Pascal Bidégorry / 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.Below, Pascal studies the computer, chews his nails. He announces to the cockpit over the PA that in (something) minutes they can furl the J3 (I think?). Marie responds on deck. Pascal: Standby tack. Okay, tacking! We hear the sound of the tack. Chart screen shows the exclusion zone rounding (I think?). Pascal explains being in the new wind, and getting the shift, and being able to go directly to the south. Sleep? I think we are going to sleep well when we arrive in The Hague. But that's life. We have a little bit more than one day until the race is finished. I think it is good that we can go on pushing. And we will see.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.Dongfeng sails with two RIBs alongside; MAPFRE beyond. Approach to Aarhus, maybe? Carolijn can be heard discussing their sail configuration. Daryl. Carolijn: And then back to Norway. MAPFRE astern fo them. MAPFRE sailing to leeward. Coming into the harbor with helicopter sound Stu asks Pascal if his waypoint is close to the marina. Carolijn shouts a conversation with someone in a RIB alongside. Tack. Sailing into the harbor with cheers. Tacking around the harbor buoy. Passing MAPFRE, who's still coming in. More cheering crouds. Passing Vestas. Daryl makes some comment: "...was MAPFRE and now it's Brunel." Stu: They banged the left corner. That's certainly a challenge when racing 24 hours and we're further away from the finish than when we started. There's something not quite right about that. Pascal: Less wind here guys. Stu: Wait a bit for puff to roll through here, and loose cover MAPFRE? He points out pressure. Daryl: Still a couple of big opportunities for a big parkup. Above Denmark, getting up to the next mark. And then the finish depending on the timing. Can only cover so much; have to keep doing what we're doing for the first part of this leg.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.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.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.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.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.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.High drone shot of Dongfeng sailing in light winds. Low drone shot. Kevin on the helm: We know we have two groups of boats. One going south in front of the front. Three of us who have gybed. Now we know that the ones who stayed in front of the front are doing better than us. Now we're working hard. We took this position; we'll see. Pascal and Stu argue about effects of current if they bear away or not. Marie and Kevin talking. Horace: Last night was a bad dream. We almost stopped in the ocean. He looks up at the main. "More mainsheet?" Kevin driving. Stu: I find there's nothing productive in getting upset about stuff you can't control. For example, the other guys who are cruising off, with a nice breeze, there's nothing we can do about that at the moment. The best we can do is to sail well with the wind we have. As long as we're doing well with the boats around us, that's all we can do. Might end up a day behind, but it won't be through lack of trying. Marie talks in French. Nav station: Pascal looks at routing. Closeup of a winch grinding. Another boat a few miles away ahead and to leeward: Looks like TTToP (yup; tracker confirms). HIgh drone shot.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.Pretty sunset behind Marie. Someoen sneezes below. Nav station with computer screen. Pascal: Don't want to change the way you sail because double points. You always want to sail the best you can. He talks about different routing options. "It is not easy to choose." No special plan for us. The plan is to sail well. That's it. He talks about doing the crossing in 2009, not the same boat, 3 days 15 hours. Last leg we were leading the fleet and finished fourth. I don't think about the finish of the last leg. I focus on the finish of this leg in a few days. It's enough. He talks about the ridge coming up, restarts, complicated choices. Pascal in the nav station. Stu on the helm with the sunset behind him. Fish-eye lens view of the sunset, the wake.Drone shots of Dongfeng triple-heading. Jack, below: Always hard before the start because you want to leave. And then the first days are hard because you can't sleep. But good to get away. Very important leg for us. Going to push all the way to Cardiff. Gybe in the cockpit. More drone shots. Carolijn: Always knew this was going to be an important leg. Our speed was good overnight. Made some good decisions. If we can just keep doing that, and being smarter and faster than our opponents... Now that we're in front just have to stay in front. Pascal at the nav station. Night shots of the deck. Carolijn pulling a sheet, looking tired. Marie comes below. Marie on deck: It's always good to be first. Horace: We see after a few days who has made a good decision... Main on! Stu: Right now the goal is to sail around 55 to 60, fast. Not lower than 60. Below, Pascal sits in the nav station talking to Stu. "You cannot see without your contact?" Stu shakes his head. High drone shot.Flopping in foggy conditions. Another boat's red light (maybe?) in the fog. Instruments: going 3.3 knots. Slatting mainsail in the night. Pascal at the nav station. Moon in the fog. A flashing red light on a buoy. MAPFRE, illuminated by a powerboat spotlight. Morning: Kevin explains that arriving at the TSS they were first. And now we are fourth. Fourth. Behind Vestas. (He sounds devastated.) But nothing is done. Nothing is done. Carolijn: It does happen a lot, actually. The classic one... in Lisbon, similar situation, where the boats in front stop, and the boats behind come in with the breeze and just drift past you. Finishes like this, in a drifter, are always a little bit hard. But it happens in yacht racing, and you have to deal with it. Instruments: 0.3 knots. Flopping in the fog. A slack-hosited J1 flops. Carolijn: Which way is the finish? Over there? Here we go. Charles scowls. Pascal looks at his tablet. Crew sits motionless on the bow.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.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.Stu grinding in slomo. WAshing machine. Jack, below: We're out of the doldrums, which is really nice. Next four days of wet fast reaching. Kevin on the helm in slomo with spray coming over the bow. Horace trimming the main on the stern. Pascal at the nav station: All the fleet was afraid to bear away... Was a small difference in distance. Plenty of things to do. Everybody wants to fight. Slomo spray. Marie on the pedestal, grinding.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.Drone shot of Dongfeng sailing in the sunrise. Faces: Pascal, Marie, Jack. Drone shot. Pascal works a Rubik's cube. Marie works on it. Jack works on it. Jack summarizes current situation: Nearing the corner of Brazil; need to decide how close to cut it. Lots of work; sleeping less, more sail changes. Drone shot of them triple-heading. Stu on the helm in the morning. "Going to be a very nice day today." Marie: "Yes." Kevin, in his bunk, holds the Rubik's cube and talks about the different strategic questions in the leg. Charles on the helm. Charles works on the Rubik's Cube, talks about it in French. He pretends to solve it quickly, but then reveals he has two cubes, one already solved. Closeup of the winch, with Daryl trimming. Stu, on the helm, talks about winning a competition in school; solved it in 47 seconds. He hands the wheel over to Marie. He explains the solution. Stu explains the technique to Charles.View looking up the slot. Drone shot with morning sun. Stu: Lots of nice sailing for today. Which is a nice change from the last day or two, which had unbelievable cloud activity. Talks about having a sudden squall with everything on the wrong side (stack, water ballast, OBR). Didn't work out well; lost a lot of miles. Shots out the cabin at night with lightning on deck. Horace works in red light as thunder rolls. Rain. Kevin reads a sched on the PA. "So we've been the slowest of the fleet except (someone)." Pascal talks in French. A bird (gannet? booby?) flies over the masthead. Drone shot. Carolijn on the helm.Drone shots as Dongfeng sails under J0. Carolijn: Generally sail with 9 crew. Talks about positions: skipper, navigator, main trimmer, headsail trimmer, pitman, bowman. Talks about Daryl, their offshore helmsman at the moment. Instruments, spray. Pascal reads out the sched on the PA. Carolijn talks about the navigator. "Generally he wears glasses to look really smart, and make smart decisions about strategy." Pascal at the nav station. Pascal: "Lift, lift, lift; strong wind and lift all the time." Kevin trimming the main. Grinding. Carolijn narrates about Kevin adjusting the mainsheet. Talks about the combo of main and headsail trim, and coordination with the helm. Closeup of Kevin easing the mainsheet. Drone shot. Carolijn talks about the pit. "We call it the piano." Pitman organizes and coordinates between the front and back of the boat. Closeup of the pit controls. She talks about trimming the headsail. "If it gets to hard I ask Horace for help and we grind with two." She explains about trim. "At the pointy end of the boat we have the bowman. They live at the front there, and they have a very busy job. It's a very hard job because it's the wettest part of the boat and you need a lot of strength to get things done.... Kevin is Speedy Gonzalez." Drone shots.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.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.)Intense no-dialog video of Kevin driving; everyone at the back of the boat focused on forward motion. Then all the crew take turns telling "two words to describe the final sprint." Daryl: The last 24 hours is going to be a battle of epic proportions with Brunel. Carolijn: Vamos Dongfeng! Horace: Something in Mandarin. Kevin: Win it. Pascal: Something in French? Marie: Something in French? Jeremie: Three points. Jack: Long. And wet. Spray on the bow.Spreader cam view of foredeck, of deck, stern cam. Pascal at nav station: We are reaching with a sea state quite short and bad. Boat catches a lot of water. Very close to the front; visibility is nothing. Vestas is very close to us. Got word from them that they have been dismasted. It's really a pity for everybody but for them of course. A pity because our South Pacific during this race was really hard, stressful. It's pitiful because everybody should finish this leg.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.Crew below engaged in various tasks. Pascal gears up to go on deck. Carolijn goes on deck. Slomo of albatross and epic big waves astern. Washing machine. View from the cabin of the cockpit as they gybe from port to starboard. Carolijn: "Have to tweak her down a bit. Can I use this winch?" Below, Kevin works on a winch drum. Jack eats. Pascal pulls on boots.Sailing fast in sunny conditions. Washing machine. Wake, with another boat directly astern. Carolijn (I think) points and waves to them. From the tracker I suspect it's Vestas. Marie and Jeremie, below, get geared up. Kevin eats. Horace looks at something on the computer. He explains: Looking for other competitors' boatspeed, and next 24 hours what we're going to do. Looks like in 4 - 6 hours we'll be gybing, and after that will be a busy night. Arriving at Cape Horn on the 29th. Bow cam looking aft as they surf. Stern cam as they stuff the bow. Washing machine. Spreader cam view of the cockpit. Crewmember going forward grabs on to avoid being washed back by a wave. Pascal and Kevin at the nav area.Sailing fast in sunny conditions. Washing machine. Wake, with another boat directly astern. Carolijn (I think) points and waves to them. From the tracker I suspect it's Vestas. Marie and Jeremie, below, get geared up. Kevin eats. Horace looks at something on the computer. He explains: Looking for other competitors' boatspeed, and next 24 hours what we're going to do. Looks like in 4 - 6 hours we'll be gybing, and after that will be a busy night. Arriving at Cape Horn on the 29th. Bow cam looking aft as they surf. Stern cam as they stuff the bow. Washing machine. Spreader cam view of the cockpit. Crewmember going forward grabs on to avoid being washed back by a wave. Pascal and Kevin at the nav area.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 tacks from starboard to port as Sam shoots forward from the stern. Then we see them tacking back the other way with land to starboard. AkzoNobel crosses them. Sunset. Pascal and Horace grinding. Horace talks about getting his hair cut on February 2 in China, and put something to remind him: "V" for victory. Reminder to sail the boat faster. A comeptitor on the horizon ahead of them. Daryl, on the helm in the sunset, talks about the first part of the leg being difficult. Not as bad a sea state as they'd expected, but a lot of maneuvers and a lot of tacks. "And about that much sleep." (Makes a zero with his hand.) Now around East Cape, and the next landfall is Cape Horn. Chasing down MAPFRE. Kevin, on deck: Next 3 days should be quite simple, going straight south to the ice limit. Then a front and a completely different story, forecast for quite windy conditions. Now is a chance to sleep and get some rest. When you have a lot of wind and have to do a lot of gybes, can get tired very quickly. Below, someone eating (not sure who).Dongfeng tacks from starboard to port as Sam shoots forward from the stern. Then we see them tacking back the other way with land to starboard. AkzoNobel crosses them. Sunset. Pascal and Horace grinding. Horace talks about getting his hair cut on February 2 in China, and put something to remind him: "V" for victory. Reminder to sail the boat faster. A comeptitor on the horizon ahead of them. Daryl, on the helm in the sunset, talks about the first part of the leg being difficult. Not as bad a sea state as they'd expected, but a lot of maneuvers and a lot of tacks. "And about that much sleep." (Makes a zero with his hand.) Now around East Cape, and the next landfall is Cape Horn. Chasing down MAPFRE. Kevin, on deck: Next 3 days should be quite simple, going straight south to the ice limit. Then a front and a completely different story, forecast for quite windy conditions. Now is a chance to sleep and get some rest. When you have a lot of wind and have to do a lot of gybes, can get tired very quickly. Below, someone eating (not sure who).Sailing toward a headland with a detached island. Full main and J2. Pascal talks about something. Tacking with the sunset behind them. Rough conditions close to land. Birds (shearwaters, I think) flying between them and land. Reefing the main. Favoriting this one because I just really like how it puts me on the boat in these conditions.Sailing toward a headland with a detached island. Full main and J2. Pascal talks about something. Tacking with the sunset behind them. Rough conditions close to land. Birds (shearwaters, I think) flying between them and land. Reefing the main. Favoriting this one because I just really like how it puts me on the boat in these conditions.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.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.Awesome high drone shot showing Dongfeng sailing past an atoll. Pascal at the nav station. He explains that they are near New Caledonia, passing a small atoll. It's name is "Surprise". Drone shot traveling over the reef, then returning to Dongfeng. Daryl talks about passing the atoll, part of New Caledonia. They then pass another atoll, this time on its leeward side. Time-lapse shot of Kevin on the helm as evening falls. Favoriting this one for those cool reef shots from the drone.What would you do in the winter Olympic? Marie, on the helm, says she'll do (something - skating?) artistic? Does a pirouette. Black wants to do bobsled (I think?). Kevin: Downhill skiing. Daryl kids him about his low center of gravity. Kevin takes the stacking poles and adopts a downhill tuck. Jeremie: I didn't understand his answer. Carolijn: As a cloggy, I'd be speed skating. 5K for women would probably be a good distance for me. She does her speed skating pantomime. Pascal: Answers in French. Daryl: Probably curling. I'd like to get the broom out and give the ice a good brush. He mimes curling with a bow roller; Kevin sweeps ahead of the stone.Pascal looks at the runner. He explains a strategic issue to Jeremie. The doldrums are very big because of a big storm. This wind is like forecast. Some gusts coming. His glasses are broken. Someone tells Carolijn she's high; she responds that she was just coming up in the pressure. Pascal talks in French. Shot of the stern. Lighter conditions. Sunset shadows on the sail. Flopping. Kevin on the helm with the sunset behind him. Carolijn cranks a winch. "It's gone really light on us again." Compass. Black peaks under the sail at MAPFRE, about 2 miles away. Pascal jokes about his crooked glasses. Kevin and Carolijn imitate him by pushing their sunglassses askew. Pretty sunset drone shots, including MAPFRE in the distance ahead of them and to leeward.Carolijn explains to Pascal about "contraband": Dutch licorice. She jokes about his glasses being sexy. Carolijn: "You cannot go around the world without some Dutch licorice." Martin asks: "Can I try?" Carolijn offers him some. Someone: "Big header." Carolijn ditches the treats to grind. Martin offers some contraband to Kevin, on the helm.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.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."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."We see the cabin. Kevin is looking down in the hull on the port side of the galley; Fabien and Pascal watch him. Kevin says something in French. Shots of 6 inches of water sloshing around on the port side of the cabin, just in front of the hatch. Fabien explains something to Martin in French; I'm picking up "boat" and "keel". Kevin: "We have a problem with the keel. I don't know exactly why. At this time we want to do a fitting, to change the sail. And Pascal [something] to tell that we had plenty of water and oil in the boat... I hope it is not a problem with the keel ram attached to the boat." Shot of them pumping water out; shot of the port keel ram with water flooding in around its forward end. Jack explains that the port keel ram, which pushes the keel from side to side, where it attaches to the boat the hull fitting has cracked. So a lot of water came into the boat, and they've lost the oil from the ram system. Have turned off the port ram and put oil back into the starboard ram. On deck, Black explains. Below, Kevin operates a hand-held drill pump (adding oil to starboard ram?). He explains that the system is designed to work with only one ram. Below, Charles and Kevin talk in French, and use the starboard ram to operate the keel. Charles, at nav station, explains that they've fixed it, but have lost 10-15 miles and are now close to Vestas and Brunel. He has looked at the routing, and it is helping the fleet catch up. He's hoping they don't lose second place. "We deserve second place."Below, Kevin talks about being tired. "With my watch partner Carolijn Brouwer we have been 12 hours on deck - 14, 2 more. Lots of gybes along the ice limit. Now we are getting more pressure, sea state." Now 2 hours of rest before being back on deck, then one very important gybe before heading north for Australia. Carolijn: "I think I have to admit I'm pretty tired now. All the action on deck seems to happen when Kevin and I are off watch. But it's part of the job and you ahve to get it done. It's part of the race." In the Southern Ocean it's harder because of getting dressed and undressed. "When you do that every 2 hours it gets a bit frustrating. In other legs it's much less a problem... There's a lot more layers coming on than otherwise.... Have to push really hard. The guys on MAPFRE have done really well." Fabien talks in French. Black talks about normal life on board. Having to be ready. Eating a lot of food with no rice (?). Pascal talks in French.Pascal, at the nav station, puts on a headset. He announces something we hear booming through a PA system. "20 minutes before the gybe. 20 minutes." Jack, waking up in his bunk. Carolijn and Black getting dressed. Marie getting dressed. Pascal over the PA: "Three minutes." Crew goes on deck, perfoms the gybe. Below, we see Marie climbing back into her bunk. Pascal, over the PA: "Okay; in about 20 minutes [?] another gybe." Time lapse shot of repeated gybes with short intervals between them.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."Hgh speed wake shot. Stern cam of surfing in very high winds. Pascal at the nav station. Fabien, below, talks about how they're approaching the ice limit. Will need to do some gybes to stay in the pressure. Bow cam of Dongfeng surfing. Mast cam of cockpit during gybe. Stern cam of the end of the gybe. Looked good. Marie, below, talks about how on deck it's a washing machine. Have to grab the pedestal to stay onboard. Life jacket, clipped in. "I hope the wind will decrease a bit." "We are still ahead... But the three last days are very difficult for me." Sunset washing machine shot of stern. Closeups of pit from inside cabin. Winches, spray. Water cascading into the cockpit.Closeups: binnacle compass, hands on the wheel, easing the mainsheet. Marie, trimming the main, talks about the weather being warm, and no birds. It's sad they are too far north, not in the Southern Ocean. "Maybe tomorrow; we will see." Stu, on the helm. "Definitely not the Southern Ocean. We don't wear sunglasses in the Southern Ocean." (He laughs.) "This is far too nice." Black talks about the blue sky and being quiet warm. Wake shot. Below, at the nav station, Pascal talks about strategy with the approaching low, gybing during the night to get the good position, the good pressure. Difficulty of routing with the exclusion zone/ice gate. No way to get away and be safe. Tomorrow night, maybe gusting to 45 knots. Increasing wave state. He shows the routing software with the low moving through.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.Pascal, at the nav station, talks about the last 100 miles to Cape Town. Standing in the cabin hatch, Stu talks about one time coming into Cape Town having a breakdown at the end that almost cost them a position. He sprays fresh water from a drinking bottle onto his face. Stu: "That is beautiful." Slomo shots of the cockpit: Carolijn trimming a line, Pascal (?) looking thoughtful, taking a line off the pit winch. Loud wind audio; mast cam view of two crew working on the bow in the spray. Looks like changing down to the J2, maybe? Bow cam shot, looking aft, of the new sail unfurling. Crew pulling the old sail, bagged, off the bow. Stern cam view, looking forward, with reefed (double-reefed?) main and crew at the mast. Grinding. Charles on the helm. Spray.With Charles at the helm, Dongfeng gybes from port gybe to starboard as dawn is breaking. Slomo of the crew working in the cockpit. We then see them gybing back to port? Sunrise. Then they're on starboard again. Jack, sitting in the cockpit, talks about the tactical situation and the remainder of the leg. "We'll find out in two hours at the next sched report. Everyone's a bit anxious for that." Pascal, at the nav station, looks at the latest sched. He rubs his face. On deck, Dongfeng is sailing on starboard gybe around midday. Marie, sitting on the cabin: "I think it is not really good. We did a mistake, maybe, gybing too late. It's not a good moment to talk to Pascal. We have to let him... alone." Pascal stands in the cockpit, reading from a piece of paper. Marie and Horace stand close to him; Daryl steers. Pascal: "MAPFRE is 89 miles at 244." Marie: "Eighteen, uh, eighteen, uh..." Daryl: "Eighty-NINE." Marie: "Eighty-nine!" Pascal: "We are fucked. [beeped in FB video] Daryl: "We are what?" Pascal: "We are fucked. We are completely fucked." Stu: "Well, well, well. Three holes in the ground. I've seen some very strange stuff happen out here on the ocean. It's never over till it's over... Nothing we can do about it now, except keep sailing our boat. Who knows what might happen." [NOTE: This video does not appear in the Raw Content feed. I'm taking this from the version posted on the VolvoOceanRace YouTube channel, and taking the time of it from the time of the two stills posted to the Raw Content feed showing the same events.]Pascal talks in the cockpit. They're off Brazil, can't see the girls on the beach but they're there. Talks about going around the St. Helena high. Below, at the nav station, Pascal talks on the intercom about the latest sched. Time-lapse view from the media station looking forward of Pascal at the nav station. Shots of Dongfeng reaching fast on port. Jack working on a piece of hardward (roller fitting from the head of a sail, maybe?). Jérémie, on the pedestal, slaps the top of the winch drum while spray covers him, then grabs a winch handle to bang on it. Carolijn in the washing machine. Charles grinding on a pedestal.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."Jérémie, below: "We are full speed in 35 knots of wind. It is quite intense." Pascal, below: "It's good for everybody in the team when we lead when we start the race, of course... It was quite exciting... With this boat we have to use a big sail and push, to push, to push... [grins] I think sometimes it is good to stay inside."Carolijn: "We're a bit like pirates, a like spies. We keep a check on each other." Carolijn looks through binoculars at AkzoNobel in the distance, then Pascal does the same.Jérémie on the helm, silhouetted against the sunrise, with two competitors visible behind them (per the tracker, TTToP on the left and Brunel on the right). Another shot, this time of Pascal looking at the other two boats. Clew of the Masthead 0. Later in the morning, Stu talks in the cockpit: "Battling it out for fourth through seventh here at the moment." Stu asks Pascal, below, if he has information from the 0700 position report. Pascal responds that he does, and starts reading it out. Stu winces. Stu: "A lot of work to do here." Carolijn cranking a winch; Horace stacking below.Beautiful shot of sunset behind the clouds as they pass Gibraltar. Pascal says he doesn't know how to say it in English, but in French you'd say the clouds are lenticular (which is the same in English). Pascal: "In one hour we are going to catch more wind, perhaps quite a strong wind." He talks about how on the first night they "catch something on the boat", and as a result they have been slow compared to the other boats. "Also we sail very bad... But we are going to fight very hard until the arrival, and finger crossed." More sunset shots; Pascal looking to leeward as the light fades.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.