Charles Caudrelier / Dongfeng Race Team

gender Male
Charles and Pascal scowl at the computer. Looking at a sched? Charles chews on his neck cowl, rubs his eyes, talks to Pascal in French. Charles goes up, and Pascal moves into his spot. On deck, Horace says, "keep pushing." Carolijn asks about the other boats. Charles explains that the others are closer in mileage, but they have a straight line while the other boats have to gybe. So could be very close.Pascal rubs his eyes at the nav station. Charles looks on. They talk in French. Pascal: Honestly, for the moment we are far behind, but they have to turn around 40 miles before the finish line and come back. I hope the next wind's on us, a lot. But we will see. It's a bit crazy we have been racing for 9 months and it's only the 40 last miles of the last leg is going to decide who is going to win the Volvo Ocean Race. It's crazy. Charles gets dressed and talks to Pascal in French; something about "a cyclone and we flap flap flap!" He tells Martin: If they get some light pressure we can come back. We win or not in one hour but not two hour (?). Wait and see.Dongfeng on port gybe, Carolijn trimming. MAPFRE to starboard. Daryl. Hoisting the J1. Charles grinding on the forward pedestal. Stu on the helm talking with Kevin. Spray. Sunset. Waves. Reefed main. Stacking. Pascal at the nav station. Charles at the nav station. Stu: If we had to gybe it though, we could run one. Stu: We've chosen a path inshore. So there's lots of tricky navigation. Sand banks, separation schemes, wind farms. It's going to be an interesting night.Kevin carries a stacking pole. Jack on the helm with MAPFRE in the background. Charles, Marie, scowling. Light air tack. Stu. Horace. They all look exhausted. Tacking the MH0. Pascal. Carolijn: Aarhus, a bit crazy in the marina but very fun. Waypoint not as far north as the last one. Been through a light patch; hopefully that will be the last of it. MAPFRE to leeward, had a bit of a battle in the transition. And allowed other boats to catch up. Can see Vestas. Battling it out with MAPFRE at the moment.MAPFRE in their wake. Charles: After this mark we go upwind. Charles driving. Carolijn trimming. Stu: Where's this mark?.. What's the bearing... 214? Pascal comes up and looks around. Charles: Can we go up? Pascal answers in French. Jack on the foredeck. So far I've had two lots of 3 and a half minutes (sleep). Went downstairs at one point last night and got about 3 minutes before I got called up. Won't be a chance for sleep for some time. Going into Aarhus; lots of maneuvers. Maybe on our way up to Norway again, we'll get a chance to chill out a bit. But I don't think so.Marie laughs below about the lack of night. Still leading. Doing 20-25 knots downwind. Cockpit with Charles steering.Night shots of Dongfeng near the Norway turning mark. Powerboat alongside. They round the mark and unfurl the A3 (I assume). MAPFRE rounds just behind them. Daryl explains that things are going well. "We had a wobbly patch where we thought we were caught between the two breezes. But in the end it's worked out really well. Sailed well against MAPFRE in the last little section coming up. Glad they're behind us here, and let's hope it can stay like that. It's going to be a battle, that's for sure. Charles, on the helm, looks at other boats. Akzo, Vestas, Brunel.Stu on the rail with a hand-bearing compass. Clouds. Kevin: Okay to tack without stacking? Pascal talks about the course. Charles is on the helm when they tack. Horace, below: A big right, so everybody is tacking. Nav station. Kevin, below, talks about how Pascal had them tack quite early. "We have now to be fast. Pushing, pushing, pushing... First big step of this leg." Carolijn: Pascal, when you can can you give us some info on AIS modes compared to the other boats? Pascal looks at the computer.Carolijn in the parade. Charles in the parade. Dockout; Charles steering, Pascal waves his hat. Jumpers jump off. Fist bumps before the start. Kevin: 45! Start. Stu: Pressure in 5. Higher, slower than Scalliwag. Other boats: Brunel, TTToP, AkzoNobel. Marie says something in French. Mark rounding. Big daymarker/tower. Charles on the helm. Tack. Pascal says something in French. Carolijn below: The war has started. So far so good for us. Had a good start, came out of the Gothenburg river in second place behind Akzo. But obviously the fleet is really close together. Now tacking up the Swedish coast to Norway, battling out the shifts. Going to be an intense afternoon and night ahead.Brunel sailing alongside as they move into new wind after the ridge. Other boats on the horizon. Charles gestures gallicly. Drone shot showing Dongfeng with Brunel in the background. Drone shots. Binnacle. Kevin on the helm. Pascal looks through binoculars and talks in French. Jack and Pascal look around, tense. Pascal: Nothing's for sure... Next is to catch the pressure and to gybe. Quite good timing, because starboard we're going to catch more pressure, maybe 30 knots. We will see. Jack: No comment, no comment. Pascal: I'm a bit afraid the pressure comes in like that (gestures from astern) and everybody... Pressure is coming in quite fast now. Drone shots of Dongfeng and Brunel. Charles on the helm. Stacking from forward to amidships. Brunel gybes and crosses their stern. Charles and Pascal talk in French. Kevin, on the helm: Brunel just gybed behind us. MAPFRE quite a lot of gauge to leeward, so they will be in front of us. Wind will increase, 30 knots. Going inside the Shetlands tomorrow. Now we have to be fast, do good maneuver, catch MAPFRE. Plenty of opportunities to be fast, choose the good sail. Most of the navigation choices have been made; now it's a speed contest. Drone shot overhead. Drone shots. Stacking to leeward for the gybe. We see the gybe. Fabien and Black grinding. Carolijn calls trim.Charles climbs the mast to look for wind as they slat in zero wind. Glassy sea. Charles and Carolijn on the bow. Carolijn is tying up a sail bag. Daryl in the cockpit: How long? Four to eight hours? Fortunately the ridge is moving, so hopefully it's going to cross over us. We're trying. 1.7 knots. He eases the sail. Bow. Ripples. Other boats on the horizon. Charles looks at them, looks upwind. Daryl: Lifted back. Charles: Big lift? They tack. TTToP behind them.Drifting conditions near the Irish coast. Jack: I don't think we're making too much headway on the land. Other boats visible behind them, including Brunel. Drifting. J1 flopping. Fabien: I don't know if we are lucky, but we are ahead of the fleet since the beginning. But now we are in the light spot, with Brunel and MAPFRE behind... We are very close to the shore, with no wind. Expect northeast wind at the corner, which is one mile. But we have no wind with current. It's not easy. Charles looks under the sail at Brunel and mutters. Shore is just a few hundred yards away. Tacking the MH0. Pascal talks with Charles in French. Charles on the helm. Intensity. Sailing with more wind, tacking the J1. Brunel and MAPFRE to starboard. Another tack. Sailing toward land in the sunset. Charles and Pascal. Jack on the helm. Charles talks with Pascal in French. Charles: Okay we tack. Pascal: Tacking guys! They tack. Black on the rail. Vestas crossing them. Crossing MAPFRE. Another tack next to the shore. Carolijn trims, moves to pedestal: Someone come with me please? Later, Carolijn: Vestas is coming upright. Much less breeze. Coming back into the breeze now. Sunset. Black comes up from below. Daryl on the helm. AkzoNobel crosses behind them. Another boat ahead of them.Drone shot of dophins swimming with land in the background, then drone turns to show Dongfeng triple heading in light wind. Kevin on the helm; his left hand is wrapped with a bandage. Justine trimming. Jack: It's a nice spot to be in... After the start got some good current and passed the fleet. Next transition is the south of Ireland. Do everything we can to work through that. Don't think about it and just move forward. Charles climbs the mast to look ahead and to starboard (looking for wind, I assume). Justine grinds. Charles and Fabien look at wind. Stacking forward. Daryl clips into a halyard, explains he's going up to look at the wind. Talks about the land formations ahead of them and the anticipated wind drop. Kevin grins in the pit; they hoist him up. Drone shot of Daryl at the hounds. He calls to the deck. Drone pulls back to show land beyond dthem. Justine and Carolijn talking in the cockpit. Tacking close to shore. Other boats visible on the horizon behind them as they tack. Carolijn: Nice pressure here. Land. Low altitude drone shot.Other boats in glassy conditions. Black explains how they caught a big lift, trying to stay in the middle of the channel for more current. And have more wind. Quite good for the moment for us. Unfurling the MH0. Pascal: I think we are around two.... MAPFRE is tacking. He goes below. Crew on the bow. Charles scans the horizon. Jack: What's the tack on? Daryl: We're gonna get the tide gate this time. Everyone else is gonna... [he gestures]. Carolijn: I like that. Sunset. Stacking forward. Triple heading. Winch close up. Charles and Pascal talk in French.Night shot of the moon. Instruments. Marie trimming, silhouetted by the moon on the water. Kevin, in the galley: 2 hours for the finish line. For the burger it's 5. We have no more food. He talks to Pascal at the nav station in French. Charles: Will it be a good or a bad surprise? Who knows? Pascal reads the sched: windspeed and distance for the boats ahead. Jack does an interview at night on deck: So we are currently t-minus 20 miles from Cardiff. (Marie's voice: Tacking! Tacking!) Jack raises a finger and gets up to help with the tack; Jeremie chuckles. We see them tack the MH0. Jack: It's quite light; quite upwind. But we have the current with us now which is great. Still pretty tedious now, actually. He and Carolijn talk to Jeremie on the bow. Carolijn: Hopefully, Akzo will catch Brunel. Jack: Turn the Tide catch MAPFRE... We're golden. (Carolijn laughs.) Carolijn: Scallywag... Jack: Scallywag roll everyone. Charles with a headlamp talks to Jeremie: Would have been better to be first. But Brunel and Akzo did a better leg than us. Sometimes in the Volvo it's not the best offshore team win the leg, eh? We have seen that in Newport. Jeremie: Maybe you should do more inshore sailing. Charles: Maybe. The Volvo is about the last 20 miles. Pascal: I don't know why but I think there is more wind here. It is more dark. Chuckles. Tacking in the dark.High drone shot. Drone shots in glassy conditions. Jack: Silky smooth. Pascal: Worst case is at one point no wind, and anchor. And I want to be as close to the shore as possible when we tack. They pass a lobster buoy, Charles points out the current; running a knot or two against them. Sunset. Low-altitude drone shots. Abby: Akzo and Brunel have 20 knots. Charles: Shit! Chalres bangs something in frustration. Daryl, from the helm. How far are they? Charles: 18 miles, and 20 knots of wind. Charles looks at the computer and mutters to himself in French. Charles: Allez; come on, I need some wind! Carolijn: it's coming up. Thomas, on the helm: It could be temporary; a rain cloud or something. Carolijn: Need to worry about Vestas. And MAPFRE, they're currently 80 miles behind. Charles: Wind is going to drop... We have to stay ahead of MAPFRE. I lost 3 hours in this bay. I say nothing to Pascal!... We catch some wind, no? It's good! Allez! Kevin below in the nav station. Pascal stands in the cockpit. Glassy conditions. Sunset.Charles mimes throwing dice in the cockpit. "Double point. Casino." Jack, on the helm: "Roll the dice." Masthead. Carolijn in the cockpit: Pretty foggy, misty, bad visibility. We've reached the coast of Ireland. We're looking at possibly having to anchor as we get closer. Trying to find some opportunities to get closer. Newport didn't go our way; hopefully in Cardiff it will. Never give up. Shots of them sailing in the fog.Horace, bailing, talks about how awesome it is to sail fast. That's why he came to this race. I hate the life on board, but I love fast. Kevin looks through the endoscope and sees something below. He gets the swim gear on and dives in from the bow. Big piece of seagrass on the keel that he gets off. That loooked cold! Drone shot circling the boat in light conditions. Horace interviews Pascal on the bow: We're going to arrive the day we arrive. Marie: Maybe three more days, eh? Stu: Both are stressful. I find the heavy weather more stressful, especially when you're driving at night. Pascal on how difficult light conditions are. Stu: I'm going to right about how hard it is to have a shit on the toilet when the boat is sailing 30 knots. Carolijn below, brushing her hair, comments how the person on the boat who doesn't have any hair made a comment about her appearance. On deck, she gives some of the hair she pulled out on Kevin's head. Daryl, on the helm, talks about sailing into the high pressure ridge. Big line of clear blue sky ahead, where there will be zero wind. Pascal and Charles talking on the bow in French. Glassy conditions. Kevin to Pascal: We don't see them on AIS? Pascal shakes his head. Bird flies over. High drone shot. Other boat (I think Vestas from the tracker) on the horizon behind them as Stu steers in light wind. They tack the MH0 onto port. Low drone shot approaching from far away.Washing machine on deck. Sailing fast. Slomo. Spray. Jack, below, is eating. You have to spend about half your watch thinking about nice stuff. When you think of this stuff you think it's what you want to do, but when you're in it it gets tedious pretty quickly. Moving around the boat you're crawling; in your bunk is the best place, but even there is hard. And on deck you're getting thrown around. Driving is two hours of having your eyeballs assailed by salt water. Hard work. Slomo spray. Charles, below: Ahead a big light spot, and I hope compression. For the leader there is a wall of no wind. I don't think anyone will be able to cross it, because it is moving with us. A big compression, a big mess, and then the winner of this leg will be the most lucky boat. Slomo spray.Charles, below, talks about getting the wind, finally. But less than forecast, so they lost a lot to the fleet to the south. Now they're in a better position, though, for the next 6 hours, and the 6 hours after that. Fleet could join again. Pascal at nav station: 2 or 3 days everybody is going to arrive quite at the same time at the corner of the exclusion zone. 35 knots of wind with close reaching coming up. Charles: Next 24 hours are going to be very complicated to manage. Lots of wind. Not possible to always have the good sail; have to manage, to be smart, to always make the good call.Pascal at the nav station blinks at the computer. Crew on deck in the dark with red headlamps. Flopping. Charles looks at the computer with Pascal watching from behind. Chart shows boat position surrounded by Gulf Stream. Pascal looks frustrated.Dockout with the fans on the dock singing Happy Birthday (to Daryl?). Stu, below, talks about how it's the last double-points leg. Only around 9 days. Everyone's going to push really hard. Start with Dongfeng ducking the fleet on port. Then they tack onto starboard. Shot of them watching Brunel continue on port. Vestas on their weather hip. Vestas and Akzonobel tacking behind them on layline. Rounding the mark with lots of boats behind them. MAPFRE ahead. Dropping the J1. Pascal tailing. Daryl trimming. Approaching the leeard mark with Brunel in the lead, then MAPFRE, then Dongfeng. Lowering the J1 after another weather mark rounding. Running toward the bridge. Gybing the A3. Hoisting the J1 on MAPFRE's stern. Kevin, below, talks in French. Sailing upwind with Vestas behind them. Passing the committee boat; well wishers should "have a great trip!" Carolijn talks about taking to Pascal about the heading. Spray dousing the crew as they sail upwind. Sailing in fog. Daryl on the helm talks about it being hard to leave on his birthday. Hope they can do well and take the lead.Pascal and Charles at the nav station. Looking at the chart, the other boats' positions. Charles explains they are passing the TSS; then 18 miles to go. Big fight for the next 4 hours. Can be a big mess. It's in the night and foggy. (He sounds really tired.) Pascal looking at the computer. Pascal: The difference after the strong wind we tried to sail with (something) in a very light condition. The goal was to sail north to catch the new wind. We were faster all the time compared to the fleet. That's why we arrived to be first now. And the only thing we can say is that the wind condition through the finish is very light. Around 5, 4, maybe 3, 2 knots. Going to try to do the best we can as to the finish line and finger crossed. Pascal gets more clothes on. Charles goes on deck. Instruments at night.Grinding under overcast sky. Horace: On the lock! J1 tack! Charles, below: Red boat very close to us (MAPFRE). We manage to be together again; it's completely crazy. This choice of the TSS is really complicated. It's really stressful because we're all really close; we can win first place or lose everything. It's tricky. Pascal puts on his boots; talks in French. Crew on the bow taking a sail down. Sailing upwind.Drone circling Dongfeng in light wind and fog with the MH0. Daryl talks about being pushed off the wheel by a wave. Ended up being fully blown off the wheel. No one driving the boat doing 30 knots, which is fun. Managed to avoid a wipeout. Night shots of light winds. Crew working in the dark with red lights. Jack, talking about the big night: It was ridiculous. Lot of water over the deck. Everyone's pretty wrecked this morning. I don't think anyone slept. Bit weird to be sitting her at 4 knots. Pascal and Daryl look at the computer. Pascal talks about Turn the Tide (presumably about them going around the west side of the exclusion zone). J1 flopping in light wind. Charles looking tired. Everyone looking tired. Marie below, eating. Stu, below, eating: Last night would have to be the wettest sailing I've ever done. Pitch black, no moon, no stars, no reference. In the last sched we were doing 1 knot, and Vestas was doing 20 knots more than us. Jack: We were basically the first to get to the light winds. Should have a better angle to Newport, but who knows? Charles on deck. Everyone looking a bit out of kilter. Carolijn: Seems to be a little pressure here. Charles squints at the foggy horizon.Slomo of water on deck, Charles on helm. Gybing to port in the high. Carolijn near the bow. Carolijn, on the stern, asks Pascal what's going to happen tonight. Pascal answers that there will be wind, and speed. He discusses how it will get 10 or 15 degrees colder in a few hours. Slomo washing machine. Cool sound editing. Charles: We are more afraid of what's going to happen when the wind drops. It's a tricky situation. We are in a good position, but we know the back of the fleet will come back. So it's stressful. MAPFRE is very close, and Brunel is doing a fantastic comeback. Lots of washing machine shots in the pit. Daryl, below: 33 knots, so it was good that we did the peel; was 28 when it started. Jack: Just starting to get dark, so it's going to be quite entertaining.Slomo with compeititor two miles ahead of them. Jack on the wheel: Always nice to be the hunter. Charles in bunk reading. Talks in French about what he's reading. Jeremie asks him something in French; Charles answers "no". Slomo of Carolijn on the helm. Carolijn: A couple of nights ago had a bad night. Probably caught some of it. Took us about 12 hours to decide to do a backdown. Charles even went in the water, and had a look. And after that the boat took off. Guess we had to clear our minds; had 24 difficult hours. And here we are now. We didn't see them for 5 or 6 days, and now I can read the "Brunel" on their sail... Game's on again. Slomo of the bow with spray and Brunel ahead of them. Daryl grinding. Daryl: Less than 1000 miles to Newport. Going to be a pretty interesting and busy few days. A gybe coming up in the high pressure system; battling it out with Brunel. Slomo wave, stern wake.Charles at nav station: For 24 hours we are the slowest boat. Wanted to check, so I jumped into the water. Maybe we had something; it's difficult to know. Maybe something came off as we backed up, before I jumped in. We'll see in the next sched. We then see Charles prepping for going over. He went over in the dark. Shouting in French. They pull him back aboard on the stern. He goes below, puffing and dripping.Drone shots circling Dongfeng. Charles, below: Since the doldrums we are fighting for first place with Brunel, who is a bit ahead of us. They are fast... We are also fast. Are still three legs to go. And they are sailing better and better. So we are not only focusing on MAPFRE. Shots on deck; long lenses. Horace in the pit. Daryl on the aft pedestal. Horace sprays water on his face. Slomo washing machine cascade from inside the hatch. Carolijn on the stern, talks about all the boats pushing really hard. We won into Newport last time, and haven't won a leg this time so it would be a nice one to win. Slomo of determined look on sailors' faces. Charles below: Of course winning this leg would be fantastic. This place is probably the best arrival, people love sailing, all the city is waiting for the race. Slomo water in the cockpit with sargasso weed.We see the computer screen showing a graph of rising sea temperature. Charles takes a bath with a tea kettle on the stern. Marie on the helm: "I prefer hot weather. Cold... I don't like that. Because always my fingers and my feet, when I'm cold it's not good." Also, when it's hot you don't wear so much and don't have to spend 30 minutes putting on gear. Kevin: I'm a big like superman. Crew sleeping in the bow. Daryl: If the Southern Ocean were this warm, it would be perfect. Horace: I don't like the warm; I prefer the cold. It's more comfortable... Also, cold is bringing more wind. I like fast! Crew prepares for a squall. Pascal below with a fan. Distant drone shot of Dongfeng sailing under gray clouds. Drone circles as they peel from J0 to MH0 (I think).Charles, in the pit, gives a thumbs up in the rain. He talks in French. Marie talks in French. She washes her hair. Jeremie asks: This is your first shower in one week? Marie: Eh, I had a little one. Jack talks about 7 days without a shower. "A good fragrance within the boat. From all the crew. Perfect 25.5 degrees water temperature. Couldn't ask for more." Jeremie, to Stu on the helm: Having fun yet? Stu: Oh, I love this. Pascal at the nav station, talks about trying to find the way across the doldrums. Not easy. More rain on deck.Stacking on the foredck in light air in the early morning. Jack talks about how they have a very different mix of nationalities and backgrounds. Kevin talks in French about the same thing. More stacking. Carolijn: Language can be a barrier sometimes; have a lot of frogs, a lot of Frenchies, on board. Kevin talks in French. Daryl: Can be challenging at times to get the right message across. But we've all worked really hard on that in thte training, and we all get on well together. Crew grinding. Sunset. Jack: I think we've found quite a good balance to make it work for everyone. No real egos, which is really nice. Horace in the pit. Horace: We from different part of the city and speak different language. It's not about a different country. It's a human. Everybody learn... Charles in slomo on the helm in the sunset. More pretty closeups in slomo with the sunset: Carolijn, Daryl. Kevin talks in French. Horace: Every person is like a different book. Like a different weapon. And you learn how much you can. Pascal talks in French. Carolijn translates: Scallywag's got 12 knots. Stu's face. Sunset slomo of Carolijn.Drone shot of Dongfeng sailing into the sunrise. Slomo of Marie grinding. Kevin on the foredeck gesturing. Looks like their going from J1 to something else. Charles, with a buzz cut: "My haircut has been done by a non-professional as you can see. His name is Black. And he tried to do his best. But unfortunately we do not have the good tools. No one can see my hair until Newport. You can Photoshop it. Horace: One of the other Chinese crew has a big injury. I know it is very disappointing for him not to sail the race. And for the moment all we can do is win this leg and sail well. Drone shot. Jack, in his bunk, talks about Itajai being the longest stopover. Hard to get back into the sleep rhythm on the boat. Not too hot yet. Take it while we can. Charles: Quite complicate situation. Lots of clouds, lots of shift... Were in a good position until this morning. Now the fleet is going in a different direction. Next 24 hours will be key. Rain. Crew working the cockpit in the rain. Slomo of Daryl on the helm. Kevin brings up treats. Drone shot of the sunrise again.Horace talks about missing the team after being away. Now he's on board again, so he's happy. Daryl and Carolijn discuss tacking to avoid a cloud. Shifting the stack to leeward. We see the tack with Charles on the helm. Pascal, at the nav station, talks in French. On deck, Charles says that MAPFRE appears to be preparing to tack. Daryl, on the helm: A classic upwind slog. Probably 6 days. Everyone back there. (Gestures aft.) Good mood on board. Kevin talks about the clouds and wind shifting. And about seeing a cargo ship in his face while driving in the night. Drone shots after sunset showing the three competitores sailing (Dongfeng, MAPFRE, and TTToP.)Parade. Goodbyes at the dock. Carolijn's son being bummed. :-( Dockout with Charles on the helm. Jumper talks in Portuguese on the stern. He does a cool jump off the stern pulpit with his one leg. Caolijn talks about how she enjoyed being in Brazil. Charles, on the helm (seems like still before the start) talking about leaving Italjai. Start with countdown. Post start interaction with TTToP. Stu: Horace? We hoist after the tack. They tack ahead of the oncoming starboard tackers. Sailing downwind with MAPFRE just ahead. Gybing with TTToP, Scallywag, and Vestas behind them. More close action.Charles, at the nav station, talks in French. I hear him mention Vestas (dismasted) and MAPFRE (suspended and resumed). Then in English: Are two boats with us. High pressure; light spots. We are fighting for the first place with Brunel. But people are tired and the biggest mistake we could do would be to push too much and break something. Have to find a good balance. Come back, but sail safe. There is a good gap for the moment. If you take the ranking at the moment, we would be taking the lead for the Volvo. Want to put one boat between MAPFRE and us. Akzo will easily finish ahead of MAPFRE, but TTToP has a problem, and they might finish behind MAPFRE. Doesn't know what they're problem is, but they've slowed down a lot in the last two days, so probably a rig problem. Hope they can stay ahead of MAPFRE; that would be great for us. But we'll see. Horace talks in Mandarin, presumably about the same thing (I hear him mention TTToP).Charles, on the helm, grins as Cape Horn recedes on their port quarter. Jeremie also grins. Marie, Jack, Kevin, Carolijn, Pascal, Horace: slomo portraits with Cape Horn. Below, Marie talks in French. Horace talks in Mandarin. Horace then talks in English: He was very excited this morning. He passed Cape Horn, unlike 3 years ago (when they were dismasted short of the Horn). Now it's time for a fight to the finish line.In morning sunlight under scattered clouds, Dongfeng sails on port gybe toward Cape Horn. Shots of crew moving a sail on the foredeck, sailing closer to Cape Horn. Crew waves; holds a whiteboard reading "Cape Horn." Below, Charles talks in French about Cape Horn, about the family of John Fisher. Pascal talks in French about Cape Horn. Carolijn talks tearfully in Dutch about Cape Horn and John Fisher.Spreader cam view of AkzoNobel surfing and stuffing the bow. Below, Simeon recaps the last 48 hours; busy, gybing, changing sails. 2000 miles to Cape Horn. Point Nemo. Brad: Talks about Point Nemo and the space station. Simeon: What to ask the astronaughts on the space station? Emily wonders if it's easier to go to the toilet on the space station than it is on a Volvo boat. Luke: Jealous. Their stacking technique must be far superior to ours. Simeon: what they have for dinner. Nicolas: They go to the toilet like we do, they eat freeze-dried like we do, they don't sleep much, have a pretty cool view. So I pretty much see myself as an astronaut these days. Simeon: Must be a pretty impressive view. We have an impressive view of the ocean, and of the stars when the clouds let them through. But their view must be even better. Stern cam view of Martine on the pedestal as they surf.Charles, at nav station: In 30 hours we'll enter very strong conditions. Can't carry the fractional in those conditions, so will need to work out good sail combination. Goal is not to break the boat. A very tough leg. Strong wind, and full downwind with many gybes. I do have stress of course. Because you have the responsibility of the people and the boat. But you still want to fight for the first place. It's a balance between speed and safety. When we have 40 knots we know what sail to use. But then we have a gust to 55, and we have to react. But that's part of the Volvo Ocean Race. Horace talks below in Mandarin. Pascal, at nav station, talks in French while demonstrating something involving chart/routing software.Spreader cam view of AkzoNobel surfing and stuffing the bow. Below, Simeon recaps the last 48 hours; busy, gybing, changing sails. 2000 miles to Cape Horn. Point Nemo. Brad: Talks about Point Nemo and the space station. Simeon: What to ask the astronaughts on the space station? Emily wonders if it's easier to go to the toilet on the space station than it is on a Volvo boat. Luke: Jealous. Their stacking technique must be far superior to ours. Simeon: what they have for dinner. Nicolas: They go to the toilet like we do, they eat freeze-dried like we do, they don't sleep much, have a pretty cool view. So I pretty much see myself as an astronaut these days. Simeon: Must be a pretty impressive view. We have an impressive view of the ocean, and of the stars when the clouds let them through. But their view must be even better. Stern cam view of Martine on the pedestal as they surf.Charles, at nav station: In 30 hours we'll enter very strong conditions. Can't carry the fractional in those conditions, so will need to work out good sail combination. Goal is not to break the boat. A very tough leg. Strong wind, and full downwind with many gybes. I do have stress of course. Because you have the responsibility of the people and the boat. But you still want to fight for the first place. It's a balance between speed and safety. When we have 40 knots we know what sail to use. But then we have a gust to 55, and we have to react. But that's part of the Volvo Ocean Race. Horace talks below in Mandarin. Pascal, at nav station, talks in French while demonstrating something involving chart/routing software.Dongfeng sails fast on port gybe in the sun. Carolijn: Champagne sailing in the Southern Ocean. Will look different tomorrow. Charles describes a maneuver they're going to perform. Then we see them performing it (looks like a headsail configuratio change). Crashcam footage of... something. They continue working on things. Below, Charles talks in French. Horace gets his gear on, then talks to the camera in Mandarin (I assume). Horace goes on deck. Washing machine in the sunset. Albatross flying on their starboard quarter.Dongfeng departs as "Uptown Funk" plays. Jérémie waves to the crowd on the dock. Jack talks about it being good to get away. Thinking too much in preparation; butterflies. But after the start they'll just sail. Marie talks about being ready; "let's go." Carolijn talks about the very nice goodbye before heading off into the Southern Ocean. Toughest leg, but the best leg in the whole race. Looking forward to digging south and doing some fast sailing. Also, arriving in Brazil is special. Shot of the start, Charles: "Good start." Close views of other boats alongside. Pascal calls wind. Carolijn asks if it's a bearaway or a gybe set. Shots of crosses as they sail downwind, then tacking upwind. Their jumper does a faceplant; they laugh. Ducking MAPFRE, then trailing MAPFRE on the long starboard tack. Lowering the J1 on the foredeck. Brunel close behind them; TTToP pounding behind them.Dongfeng departs as "Uptown Funk" plays. Jérémie waves to the crowd on the dock. Jack talks about it being good to get away. Thinking too much in preparation; butterflies. But after the start they'll just sail. Marie talks about being ready; "let's go." Carolijn talks about the very nice goodbye before heading off into the Southern Ocean. Toughest leg, but the best leg in the whole race. Looking forward to digging south and doing some fast sailing. Also, arriving in Brazil is special. Shot of the start, Charles: "Good start." Close views of other boats alongside. Pascal calls wind. Carolijn asks if it's a bearaway or a gybe set. Shots of crosses as they sail downwind, then tacking upwind. Their jumper does a faceplant; they laugh. Ducking MAPFRE, then trailing MAPFRE on the long starboard tack. Lowering the J1 on the foredeck. Brunel close behind them; TTToP pounding behind them.Final approach to New Zealand; MAPFRE behind them. Kevin explains: Very tight with MAPFRE, 3 other boats ahead of them. Hard to believe in a few hours they'll have 25 knots of wind gybing for the finish of the leg .Will have to push to keep them behind. Daryl trims. Black, on the bow, talks about strategy. MAPFRE alongside, 100 yards away. MAPFRE ahead of them and to leeward. Charles: Can see Akzo and TTToP. They're in a light spot. Dongfeng and MAPFRE are offshore, fighting again. Jeremie explains that there's only 112 miles left. Some maneuvers. Need to be quite focused. MAPFRE now ahead of them. Keep working, keep focused. Everyone slept a bit today, so they're fresh. No mistake and hope for a good result. Sunset behind land. Moon. Carolijn, looking forward: "MAPFRE looks really soft at the moment. Stay high."Charles, at the nav station, talks about his emails with Xabi on MAPFRE. Told him it was his birthday, and asked for a gift: Let me pass you please. . Xabi replied that he'd already given them 5 miles in the last sched, and that was enough. Happy birthday. He emailed him back that Brunel was more generous.Sailing in better wind on port. Below, Charles reads the latest sched over the PA. Scallywag to the west in the best wind, going 3 to 4 knots faster than us. Nothing they can do about that. Brunel made a mistake by going too far east. Good chance to pass them. And just ahead of us is MAPFRE. Chance to finish fourth. He talks about getting hurt by big clouds. On deck they stack forward. Kevin on the bow prepares to hoist the MH0 (I think). Pascal: For MAPFRE, amigos! He talks to them in Spanish. Fighting them to the finish line. Jeremie: Less than 3 days to go. Brunel in stealth mode and went west. Not good for them at the moment. So we're overtaking them. Trying to keep a good wind, and good angle, on MAPFRE. Let's see what happens.Rain falling on deck. GoPro (Garmin) view as Kevin (I think) helps grind. Black trims the main as darkness falls. Kevin on the helm. Black explains how the wind pressure has dropped. Behind him, on the helm, Kevin is shouting to someone in French. Stacking with sunset clouds behind them. Carolijn explains how they're sailing in about 15 knots. Rain behind them. Traveling in the right direction now. "Life's good." Charles: Nearly last, with MAPFRE... I think we deserve it. The leg is still very long. Very complicated; there's still hope. Reduce the gap to the leader and maybe have an opportunity. Who knows what's going to happen in the doldrums. Kevin steers in the sunset, wearing Charles' jacket. (sigh. making my life difficult.)Pascal, at the nav station, looks at the weather model and talks in French. On deck we see them furling the J2 (I think?) during a tack. Charles, on the helm: Wind, but the opposite direction from where we want to go. Very complicated. Didn't have any forecast so we followed MAPFRE. For the first time we made a really bad choice I think. Discussion of whether to reef, which they then do. Marie: Jokes about being in the doldrums, but having wind and going upwind. Big shifts. On starboard now after a few days on port. Hopes not to spend too much time in the doldrums. Grinding the main back up after the reef with the three pedestals linked. Pascal points ahead: There's no wind here. Carolijn asks what Jeremie wishes the most: To see his kids. Carolijn: For me a shower. Black: Chinese New Year, at home. We have lots of good food, and see all the family. Charles talks from the companionway in French. Discussion of "fast" vs. "east", where the other competitors are. As it's getting dark we see a gybe begin.Carolijn, below, makes and eats a meal. "I'm eating the big boy cereal, specially made by Neal. Lots of granola and nuts and dried fruit." Talks about bad sea state 16/18 hours ago. MAPFRE right next to them. Fun racing. Jérémie eats. "Chinese breakfast... Quick to cook." Talks about being close to MAPFRE, concentrating while driving on being fast. A very close battle. Interesting, but a bit exhausting at times." Charles, at the nav station, talks about MAPFRE. Boats staying together to cross the doldrums. "Lots of boats are following us. Every time we change a bit our heading they change. But today we don't know where to go because we have no forecast... We are using the forecast from the start... Now we have the forecast, and can see we are in a good position."Charles driving fast on port gybe; firehose in his face. Washing machine with what loooks like J2 and a reefed main. Kevin, below, talks about going through a front. Is why they've been going northeast. To catch this pressure. If you're not overpowered you need to put up more sail. Slomo washing machine in the cockpit.In light winds they sail downwind. Charles calls below to rouse the off watch. Kevin gets dressed, goes on deck. Crew grinding in the cockpit as they peel to the MH0. Marie grinds, wearing a foulie top that says "Liu". Oops. Kevin on the bow lowering the old sail. A competitor (MAPFRE?) is visible ahead of them. Kevin eats. GoPro shot of him removing and clipping into a halyard, then he goes to the clew of the MH0. He attaches a new sheet, checks the leech line, and gives a thumbs up to Marie, who secures his line so he can pull himself back to the deck. "Merci." Below he takes off his foulies and gets back in his bunk.Dongfeng docking out at the start of Leg 6. Black waves goodbye to the people on the dock. We see the MH0 being unfurled as Charles steers on the approach to the starting line. AkzoNobel is visible ahead of them and to leeward, the rest of the fleet to weather. Pascal with a tablet in his hand. Jérémie, after the start, looking forward at AkzoNobel and Brunel ahead of them. We see them furling the MH0 for a tack from port to starboard, then unfurling during a tack back to port. Charles: "Nice one." Pascal navigating. Their jumper going over. Kevin standing on the lifelines to do something to the clew of the MH0. Passing the leaving buoy. Later, they prepare to peel to the J1. Daryl: "Put the sheet around the winch." Bagging the lowered MH0 on the foredeck. Charles on the helm, talks about the start. Not so great in terms of their start, but good to have wind in exiting Hong Hong. Now at the back of the fleet. Daryl: "Looking forward to sailing into Auckland. Probably 20 days away. Don't want to get too excited yet." Jack, stacking on the foredeck, says pretty much the same thing. "Long way to go though."Shots of them sailing fast on starboard gybe. Winch, washing machine. Charles smiling on the helm. Carolijn trimming. Below, Frank says, "The plan is a long, downwind, starboard gybe with some wind variation." Sometimes an opportunity to gybe to position the boat for the next shift. When they pass Taiwan there will be a big wind shadow; have to anticipate that. Not easy to attack the boats in front. They have better wind. Shots of a gybe from starboard to port, then another gybe from port to starboard. Crew working in the cockpit.Franck, at the nav station, looks at routing software and talks in French; I caught "Vestas." He talks about it over his shoulder to Jack (?) in the bunk behind him. Then he talks to Charles. On deck, Charles talks about how they have just taken the lead, or are in the same position as Scallywag, "but we prefer our position for the future. We should be the boat with the most wind for the next few hours." Hopes to have left the doldrums and to be the first to catch the tradewinds. A booby flies over the masthead.Night shots: looking up from the stern at the full moon behind clouds. Wake. Jérémie's hands on the wheel; him steering. Charles, standing forward of the wheel, talks in French. Looking up the mast at stars. Then, in the daytime, we see rain falling to weather. Franck and Jérémie look that way. Horace looks through binoculars. To weather we see three competitors. From left to right: AkzoNobel, MAPFRE, and Vestas. Justine explains: They were leading, hit a squall, the boats to weather stayed in more pressure and now they're all in a line again. "It's a bit disappointing but it happens sometimes." Jérémie jokes about how he was on watch and lost 10 miles. Daryl jokes with him; Charles steers. Crew works in the cockpit (sail change?). Charles: Not sure they're already in the doldrums. But for sure is a new start. And after leading the race most of the time from the start of the leg, all the boats are in the same line now: Akzo, MAPFRE. Now they'll have two or three days in light winds, and maybe will determine the race who escapes from it first and gets the new wind. Shot of AkzoNobel close to leeward. Horace: "Not easy, not what we want, but this is the Volvo Ocean Race. No one knows what will happen at the end." Talks about how it's too hot, and he wants to take off his "everything."Justine trims. "Main on." Jérémie grinds. We see a series of closeups: The chain drive in the pedestal turning. The drive linkages and drive shafts. The winch drum. The drum turning. The sheet coils on the drum. The mainsheet block. The mainsail, looking up. Time-lapse view of the instruments on the mast. Fom top to bottom: Boatspeed, True Wind Direction, Relative Wind Angle, True Wind Speed, Heading (degrees True). Speed gradually builds during the time lapse from 16.3 to 18.9. Shot shifts to slomo as spray comes over the bow. Shot of the keel bulb under water to weather. Kevin working the bow in spray. Crew in the cockpit: Carolijn on the helm, Horace trimming, Daryl on the pedestal, Franck standing to leeward. A small ship is several miles away to leeward, approaching on a collision course. Kevin looks at them through binoculars. Charles talks to them in French on a handheld VHF. Kevin explains that Charles talked to them, and they said they were happy to bear away a bit so as not to cross in front of them. Kevin: "Charles told them that was very nice, but that if they can also grab AkzoNobel to leeward of us that's perfect as well." Martin asks if they could be pirates. Carolijn laughs: "Very friendly pirates." Kevin explains they are laying cable or a military vessel or something like that. Carolijn makes a lanyard-pulling motion (like "honk your horn!"), then waves to the ship, which is approaching them a half mile away on their leeward quarter. She gives a thumbs up. Carolijn: "Looks like something military. They are French-speaking, so I'm guessing something to do with New Caledonia." Slomo shots: Carolijn and Justine grinding on the aft pedestal, someone trimming, Franck on the helm, spray, Carolijn taking coils off a winch, Horace giving a thumbs-up from the clew of the J3, Carolijn spraying her face from a water bottle.Pascal reads the latest sched over the PA system. He talks with Martin in French. He talks with Charles. Charles: "Not so bad news. Vestas has not been so fast in reaching. We are leading again with 7 miles. In a good position... We can hope to keep this distance or increase it as of the entrance to Melbourne Bay." Talks about what happened yesterday, thinking it was their last gybe and then having the keel problem. "We don't know if we will be able to cant the keel to max cant on port."Charles, at the nav station, looking bummed as he looks at routing software. He says it isn't good news; Vestas has passed them and they have not that much wind. (Though looking at the tracker now, I'm not sure Vestas is actually going to get ahead of them.) But they have to gybe, while Dongfeng can go straight to the mark. So he thinks Dongfeng can stay ahead. Not fair, because they are so far apart they have to do different routings, and the routing was poor for them and better for Vestas. Also the keel problem has cost them some key miles; he hopes that isn't the difference between second and third place.Cabin shot of the stern with Dongfeng sailing fast under gray skies. Slomo waves, spray, washing machine. Of the three on the stern, in closeup it looks like Marie grinding. She makes a shaka sign. On the helm, Fabien eats something orange. On the mainsheet, Stu looks resolute; starts to eat something. Below, Charles takls about the remainder of the leg. Five days to go, 2,000 miles. Two big decisions: first one tonight, second one in two days, when they decide to go north to go to Melbourne. That will be the key probably. For the moment, strongest point of Dongfeng, reaching. MAPFRE was quite fast downwind. "I would say that 80-90% of the race now is downwind. Unfortunately it's not the big reaching. I think everyone is happy to be ahead of MAPFRE, but everybody knows that they are not far... We will do it but for sure it will be a great fight.... As you know it is a very important leg... To be first is good but it's always a lot of pressure." Shot of writing on a Dongfeng bumper sticker on the cabin bulkhead: "Never give up. - Wolf" On the stern, Marie throws bits of food for the person trimming the main (Stu?) to catch in his mouth. He succeeds; they high-five.Slomo shot of waves through the wheel. Interesting slowed-down audio. An albatross flies by. Slomo grinding. Slomo faces; Carolijn on the helm. Slomo trimming. Below, Carolijn takes off her gear. She talks to Martin; behind Fabien is making food in the galley. Carolijn: "Yes, it's painful. Not necessarily painful, it's just tough. It's very tiring. You get to a certain stage where you're so tired that you start tripping over your own feet. If you don't watch out it can be quite dangerous." Talks about even 20 minutes lying down in your bunk, even if you don't sleep, helps you get the energy to make the next gybe. "I've lost count. I don't even know if we're halfway yet. Just in the last 3 hours of my off watch we've done 6 gybes?... Entertaining stuff." Fabien eats with a bit of a 1,000-yard stare. (Looking at the tracker through this section it's been brutal; Dongfeng and MAPFRE are at the front of the fleet within AIS range of each other having a running gybing battle to see who can stay closer to the exclusion zone.) Pascal, below, drops his head and rubs it. Looks tired. We pull back and see he's watching Charles at the nav station from his bunk. Charles talks to Martin: "It's very simple. During 30 hours we're having to gybe every hour so it's a nightmare. Not very funny but we have no choice. We have the ice limit for a good reason... You have to stack every time, 600 kilos each time... You don't manage to sleep... That's life at the extreme for sure. On the positive side, we are ahead with MAPFRE and fighting for the first place, so it's good."Dongfeng slats in light winds. Carolijn calls as someone else pulls in a line: "3, 2, 1, okay; hold furl." Charles, sitting at a winch, says something about using the "masthead upwind" (MH0?). The crew trims the MH0 in light winds. Charles, holding the main steady by hanging onto a thin cable under the boom, talks about having to cross a ridge, a position in high pressure between two winds. Trying to catch the low pressure in the south. Always difficult. "The wind is very shifty, very light, but we are lucky because the system is moving in the right direction." Drone shot of Dongfeng sailing upwind on starboard under the MH0 with another boat (I think Brunel around 2017.12.11 09:55:35 UTC) behind and to weather of them. As the drone circles htem another boat is barely visible further away behind and to leeward of them; I think that's Scallywag. As the shot continues we see Jack going up the mast. He reaches the masthead and the camera circles him, showing the two boats shown before and then showing another boat ahead of them (MAPFRE, then the lead boat). On deck, Jack explains that in the big winds the day before part of the wind sensor unit at the masthead blew off, so he was up there replacing it. "There's not much wind but we're right into the swell. On deck it feels really flat but when you get up there it's exaggerated by a lot. Feels like you're gonna get thrown off every three seconds. Bear-hugging it the whole time. It's really not fun. Nearly got it done."On-board footage of the start of Leg 3 from onboard Dongfeng. Epic footage of close-quarters racing with the other boats in a building wind.In the cockpit, Charles talks in French. Below, Stu talks about how obviously they're pretty disappointed to have fallen behind from the controlling position, but hard work has gotten them back into it. "Got a real race on our hands with Vestas, who are just a few miles behind us. And MAPFRE, a decent chunk ahead but certainly not out of touch." Charles talks about Table Mountain, and its effect on the wind. Carolijn, below: "When everything's against us is when we get the best out of ourselves and push really hard. Marie: "As Pascal [said], we have to be faster and lower." Stu: "We have to remain positive and keep chipping away." Slomo shots of the cockpit, washing machine. Daryl laughing at the pedestal, on the bow. Wake. Below, a loud sound of a sheet being eased. Stu: "A minor wind check; nothing to be concerned about." mast cam view of the deck, spray.Charles, at nav station, talks in French. Intercut with sunrise shots on deck. Charles talks on an intercom to the cockpit: "It's about 10 miles behind us on our course." Wolf shows his hands with discoloration from salt water. Sunset. Various shots of crew working on deck. Daryl on the bowsprit gives hand signals to the back of the boat.Jack launches an ocean science buoy, talks about how they're 3 degrees north of the equator, which means he'll be subjected to the hazing ceremony shortly. At dusk, Jérémie talks with Marie and Charles in French. Jack talks in French about crossing the equator. On the helm, Daryl talks about how he's crossed the equator 16 times. Charles: "I think Stu has the real record."Slomo shots: Jack grinding in the washing machine as water drips from his hat. Compass and spray. Horace in a foul-weather-gear cowl. Spray coming over the cocpit. Stu in the spray. Three egrets flying alongside Dongfeng. Below, Charles takes out a food pack from a storage locker. Jérémie says something to him in French; Charles answers and they both laugh. Shots of the food (some special treat?), Charles calls out the hatch to the cockpit: "I went to the bakery this morning!" The food being shared around among the crew in the cockpit. Charles, a nav station: "It's always good to have a sweet, a surprise." Talks about being in a tough battle, warming conditions, sweat. Charles showering in spray on deck, then rinsing off below wiht water from the galley. Carolijn in her bunk: "Twenty days is too long without a wash... I've just washed my neck, hair; it's nice."Horace, on deck, talks about how now that it's calmed down and sunny everyone is trying to dry out their wet clothes. Jack looks at his sunglasses. Below, Charles sleeps in his bunk. Pascal lies down next to other sleeping crew. Boots and clothing laid out to dry on deck, on top of the cabin.Carolijn, on deck in foulies, gives a thumbs up. Carolijn, below: "I'm lucky enough to be on watch with Stu Bannatyne, AKA 'Magic Stu'. When it's heavy weather downwind sailing, that's the man you want on the wheel. He's doing over-hours for the last couple of days. But the boat just smokes when he's driving." Shots of Stu on deck, slomo of Stu on the wheel. Stu, below, as Carolijn and SiFi take off the foulies in the background: "There's definitely a bit of technique to driving well in heavy airs, especially at night. It's mostly about trying to be accurate, small movements. A bit like trying to drive a car when you're fast. Just try to use very small movements of the wheel... At night might use stars if there's any around to help keep the boat going straight, otherwise it's just a bit of a feel for it, keeping a steady heel angle, and not being afraid to push the boat hard to keep it going fast." Shots of Stu on the wheel at night, slowmo of him being hit with spray at the wheel. Charles, below: "I wanted someone with experience going south. This guy did it eight times, the Volvo Ocean Race. He's probably one of the guys in the world who has raced more in the Southern Ocean. There aren't so much people have a lot of expeirence in this part of the world. I think it's because he spends hours and hours pushing the boat in eight Volvos, and this is the best school to learn in. In France we come from singlehanded sailing, we don't drive so much; we have autopilots, so we can go fast with the pilots but for sure we don't drive enough. This guy has made eight Volvos since he was a kid; probably one of the guys in the world to have much hour driving fast in big waves. That's why he's so strong." Slomo of Stu at the wheel.Charles talking below (in French). Anyone have a translation?Sunrise. Carolijn: "We have come from very far. We have fought really hard to get where we are. So I think we should be happy with a third place. It's a little early to say; it's not over till it's over." Horace: "We still working hard to catch MAPFRE and Vestas." Jack: "We've been at the very bad bit. Hopefully we can stay here or get further ahead." Sunrise. Charles talks below about wishing the race committee would shorten the course to avoid having to sail in the very light conditions at the end. Someone (Horace?) working on the outrigger. Jérémie on the helm.Shot out the companionway as Dongfeng goes to weather on starboard in 15 knots of wind. Carolijn on the helm; Jack leans on the grinder pedestal. Charles, at the nav station, gives a position report (I think?) over a microphone to the cockpit. Horace, getting his foulies on below: "It's getting exciting. We are getting closer to the top three boats, and AkzoNobel is visible in the AIS area... We still have 20 hours until we are arriving in Lisbon. So... we are working hard." Above, Horace stands on the outrigger rigged at the shrouds, doing something to the clew of the J2 (?). Richard: "Smile!" Horace makes the "shaka" gesture. Jérémie on the helm, talks to Charles in French via the intercom, while Stu listens from the grinder handles. Horace works on the stack.Charles, at the nav station, talks in French (about their position relative to the other boats? No idea, really. Need a french-speaking obsessive to help out with translation).Stu: "Clear sky on that side of the cloud." Charles: "But it looks more windy here than here, no?" Someone off camera (Charles? Pascal?): "Starboard is going to be a nightmare." Carolijn: "Painful." Stu (disgusted): "Fuck." Horace moving the stack forward. Carolijn: "The wind's just gone ligher on us... Could be an option to gybe out and split from the fleet. But at the same time the wind's very right at the moment. We've decided we're going to stick with the fleet and see what the pressure's going to do ahead of us." Sounds like maybe Stu was advocating for gybing onto starboard, but Charles overruled. (Per tracker, most of the fleet did end up gybing onto starboard while Dongfeng and Mapfre continued longer on port. Those that gybed earlier did better, leading to Dongfeng entering the Strait of Gibralter in last place.)Pascal, at nav station, is not happy. "We lost a lot to the fleet, so not really a good choice." Night shots of crew gybing, grinding. Shifting the nav station below, stacking below. Pascal and Charles at the nav station, looking concerned.