race (the longest race, actually), so this doesn’t mean much. But I still enjoy the idea of the other six boats full of manly men being behind the women, at least for the moment.
Depending on the wind they could be in the Straits of Gibraltar by morning. It’s awesome to see the boats so close together after a day and a half of racing. One-design offshore racing FTW.
Reposted from http://ift.tt/1qOSX7o.
Tags: vor.
