Luke Molloy / Team AkzoNobel

gender Male
Amazing sunrise drone shot with AkzoNobel sailing across in front of it. Luke on the helm: I'd say everyone is shattered. It'd be a good word. This has probably been the longest stretch of sleep for people. Unfortunately Brad and I are on watch while everyone else is getting this great sleep. I think in total we've probably had an hour since the start, of solid sleep. But that's the race; it's a short leg. It's part of what we do. Lots of corners, lots of places to see, different countries. Stacking. Drone shot of pulling J1 forward for a sail change. Brad, hanking on the J1, talks about not having sleep. Getting up able to see all the boats. Almost a restart. Feeling hopeful as well. Simeon: Back in the same spot we were 24 hours ago. All compressing in. Leaders are just 5 miles in front, hitting a wall of no pressure. Drone shot with sunrise. Luke: We keep on pushing because if we're going to take the effort to be out here, might as well push and try to win the leg. Doesn't mean too much for overall points for us, but if we're all going to be together and do our last race, we'll do the best we can. Sunrise.Sailing into Aarhus as MAPFRE exits below them. Brad on the rail. Nicolai on the helm. Brunel crosses ahead of them. Brunel tacking directly ahead of them; 3 boatlengths away. Entering the marina with helicopter overhead. Rounding the mark right behind Brunel. Nicolai: Amazing day for me, sailing into my home port. Hope we put on a good show. Hopefully we can pay them back now wiht a good result. Brad lowers the J1 on the bow with spectators cheering. Sailing fast on the exit. Emily, below: Exciting to have fans cheering. Shattering; no sleep, and then lots of sail changes. Luke, on deck: Good to have the support of the Danish people. Certainly was full on for us; lots of maneuvers, lots of sail changes. I'm sure they got a sight they can take home and remember for a long time.Slomo parade. Simeon, Nicolai, Luke, Martine, Emily, Jules, Justin (carrying a small child). Dockout. Simeon: This is where I learned sailing. It's going to be good fun. Nicolai on the helm in the prestart talking about their approach. Simeon: "3:20!" On the line, Brunel, Dongfeng, TTToP nearby. Jules calling nav on the upwind with his tablet. Other boats: MAPFRE. Dongfeng just behind. Nicho: Just be a blocker for the next 3 days. Good start by Nicolai. Now get up the coast and probably match these guys a little bit. Good start; just keep trying to put the best foot forward. Jules: Going better now, Nicolai. Nicolai on the helm.Early in the leg, Jules looks at a tablet. Nicho calls "main on". Boats behind them: Dongfeng, TTToP, Scallywag. Pan across the cockpit showing crew sailing the boat upwind: Nicolai on the helm, Martine and Emily (I think) grinding. Justin trimming the J1. Simeon in the pit. Luke sitting just forward of James (the OBR).Drone shot of AkzoNobel triple-heading with the J0. Jules through the hatch: Think Turn the Tide might have gone to the J1. Shot of chart screen. Jules and Nicho talk about wind, sail selection. "Just starting to build a bit now, into J1 country." Martine looks through binoculars. Crew discusses other boats and their sail selection: Vestas, Dongfeng. Sail change. Nicho: Just changed from the J0 to the J1. Not an easy change, becaue the bowman has to hank on the new sail forward; he usually complains about that a bit. Don't know why. Goes on to talk about competion. "Slightly smaller sail, go a bit higher. Slightly smaller sail, but it gets us where we need to be. Next question is, if it's too windy for this sail when we get to the corner, we'll have to do another heinous sail change, and he'll probably change again. [He asks Luke on the helm if he thinks the bowman will complain; Luke agrees.] Nicho: That's why once in a blue moon you go up there with him so then he can't complain... Won't be doing that again. Slomo pole cam footage from outboard of Nicho on the bow with someone (presumably Brad) hooking up and hoisting the J1.Drone shot of Akzo flopping with the J1 as a windseeker. Jules, standing on the mast: Best breeze is through there. Nicho, with binoculars: They're all on port with zeroes. Other boats on the horizon. Nicolai on the helm talks to Simeon about the wind. Nicho: Fastest we've been for about half an hour. Crew sleeping in the bow. Luke: talks about broken sleep because of maneuvers. Going to plug in some music and zone out. Low-alttitude drone shot of Akzo in drifting conditions. Nicho talks to Jules about best heading. Justin: Gotta get out to that line, don't we? Nicho responds about the ridge. Flopping with MH0. Jules: Might be our turn now. Simeon: You wanna come down on this? Other boat (MAPFRE) to starboard. Justin: Just catch it before it dies. Nicho: That way (points ahead) 20 miles there's good southerlies. Talks about MAPFRE next to them; different scenarios as the breeze fills in. High drone shot of the two boats.MAPFRE sails on their weather quarter. Martine stacks below. Competitor on the horizon to port. Nicho: Most of the boats are pretty much in a line southeast to northwest, coming into the ridge. Hoping things will be better for us crossing the ridge to the right, to the north. I don't think anyone really knows where they need to be. But this is the plan we've had, so we're happy. Talking now about how we change sails crossing the ridge to the finish. That's going to be key: Will have to change sails, but doing it fast and getting back up to speed as soon as we can. Jules talking about competition; talking about Dongfeng's (I think?) strategy. How they're the fastest reaching. Luke, from the helm: Not the fastest Volvo boat ever though. (Referring to Akzo's speed record from leg 9.) He grins.Martine holds the J1 clew as they flop in glassy conditions. Vestas and another boat are visible behind her. Martine: I think the first one that gets the wind is going to be the leader. Everyone's in the same situation; pretty slow. Luke on the helm: If we get the breeze first we can extend a bit. Eventually someone will be the first to get the northerly wind... Good for sleeping, though. Jules talks about wind. "Yeah, there goes Dongfeng. I reckon we'll go pretty soon." "Do they have the masthead?" "No; it's in the air though." They start moving, with other boats on their port quarter. They tack onto starboard. Furling the J1 forward. Drone shot of them triple heading and working on the foredeck.Rough, windy conditions as they sail fast on starboard with the stack aft. Washing machine. Brad grins. Martine gets food. Luke: Fast and furious. In the mid 20s. Flat sea state, so no big nose dives. Fun. More shots of driving fast on deck. Martine gives an "okay" sign. "Brazilian weather. But not." Luke, below: Ideal conditions for us. We've got some good fast drivers on board who like to send it. And perfect conditions for that. Reefed main drags in the water. Luke: Holding onto Brunel. They are notoriously fast in these conditions. Spray in the pit. Man it looks fast. Luke: I think it's a bit like childbirth. You must forget about the bad bits to do it again. Kind of sad now getting to the end. Just enjoy every moment of it and see what happens.Jules, from below, tells the helmsman what course to steer. (Sounds like they're skirting the exclusion zone in the fog.) Sail change in spray on the foredeck. Foggy wake. Dark below. Nav station, the sound of the hydraulic pump. Luke talks about the sun coming up. Still foggy, but not as thick. Probably 4th. Target is to try to win the leg and win maximum points. Nicho: Not quite in touch with the leaders as we needed to be at this stage. The two red boats have got some fast modes. Brad talks about Brunel. Nicho: Low coming with wind up to 40 knots... We're in the front of B grade at the moment. We need to step it up and get to A grade again.Wet shots on the foredeck: Luke and Simeon rigging for a sail change. Justin and Emily in the pit. Luke at the clew. Brad: Just left the doldrums, but it was harsh on us. Coughed up quite a few miles to the other boats. A little down at the moment, but we'll be back up. Now we're in 15-20 knots, tight reaching. Nicolai, below, eats something tubular. "Maybe not. Put that back." He wraps it up. He talks to Emily in the bunk above him about food.Luke, on the pedestal: Had a good sched, back in the hunt. Tradewinds on the other side of these clouds. Taking off the miles; everyone's happy on board. Emily: We were gybing every hour. Have to make a go of it. As much coffee as you can take. Brad, on the mainsheet, talks about the transitions. Jules, in the hatch, talks about this gybe vs the other gybe. Windier conditions with spray coming over the bow.Time lapse from the stern cam as darkness falls. Simeon, below, talks about the wind dropping and going right. Probably will do the stack and get on the hip of those guys. Below, Martine and Brad stacking. Jules at the nav station. Night shot of stars, moon. Luke, in the dark, explains that they're right on the crossover of the J1 and the Masthead 0, and it's difficult to know if they should change or not, if the better sail will pay for the loss incurred in the sail change. "Where we are in the fleet at the moment we can't afford to make any losses."Time lapse of the cabin below. Nicolai: We're not going so well this morning. We're reshuffling the weight of the boat. It's quite painful when you're losing. Simeon on the helm; Luke crossing the cockpit in slomo. Emily looks through binoculars at a competitor on their port side. Luke: Have been struggling. Breeze is shifty and up and down. "It's not the easiest sailing, and we haven't been doing it particularly well... Put it down to learning I guess."Distant drone shot of AkzoNobel sailing with the sunset behind them. Luke, below: Unfortunately we've just found out that the wind has gotten lighter. We're going to be out here another two days or so. At least we're not neck and neck with another boat. Drone shots of them sailing wiht the MH0 in 10 knots of wind. Nicolai on the helm: To be honest I don't mind too much. I'd rather get in and get some rest, but we shouldn't complain. A lot of people had it a lot worse than we did. We've got through this leg in a really good position; we should be grateful for that.Drone shot of AkzoNobel reaching unde the MH0 in 10 knots of wind. Nicolai, below: The keel situation is not improving, unfortunately. It's gone the other way. Bailing... It's coming in quicker than we can almost get it out. Luke: Everyone's tired at the end of our Southern Ocean leg. Having to bail every 15 mintues. In another 6 to 7 hours it will moderate. Shot of bailing. Nicolai: No rules when it comes to fixing boats in the Volvo. You can do whatever you have to. I went into Luke's crew bag and stole one of his socks... Luke: I'm happy to take one for the team, and do what it takes to get us to the finish line. Sandals!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.Spreader cam view of AkzoNobel triple-heading. Bow cam view looking aft. Someone (Martine?) looking forward through binoculars, presumably at a competitor. Shot forward from behind the wheel of washing machine and a competitor crossing ahead of them (Dongfeng). Nicolai, standing on the stern trimming the main, talks about Dongfeng and (unfortunately) MAPFRE crossing them. Last night they were behind us; now they've crossed us. Not the best morning. But still 15 mornings to go. Shot of the other boat to port. Stern cam footage of them sailing on starboard. Jules and Nicho sit at the nav station talking strategy. Nicho, eating: "No shortage of breeze." Martine below. She guesses she got the most sleep, but not anymore. Going to be gybing. Luke: With the two gybes in his off-watch he got about an hour of sleep during his four off. Jules talks about having lost a lot of distance to the boats nearby. Did some good gybes, got a couple of hundred meters behind Brunel. But now they've coughed up some distance. Spreader cam view of shifting the stack aft.Luke, below: First night at sea seemed long, bashing upwind, tacking, not a lot of sleep. But East Cape in a few hours and then downwind and an end to tacking. Someone calls from the companionway to the cockpit: "We should be crossing them". Nicho on deck with two boats to leeward. Chipping away; not sure if we're any faster. Brunel crosses behind them. Luke, Emily, and Brad getting dressed below. Luke: About to go around East Cape, in joint third position with Brunel. Looking forward to a few days on port tack heading south toward the Southern Ocean. Brad eating. Had an hour and half of good sleep. Emily: Nah, had a full 12 hours of beauty sleep. You can tell by the hair, and always so charming. Brunel and TTToP sailing to leeward.Luke, below: First night at sea seemed long, bashing upwind, tacking, not a lot of sleep. But East Cape in a few hours and then downwind and an end to tacking. Someone calls from the companionway to the cockpit: "We should be crossing them". Nicho on deck with two boats to leeward. Chipping away; not sure if we're any faster. Brunel crosses behind them. Luke, Emily, and Brad getting dressed below. Luke: About to go around East Cape, in joint third position with Brunel. Looking forward to a few days on port tack heading south toward the Southern Ocean. Brad eating. Had an hour and half of good sleep. Emily: Nah, had a full 12 hours of beauty sleep. You can tell by the hair, and always so charming. Brunel and TTToP sailing to leeward.Sailing south fast. Pole shots of the crew in the cockpit. Simeon on the helm. Double-heading with J0/J3? Cecile grinding. Simeon at the nav station reads a sched (or AIS?) of Scallywag's position. Jules: just passing the southern end of New Caledonia. Sailing a little further to avoid light air. Still heading south. Brad pulls a sail out from below. Sail change on the foredeck. Slomo washing machine. Simeon: Gained some bearing. Luke, below: Weather could allow Dongfeng and MAPFRE to cut the corner. Still anyone's race. Brad and Luke rock out, sharing a pair of earbuds. Jules and Simeon at the nav station. Jules talks about using the J0 now to give up some distance. Nicho talks about how they can do some things with Scallywag, but not with Dongfeng and MAPFRE because they're too far away. Can't get caught up in that. Pole shot of stacking the A3?Simeon talks about how they're in a good position. Everyone is coming into their trail. Nicolai, below: Only 3 days to go. Starting to see a good result. But reminding yourself it's not over until you cross the finish line. Can put in 22 days of hard work and lose it in the last day. Simeon at the nav station looks at routing software. Everyone is trying to get west; but they're already there. Relief that we went into the light air in first, and are coming out first as well. Luke, on the rail: Re-taken the lead. Tough struggle with Scallywag, it's paid off. Brunel in stealth mode now. Cecile: Nice to get moving. Most pressure we've seen in 3 or 4 days. Luke: Rather be on this boat than any of the others, but it is yacht racing. Pole cam shots over the side of them sailing faster. Chart software showing them west of New Caledonia. Brad eating. Closeups: Helm, winches. Martine on the helm. Simeon trimming. Stacking below. Brad grinding.Early morning. Jules talks about how they can see Scallywag now. They've taken about 10 miles from them in an hour and a half. Bow with stack on it. Nicho looks toward Scallywag. Jules, at the nav station, talks about 1400 miles (to go in the leg?). About 1500 miles of sailing. Jules talking strategy. Cecile talking about how she's glad she picked this boat to be on because they're in a good spot. Still a ways to go. Until you get to North Cape with a decent lead, I won't think about anything. Jules and Simeon at the nav station look at the latest sched. Nicolai in the companionway talks about the competion. Luke talks about how they had a great sched. Talks about New Caledonia, how the other boats are picking different lines. Cecile with a hand-bearing compass. Nicolai, below: Four miles to Scallywag. Three weeks of work behind it, and can lose it in one cloud... Coming together more. Speed, experience, teamwork. Adds up. Jules, Simeon, and Nicho talking around a tablet. Sailing south in light conditions.Nicolai: Good-looking morning. "Cloud porn." You shouldn't be looking at me; you should be looking at the clouds. Cloud shots. Nicho on the helm silhouetted by the sunrise. Crepuscular rays. Simeon: The heat is just unbearable. 45 degrees downstairs. Luke: Big hat, balaclava. Down below it's incredibly hot, hard to sleep during the day. Brad: Water on your skin. Martine: It's hard when you don't have shade. Fan below. Wetting a cloth in the galley. Nicolai drinking. Martine spritzing herself. Nicolai gives a thumbs-down from his bunk. Grinding in the heat on deck. Sunscreen. Flopping in no wind. Justin: Clouds are the only source of wind. We're hopping from cloud to cloud. Light winds. Justin: That one's sucking. Cecile: Talks about the competition. Who's ahead. For sure they've caught up. Game on. Simeon talks about the competition. Jules talks about strategy. Simeon: Challenge for me is still to win a leg in the Volvo Ocean Race. I've come in second quite a few times. Sunset as they're moving again.Brad, up the mast wearing a GoPro (realize it's a Garmin), looks for wind, calls down to the deck. View from deck level as they flop. Knotmeter: 1.6. Hoisting the J1. Luke stands by the MH0 clew. Luke: Brad's just up the mast to pop the battens. GoPro shot of Brad doing that. Luke: 2/3 of the distance through the leg, Scallywag just 4 miles away. Simeon: Brunel, Scallywag, and ourselves. Cecile: Hopefully the guys behind us get stuck in the same stuff. Shot of another boat on the horizon. Martine takes a bearing. Jules talks about "going over there to get in that breeze. Luke looks through the binoculars. Simeon talks down into the cabin: "Need to get more snacks. Keep up the motivation. Luke lies below. Nicolai eats. Simeon: All short-term plans. Luke: Sea state is calm. Going to get flatter as well. Winch closeup. Sunset.Gybing at sunrise. Jules: Still unresolved on how to get through the band of doldrums. Depends on what you'll find on the other side, but that's still 10 days away. "Pretty random really." Sunrise. Nicho on the helm talks strategy with Jules and Simeon. Luke washes in a rain squall. Martine and Brad shower in the rain. Brad: Three showers so far today. Looks like number four shower. Rolling up the J3. Light winds. Martine: Still going through a lot of clouds. Everybody can catch up with us. You just deal with it. Hoisting the J1. Simeon: Hope we end up well. To win the race you need to win legs. That pressure is bigger for us than for any of the others. Jules talks from the cabin to Nicho on the helm. Cecile puts on a shirt below. Nicolai pulls down the J1. Nicolai: Just had a sched, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad. This was a bad one. Lost 25 miles on the fleet. Knew that was coming; they're sailing into lighter conditions. Luke, in the cockpit: "A lot of snakes and ladders in this game." Sunset as they sail in light winds. Red-lit instruments show them sailing at 0.6 knots.Justin looks at clouds. Talks about the wind. Simeon on the helm looks tired. Rainbow to leeward. Justin: Basically have been bouncing from cloud to cloud. Playing snakes and ladders with the other boats. Puffs that last for 30 seconds to a minute. Brad on the bow as they hoist the J1 and furl the MH0. Justin on the helm. Rain. Stacking below. Jules looks at the computer. "Until we find some wind out of the westerly quadrant we won't make any gains." Sailing into the doldrums now. Guys behind have all seen them slow and have turned left (east), taking a lot of miles out of them. Luke: Jules and Chris and Simeon have spent a lot of time over the last week deciding where to cross the doldrums. Jules at the mast. Nicolai and Martine lower the MH0 after hoisting the J1. Lowering the J1, Justin gathers it in on the foredeck. Jules emerges from below to annouce the sched: Brunel is closest to the finish now. Brad in the sunset. Justin on the helm after sunset: Dismal couple of days. Who knows what's next.Brad and Martine on the foredeck peeling from J1 to J0? FR0? Stacking. Luke in the pit. Luke bailing below. Filling up water in the galley. Brad: Nine days in. Not the easiest 9 days. Blast reaching, throwing the boat around. When they get to the doldrums they'll want to get this again. "As long as you keep your gear dry." Richard asks, "Is your gear dry?" Brad shakes his head and smiles. "Soaked all the way through." He eats. Jules talks about their lead over Scallywag and MAPFRE. They'll lose some of that as they lead into the first doldrums area. He talks about strategy with someone. Shots of the conditions lightening on deck. Nicolai talks about light winds coming. Frustrating, but they knew it was coming. Ready for hard work. Unfurling a bigger sail (MH0?). Jules talks about strategy. Simeon scans the horizon for wind. Squall with rain and wind. Grinding. Winch drum. Jules talks about the nearby boats. Luke in the cockpit. Jules, in the companionway, talks about the clouds, and strategy.Luke sings (I guess?). Laughter as Nicolai steers. Cécille laughs. Jules on the helm. Closeup of lines. Brad laughing. Richard (OBR) asks Luke what position they're currently in. Luke: "This can be answered by the expression on Jules' face. I think we're currently leading the yacht race." They laugh about Jules smilng. Cécille: "Yeah, leading. Which is nice. Another good sched." More discussion of Jules smiling. Simeon, below: "Hopefully we ca maintain the lead we have. But in the last leg we had a 100-mile lead on Brunel, and they came within" a few miles of their stern. Sunset, moonrise.Nicho, below, talks about how cool it was last night pushing in 28 knots of wind. Can't talk on deck; just focus on your job. When the front that they're on breaks down there will hopefully be some compression. Pressure on the team, and has been since they damaged the mast in Leg 3. He thinks they're a better team than where they're sitting overall. Nicolai, below, talks about Simeon getting blown off the wheel, making a big bang. "Only one thing can make a bang that big, and that's him falling off the wheel." He just ran for the wheel and grabbed it. Crash cam footage of the incident. Simeon: "Reminds me of when I fall out of a tree as a young boy." At the nav station, Jules talks to Nicho about Dongfeng doing a peel; maybe that's why they fell back. Nicho: "We're just quick Jules." Jules: "The other two are quicker." Nicho laughs. Washing machine shots on deck, closeup of the rudder. Cool fisheye perspective shots. Stacking, shot from outside the lifelines with a GoPro on a pole. Slomo washing machine. Spray. Brad grinding. Someone (Luke?) gives a thumbs up. "Finally moving!"Simeon looks at Scallywag, sailing a quarter mile astern and to leeward. Simeon talks about sailing north, away from New Zealand. Talks wind and clouds with Nicho on the helm. Nicho looks for shadows of clouds. Martine on the helm. Nicolai on the helm, waving "goodbye" to Scallywag. Justin talks about staying in touch with Scallywag. Jules talks about a front coming. They flop in light conditions Shifting the stack forward. Nav station. Brad on deck as they go slow. Luke on the helm: points out the front behind them; expecting big things in the nxt three or four hours. Martine, Simeon putting on foulies. Sailing in more wind. Simeon in the pit; Cecille on the pedestal. Sail changes as it gets dark. Looks like J1 going up, MH0 coming down?Nicolai, on deck: "You are going to have good and bad days when you do the Volvo Ocean Race, and you're more likely to have more bad days than good days. Today for example is a bad day; we just lost 4 miles to Dongfeng in a couple of hours, and we don't really have the answers to it. So frustration goes up, people get frustrated, tired, they're exhausted already, and you've gotta be able to deal with that. And that just comes down to good leadership, good management of the team, and everyone getting back into their positing and their roles, and just doing their job, and not trying to get into each other and getting emotional about it... keep the ups and downs away... Tomorrow we might gain for miles... Just flatline the emotional part of it." Below, Simeon talks about Dongfeng being 4 miles ahead. "And the next guys coming on watch are like, what happened?" On deck, Brad looks tense. "It's not like it's the end of the world. Still a week out." Luke, on the wheel: Talks about being happy the rest of the fleet is tucked away. Nicolai talks about having three not-so-good legs, so the pressure is on. Need to deliver results. "You can never regret putting in 100%, and that's what we're doing right now."Darkness and the sound of flopping sails. On deck at night, Jules is in the foreground, his face illuminated by the light from a tablet. Behind him the railing by the helm is lit by red light. Jules: "The only problem at the moment this way is that no one's actually moving." Nicho: "We can still do our five minutes heading north." Jules: "On starboard." Nicho: "Before running into where MAPFRE is." They discuss that MAPFRE and Dongfeng have stopped. [Guys: I've seen the future. There's a huge windless cloud ahead.] Nicho: "But at least we'll be heading north until we stop." Simeon and Cécile grind on the pedestal. Stars overhead; the main pops over as they tack to starboard. Below, at the nav station, Nicho points out the changed positions on the chart: They've pulled ahead of Dongfeng and MAPFRE, while Vestas further west has made up ground. "Just from one cloud." Another 500, 600 miles of this, he says. Low-altitude drone shot of AkzoNobel drifting on a glassy sea. Martine throws something small down the forward hatch. Crew sits on sails on the bow. Below, Brad says to Nicolai: "Nicolai, you still awake?" Nicolai: "Yeah. Too warm to sleep. Just watching a bit of Netflix." They have a little scripted chitchat. Jules calls down the hatch that they want to do a peel to the J1, and they need some big strong muscle-y men. Shot of the instruments on the mast: Boatspeed: 0.93. High-altitude time-lapse drone shot of AkzoNobel drifting along. Nicho talks about the "good guys" generally doing okay in the doldrums. Nicolai pulls the main. Very-high-altitude drone shot showing them parked. Pretty slomo shot of their branding reflected in the water. Luke, on the helm, talks about the mood: concerned. Need to come out of the doldrums okay so the front bunch gets a jump. Low-altitude drone shot at sunset with another boat beyond them. I think it's probably Vestas.High drone shot showing Dongfeng in the foreground and AkzoNobel in the background. It's a pretty distant shot, and makes me wonder: The OBRs haven't been using this opportunity to get drone closeups of their competitors (which they did, a little, in Leg 2). I bet there was some kind of agreement to limit that, presumably for competitive reasons (i.e., an extension of the "OBR shall not contribute to the racing" concept, such that they shouldn't be potentially helping their crew steal info about setup on the other boats). Anyway, Sam's voice is lapped over the shot: "Nicho, tell me about the art of sailing through the doldrums." We see Nicho, who tells a story about meeting with a meterologist who talked about clouds all day, and he asked him how to tell a good cloud from a bad one. "There is an element of luck... I"m lucky I enjoy it." Luke talks about being stuck in the doldrums, playing cat-and-mouse with Dongfeng. Overlapped with a time-laps of the drone shot of the two boats - which I realize now shows a third boat, Vestas, ahead of them both. Simeon, on the helm, talks about trying to sail from puff to puff. Shot of Dongfeng ahead of them and to leeward. Luke talks about how he thinks Dongfeng is probably tense on board, with their close competitor MAPFRE close by. Shot of a rain cloud. Drone shot from astern as the sun is setting to port with a competitor on the horizon while Brad is hoisted up the mast. Drone shots circling him at the masthead showing rain clouds and the other boats around them. Nicolai talks about them sending Brad up to look for the beeze, having 5 boats in the same area. Simeon, shirtless with the low sun on him, talks about being pretty happy with the situation. "Fighting, you know, every single watch and hour." A shot of them approaching a competitor (I think; unless it's a low-altitude drone shot of their own boat) with the sunset sky behind them. We see the other boat just a few boatlenghts away. Someone says, "There's somebody standing on the prod." [?] Brad (I think) calls out to them: "Who's the monkey on the bowsprit?" We hear the response. Something like, "Go back to Kerikeri, mate", which makes Brad chuckle. [Brad and Blair Tuke are both from Kerikeri, NZ.] I think this must be the super-close approach they had with MAPFRE around 2018.01.10 08:20:10 UTC, so that would make it either Blair or Louis who's answering. Brad, invisible in the dark: "It's nice to talk to somebody from another boat for a change. As much as I love these guys, it's nice to hear a different voice for once. Especially one from Kerikeri." Awesome drone shot passing AkzoNobel at low altitude, flying toward MAPFRE. Lightning-flash illuminated shots of them sailing in the squall that night.Drone shot AT NIGHT of AkzoNobel silhouetted against the trail of the nearly full moon on the water behind them. Masthead red running light is visible, also four different white lights. Not sure what's up with those. Sail-illumination lights? Brad, on deck: "Beautiful night out here." Talks about chipping away at Dongfeng, who crossed them by 2.5 miles, and are now 5 miles away. Gybe coming up; hope to make more gains there. Simeon, at nav station below, nods to Sam. Simeon: "Yeah. Pretty happy." Luke, on deck on the wheel (I think): "Warm water. Full moon. Doesn't get any better... Great company. Go the A-team on here." Shot of Orion standing on his head next to the shrouds. Shot of the helmsman from the cockpit, then pans up the backstay to show the Southern Cross. Drone shot close to the boat from to leeward, illuminated by moonlight.Jules, at the nav station, talks to Sam. "How would I describe myself? Tired?... I think I'm pretty easy-going, most of the time, except when I'm tired." Sam: "How do you think the crew would describe you?" Jules: "Miserable. Quiet." On deck, Luke answers the question: "Uncomplicated, I would say. [laughs] No; he's a good rooster. Very rarely gets it wrong. It's only us getting it wrong that makes him look bad." Looks like this was shot as they were beating out of Port Phillip Bay on the first afternoon. Closeup of Jules at the nav station, rubbing his head. Shot of the computer showing weather. On deck, Brad points out Green Cape. "Everyone knows it's one of the most southeastern capes of Australia." Shot of the cape with its lighthouse. To the left is another boat, barely visible; I'm guessing it's Vestas. On deck, Simeon talks about needing to choose whether to play the coast or go offshore. Shot from the cabin of Jules (below) talking to Nicho (on deck). Simeon crouches down as water splashes over him. Simeon: "[something] stay in touch with the other guys. Otherwise you'll lose them." Jules discusses how the fleet is splitting. Also there are three different tidal models that disagree as to where the eddy is. More discussion by Simeon: gybe or not? Conversation with the three of them continues below at the nav station. Nicho: "If you gybe back, you're pretty much committed to playing the shore." Sam talks to Jules: "How would you describe the decision-making process on this boat?" Jules: "Not very clear. Because not everyone knows the full implications of everything they're talking about. You often get into situations like this where it's a tossup, you gotta trust one weather model or the other. Or you just do the conservative thing and stay with the fleet." Nicho, below, eating: "You've gotta kick it around. Kick it to death. And then make a gut call, usually. There's a fair bit of science involved... I think in the end for this situation, we're on a good heading with great pressure. More breeze than inshore." Sam: "How would you describe the decision-making process on this boat?" Nicho: "Plenty of input from everybody. At times this is Simeon's boat. I certainly from my side I feel like I can make the decision and live with it perhaps a bit easier. It's not a difficulty, it's just how it is. I guess we've kind of struggled and grappled with that sitaution a little. But no; the actual process I think is quite good. No one's angry or frustrated or anyting like that. It's just trying to weigh up all the pros and cons, come up with a decision."AkzoNobel is sailing upwind inside Port Phillip Bay on starboard. Nicho, on the stern, talks about how they couldn't hold their lane on port tack after the start. "Don't know. Not sure what happened. We were slow on port for a long time." Shot of their stern with a Bravo (protest) flag flying; other boats in the distance. Simeon below: "Yeah, we had a bit of a speed issue, yeah." Shots of crew moving the stack. Nicho: "It's not where you want to be... back of the pack... No use grumbling about it." Below, Nicolai and Simeon are looking through the window in the hull, talking about the prop. Maybe it wasn't folding properly? Brad looks through an inspection tool: "It's closed but it's got weed in it... Looks like I'm going over the side. Get a lot of heel on, and rip it off." Sam: "Would this explain the speed?" Brad: "Hopefully." On deck, Brad gets lowered over the weather side in his foulies with lines forward and aft; he goes down near the waterline to inspect. Cécile's back is in the foreground as she relays Brad's words, then helps him back on deck. Brad: "A bit of weed. Not as big as it looked. But it's closed. Nothing underwater slowing us down. So get into it." Later, on the stern, Sam asks Brad: "How's it feel to be in last place coming out of Australia?" Brad: "I hate to say, but we're used to it." Luke: "New Year's resolution? Probably just to win a few legs here." Martine: "I dunno. Just keep positive." Brad: "Not be last out of the next start. And start getting in front of the fleet." Rainbow in the boat's spray to leeward. Luke talks about the frustration of starting off in last or close to last. "People say you're unlucky, but you create your own luck." Talks about teamwork, they're a great group of sailors. Real rainbow to leeward; a competitor below and behind them. Simeon talks about them doing well in the last sched. "Zero to hero." First in the position reports. At the nav station, Jules talks about their performance. Sam: "How'd you manage to check back in with the fleet?" Jules: "Bit of luck, really. Guys have been sailing pretty hard all night. Everyone's been up pretty much most of the night. Gybed on a couple of shifts. Got a nice header for a while..." Talks about disappointment at the start, needing to hang in there. "If we go fast we'll be all right." Rainbow with Vestas, Dongfeng to leeward.Drone shot pans up to show AkzoNobel sailing toward the drone. In the cockpit, Martine trims the main. On the helm, Nicho talks about how they've fallen off the front and winds are lighter [hence the drone footage], and it's hurting them in the previous sched and likely the next one. Luke talks about how they're now last on the leaderboard. "Pretty frustrating. Haven't had the best luck with the weather, unfortunately... but also haven't been sailing the boat as well as we possiby can. So we have a lot of work to do in Cape Town." Jules at the nav station looks concerned. Nicolai aggressively brushes his teeth. Simeon, below, talks about the disappointment: "It's always hard to swallow when you see every sched, moving back." Low-altitude drone shot from the port quarter. Peter, grinding: "We're pushing as hard as possible, trying to catch every wave. But we've been losing for a few days." Nicho, on the helm; Simeon, below, talk about needing to stay focused and keep pushing despite the disappointment. Luke, on the stern pedestal: "Sometimes you get the elevator; sometimes you get the shaft." Drone shot.Below, Luke gets out of his bunk, gets dressed. Luke: "When it gets a bit rough and hard out here, there there are a few things I miss. Mainly one of them this time compared to the last race is my family. There are two young kids at home. You see I've got their pictures on the bulkhead here. They're big fans of the race and the team. I find myself thinking about them, and what I'm missing out on their lives." Closeup of two children's drawings. The one on the right shows a person at the helm. Above an adult has written: "by Teb. I love you Daddy" The one on the left shows a person with yellow hair and a brown beard. Text above the figure reads, "Brad just about to sleep in his bunk." (Nice likeness of Brad Farrand.) Luke talks about missing his bed and pillow. On deck, we see Luke on the helm. Next, below, we see a close-up of Nicolai's salt-water hands. Nicolai talks about what he misses from home when it's rough and wet, as it is today. Dry warm bed, time off. "Instead of putting yourself through pain and suffer, as we do these days." Shot out the cabin of washing-machine action in the cockpit. Jules calls out from the cabin to the crew. Jules: "A really good [something]. Probably another five or six hours. Should still slowly bend left. I think we're good." Luke, below, talks about how they're 5 or 6 days from Cape Town; looking forward to getting in and seeing the family. Slomo shot from behind the wheel of major spray coming over the cockpit.Emily gets dressed below, clips on a fanny pack. She talks about how it was a big risk for them to cut the corner by positioning themselves east of the fleet. A big risk for Jules, because there are all the other navigators saying no, we think this western route is faster. Peter, on deck, trims the main and explains that if you stay with the fleet you know you'll be close. But if you take a risk you have a chance of making a big gain. Behind, Martine is on the helm, beaming (as usual when steering). Luke talks about taking the risk. Luke: "Looks like now maybe it hasn't paid off, but it's certainly not over yet. We'll see what happens." Jules, below at the nav station, about the risk of diverging from the four boats ahead. Shot of routing software on the computer. Talks about how the weather pattern was evolving ahead of them, so they wouldn't necessarily be in the same weather pattern as the leaders when they got there. Jules: "We're sill gonna be a fair way behind, and we'll have to look for the next opportunity." Super-low-altitude drone shot (well below deck level) of AkzoNobel from close ahead and to weather, pulling back and ascending.Beautiful drone shot of AkzoNobel reaching on port at sunrise. Nicolai types at the nav station. He talks about how they just peeled to a fractional sail. Falling a little bit behind the other boats; looking for speed. Mast cam view of the deck. Jules, on deck: "We're struggling a bit with the reaching setup; the guys in front of us stretching away from us." On the stern, Emily washes up. Peter, on a sheet, talks about how they have some nice waves and are trying to catch most of them without getting too low. Luke talks about how it's frustrating that the rich (ahead of them) are getting richer. Brad, below, talks about the frustrations of leaders pulling away without their being close enough to see their sail setup. (Note: He has a raspberry-colored buzz cut from the equator-crossing ceremony, which didn't show up so far in a video.) Nicolai talks about working hard, not panicking, getting faster day by day. Slomo shot of Emily and Nicho working the foredeck.Nicho: Talks below about the competition. "We're kind of still paying the price for mistakes we made several days ago." Continues a pattern of him focusing on the earlier "miscommunication" as a source of their problem. In the background, Martine uses and empties the head. Luke: "For the good of everyone on board you try to stay as level-headed as possible. But it's obviously hard not to get caught up in the emotion of winning and losing... But there are times when you've had a couple of hard watches like we've ahd in the last couple of days where it's pretty hard to keep your emotions in check. But that's sport, isn't it?" Nicho on the helm. Brad, below, shirtless: "I try to keep it even. As much as some guys back there [looks aft] try to wind you up or make your life hard, I just try to get on with it and get the job done. Does take a bit of a toll." Simeon, at the nav station, talks about learning from his former skipper on ABN AMRO 2 to keep emotions at an average level, not too high or low. Nicho, below, talks about hoping for an opportunity later. Sunrise.A series of drone shots as AkzoNobel reaches on port in the afternoon: A wide shot looking down with AkzoNobel silhouetted against the sun shimmer on the water, a close shot of the bow. Audio is of Luke talking about their strategic situation. Luke: "Unfortunately we lost a bit of ground last night. Got a good sail combination up and we're charging toward the guys in front. We're off like a pack of wild dogs in hot pursuit. And I think it's going to be a good weekend."Sunrise drone shot of AckzoNobel sailing on starboard gybe under the MH0. Jules talks about their relationship with the other boats. Jules: "We're bow-to-bow with MAPFRE here; third and fourth." Shot of MAPFRE to starboard of them and slightly forward of the beam, also on starboard. Nicolai, shirtless in the bow, below, where crew have been sleeping, talks about how it's been hectic, but now there's a chance to dry out and make repairs before the next hectic period. Shot of thermals drying on a sheet in the cockpit. On deck, Nicolai explains how they need to repair a daggerboard piece: "We pulled out the dogbone of the daggerboard, so we can't hold the board down. We just have to replace that one." Shots of them wrestling the board back into its slot. Super-pretty low-altitude drone shot showing AkzoNobel's bow with the sunrise behind them. Close-up of Luke patching the J1. He explains that they're finally fixing the sail that was torn during the departure. Shots of Luke and Brad, shirtless, gluing patches on the sail. Shots of crew lying/sleeping in the bow. Nicolai, in the bow, talks about people resting and the jobs "getting ticked off."Drone shot of AkzoNobel sailing in about 12 knots of wind, triple-heading with the Masthead 0 on port gybe. Simeon, on the mainsheet, talks about Dongfeng being visible on the horizon, talks about the bungee effect as the squalls cause big changes in the wind. Another drone shot. Jules, on the stern, talks about the wind variations and the confused seas making the boat "like a submarine. So that's a bit hard." Luke on the helm talks about trying to avoid nose-diving. Stern cam shot of washing machine. Brad talks about being on the mainsheet for three hours, shows his hands. "Good for your exfoliating." Jules talks about the wind; 23 knots at the moment, softening later. Drone shot.Emily, below, pours from the kettle into a food bag. Emily: "I think probably the hardest thing to get used to on this boat is always being wet." Shot on deck of spray coming over the bow. Luke, on deck at the stern getting doused: "It's just challenging at the moment becuase you're constantly wet." He talks about stuffing people's wet things into an empty food bag to get it out of the way. Luke: "I see there's a bit of a rabbits nest of wet clothing gathering below... People will be asking where their wet stuff is, pretty soon, looking to dry it out. I think it's pretty much gone for the race." Emily: "A tiny bit of water down your neck seal, and all your thermals are wet... I'm still wearing the same wet thermals that I put on when I left the dock a couple of days ago." Emily and Simeon eating below. Simeon says something to her about chocolate, jokes about losing his credibility (?). Simeon: "I always find the first 24 hours tough. Then you get used to you're always damp. You smell like a web Labrador that just jumped in the mud. But when everything is like that, evertying becomes simple as well... You appreciate your warm meal out of a plastic bag. Whole group... [gestures at Emily] Good company." Camera pans to Emily, who keeps eating without looking up or acknowleding the remark.Simeon on the dock before the race with a little girl (presumably his daughter), then side-hugging and kissing a woman (presumably his wife). Simeon, below on AkzoNobel (before the start?). Simeon: "Of course you know it's not that sudden change; you've been plannnig for it all along. But still, it's hard. Twenty-one days, more, twenty-two days, without a call. It's a bit old-school. These days everyone is in contact all around the world 24/7... On the other hand, it's a real comfortable feeling. They're in a good place and they take care of each other. So when everything is good at home it's easy for us to leave." Slomo shot of Luke holding a young child on the dock. Below, as AkzoNobel is bashing under sail, Luke: "It's a bit differnt, you know, family life and then coming into the storm, so to speak. It's great sailing conditions, it's just unfortunate that we've had a tear to our J1. But we'll get it fixed in a few days time when we need it and be back to full power." On deck, looking forward as AkzoNobel surfs toward the sunset, Nico steers. Nicolai gets spray in the face from the washing machine.Shot of AkzoNobel slatting in no wind. Simeon: "We had a little bit of an accident yesterday with one of the mainsail battens; the top batten." Shot of them lowering the main, removing batten cars from the mast track. We see the crew repairing the broken battan, as Luke talks off-camera: "There's so many pieces that go together to making a mainsail, that you break one bit it's all related to the others. Unfortuantely we broke this top batten, which is the main batten that sets up the whole square top of the sail. So with a couple of days of reaching ahead of us, we thought we'd take this light air moment to repair it. Boys have done a good job, and now we're ready to hoist." Shots of them re-hoisting the main.