Sal's Ocean Globe Race Analysis: All is about to change as the boats hit the infamous Doldrums
The Ocean Globe Race Fleet are now well into their second week at sea.
The leaders are now well down the track towards the Cape Verde Islands. Having successfully navigated between the Canary Islands and making the most of the accelerated wind between the Islands, Maiden is making good progress in the lead pack.
Esprit d’Equipe is the boat most like Maiden in size and handicap. They have broken away from the main pack but are still 157 miles behind Maiden. Although the boats at the back of the fleet make no secret of the fact that they are in it for adventure and fun, I would be starting to get a bit twitchy about getting to Cape town in time to rest the crew and prepare the boat for the next, much more gruelling leg, on the 5th of November.
All is about to change as the boats hit the infamous Doldrums. The tail enders are likely to catch up at that point unless anyone can sneak through without parking up. More about the doldrums to come.
Worrying news that Maiden has run out of cheese. During the Whitbread Jo, the cook, let Tanja go out and choose a “piece” of cheese for one of the legs. The amount of cheese was somehow lost in translation from Dutch to English. Tanja arrived back with an enormous whole cheese. Knowing that Tracy wouldn’t allow it for weight reasons, but not wanting to disappoint us, Jo chopped it up and stashed it all over the boat. Tracy thought Jo was a miracle worker to spin out a little bit of cheese for weeks and weeks!
It was years later that she learned the truth! - Sal
- Sally (Sal) Hunter was part of the original Maiden crew to sail around the world in the 89/90 Whitbread Race. Sal has joined the Maiden Shore Team for the duration of the Ocean Globe Race, tracking Maiden and keeping us updated with sailing analysis updates!
