Sophie on the rail: We are so close. We're coming up to the TSS, and we're gonna bear away. And we're 0.2 of a mile away from Brunel... we just gotta pass them. Joan looks at tablet, calls them being clear of the exclusion zone. Trying to punch through to leeward of Brunel. Drone shot of them gybing in front of AkzoNobel. Tamara, on the bow, talks in Spanish. Neti looks through binoculars. AkzoNobel crosses behind them. Neti talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: We're pushing hard, we take the first chance to overtake them, and we take it. Now we have to wait and see what happens with Dongfeng on the other side. Hopefully we keep ahead of Brunel, and the guys on the other side. We'll see.Xabi, in the cockpit, trims the main and talks in Spanish about tactical situation. Repeats in English: 70 miles to go, very complicated really. Yesterday we were going east down the Danish coast with Dongfeng, but the last weather forecast changed a little, and we decided that the westerly option was better. Unfotunately they are in front of us, and Akzo. Still a good downwind of 30 miles today, but we will keep fighting and see what happens. Brunel and AkzoNobel ahead of them. Joan at the nav station. Blair on the helm. Willy, Sophie, Blair and Neti on the bow. Xabi: Main on. Hold. Blair's salty hands. Two boats closer in front of them.Xabi talks below in Spanish. From the noise and movement it sounds like they're getting into the stronger wind. Repeats in English: 25 - 30 knots from west to northwest. Last night passed a light wind transition close to Norway. Now they have Dongfeng 2 miles to leeward and astern. So very happy, and hopefully we can keep this position. Still a lot to go, obviously. Rob talks to Pablo, on the helm, about tactics with Dongfeng (who is to leeward and ahead). If Dongfeng tacks, then MAPFRE can sail low and fast to get into a controlling position (?)(Something like that.) Pablo: They are tacking. Rob: Okay. Speeding it up guys. Dongfeng approaching. Patch on the J1. Rob: We don't really want to sag down to them. But we do want to pull some bearing. So higher and faster please. (Chuckles.) Slomo of Neti on the helm. Stern cam, spreader cam of stacking aft. Washing machine. Spray on the foredeck as the wind builds.Blair preps a sail patch below. "Too many sail changes, and the [something] which attaches the sheet to the sail, went through the J1's... So a quick repair before the next sail change. Endless... He and Neti apply the patch on the sail near the bow. Willy, on the foredeck, talks in Spanish. Repeats in English: If there's another team besides us in this race that deserves to win it's them. We've been stuck behind them for the last 2 days. We had our chances to pass them. We did pass them, but they always come back strong. They're just under half a mile. We're just catching them up now in the next half hour. Compression and transition. Plenty of chances. Blair below tells Tamara, "Two hours". Then says "Nahh..." Maybe he was joking? Rounding the virtual mark, with Dongfeng heading south and dthen them following them. Chasing Dongfeng south with Vestas (I think) approaching them.Neti talks in Spanish in the morning light about wind, the fleet, Dongfeng. Repeats in English: Busy night. Pretty tied with Dongfeng. Not too far from the top mark. Last evening had upwind and reaching condiions in medium breeze. Now compression, Dongfeng and us have escaped from the other guys before, now we have to keep in front of them. Loud footage of foredeck work, darkness. Then drifting conditions in the pretty gorgeous sunrise with Dongfeng a quarter mile away. Slomo sailing with Dongfeng behind them. Willy sleeping on the stack forward. Blair, through the hatch, puts his hands up: What?Rob, in the midnight sun: In and out of Aarhus today. It was hard. It's been nonstop all day. In fact this whole leg's been nonstop. Got out of phase, a bit shifty. Was pretty good to see all the people on shore. Just been fighting, fighting, fighting. Waiting for a chance to get by. Be patient. Wait for them to make a mistake. Keep nibbling away. Pablo: Talks in Spanish about being tired, Dongfeng. Repeats in English: We're tired, like eveyrone I guess. The important thing is to keep the boat fast. Couple of hours of sleep. We are with Dongfeng; they are very close. Have been fighting all day. Meter by meter. Hopefully we can take them over tonight. More discussion in Spanish. Pablo: We have been doing a lot of maneuvers. And in my case I have been on the wheel. Good fun; with Dongfeng we have been fighting. Slomo of RIB alongside. Willy. Joan with his tablet, looking at Dongfeng. Spectator boats following them. Tack. (Oh, this is their Aarhus footage.) Crowd cheering. Xabi in the pit. Vestas crossing their bow. Tamara talks in Spanish while trimming. Slomo of Dongfeng ahead of them. Blair on the foredeck looking SO punchy. Xabi looks through binoculars. Lowering the J1. Slomo of Xabi in the sunset.Xabi, heading south in the pre-dawn, talks in Spanish about Dongfeng, Vestas, and Brunel. He repeats in English: Just going through the first night here, even if it doesn't look like it, 3:30 local time. After a not very good start of the day we've recovered quite well. Just passed the waypoint for Norway 2 hours ago. Now going downwind to Arrhuus. We were second there a half mile behind Dongfeng, and Brunel is a couple of boats behind, 8 miles upwind. It's going well. Hopefully we can get in front of Dongfeng soon. We see them rounding the buoy and deploying the A3, then see it again from the stern cam. Dongfeng on the bow ahead of them. Small powerboat alongside. Sophie bagging the J1. Dongfeng ahead and to starboard. Night vision shots of the crew on the bow, in the cockpit. Xabi talks with Sophie; trims the main.Neti, on the rail, talks in Spanish with the sunset behind him. He repeats in English: Quite a tricky afternoon. Lots of tacks, cloud, right-hand shift. Now we have Dongfeng ahead of us, and the others on our transom. So we are in the fight, and pushing. Good stuff for us. We made a mistake on the leeward layline. We took the first opportunity we have... now we have to make the less mistakes possible. Very tricky leg. We knew also with the watches that after the top mark in Norway it's going to be full on. Hopefully we can have some sleep. He interrupts to drop the J1. Other boats to weather: Brunel, AkzoNobel, and Dongfeng. Stacking. Xabi grinding. Slomo stacking. Rob: Lefthand phase still to come, and then it will build right. Is that right, Joan? Neti and Willy on the bow laughing about something. Packing a sail on the foredeck. Slomo grinding. Stacking uphill. Tack. Dongfeng ahead and to leeward.Xabi signs a woman's program/magazine. Woman: Good luck. Xabi: Thank you. Woman: Kick some ass. Xabi: We will try. Xabi leaves (hotel?) loads gear into a car. Driving in the car: Xabi: Going to the base now... Looked at the weather. Slept as good as we could. Had a breakfast. Joan is waiting. Have some lunch. Say goodbye to some freinds, and go out... Tamara signs a banner in teh base. She talks in Spanish. Sophie signs the other side of the banner. Neti talks in Spanish near the dock. He repeats in English: Has been quite crazy, all the support. All around the world, especially in my case with the Ñeti fans, since the start of the race, and even more now than ever. We'll push as good as we can. In Spain are a lot of good sailors in the Olympics, but it's true that the Volvo Ocean Race is one of the few things left in Spain. Glad to be part of this, and have the chance to give this trophy to Spain. Xabi and Bouwe talk with someone in a Dongfeng jacket. Dee comes up and gives Xabi a hug. Xabi points to Charles and asks her something. She replies: "Nah. I said, 'You're going down, Charles.'" Xabi hugs Witty. Xabi takes a photo with a woman; she turns him around and points to the "XABI" on the back of his jacket. Team photo on the dock. Xabi steps aboard, waves during the dockout.Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English. Just rounded the north point of Scotland. Two hours quite intense, sail changes and wind shifts. Still have Brunel and Dongfeng at 4 or 5 miles. Happy, because there's more compression and we still have them Brunel is the one who has cut the distance; now within 1 mile of Dongfeng. We need to win this leg. If we win this leg we will be leading again, and will put some points between Brunel and us, with Dongfeng on equal points. Sailing the boat is very hard. 24 hours to Sweden, and probably won't sleep very much. Slomo of Sophie bundled up in the cockpit. Slomo of Blair in a neoprene cowl. Compass. Tamara trimming. Blair on the foredeck. Willy with a halhard.Xabi talks below in Spanish. I suspect this is duplicating the video he recorded in English that was uploaded 20 minutes earlier.Tamara, next to the stack aft, talks in Spanish. Mentions Dongfeng, light winds, changes, waiting for strong wind. Repeats in English: Now we are in the best position. It was a tough day for the rest of the fleet. Now we have to focus on our work, doing our best. We have a lot of miles, and all the teams want to win the race. And I think we have to work hard to try to keep leading this fleet to the end of the leg. Rob: Crossing the ridge to the west of Ireland was critical. Keeping east of the fleet seems to have worked out. Made a little extension. Now we're just VMGing down toward the Hebrides. Inside or outside; could split the fleet. Neti sleeping. Xabi at the nav station talking to Joan. Pablo on the helm. Blair grinding. Rob below, getting his foulies on. Sophie and Tamara stacking below. Gybe in the cockpit. Stacking in the cockpit. Rob and Joan at the nav station. Rob: Allright; VMG then. Crew in the cockpit. Xabi looking around.Xabi, on the bow, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: Tricky night, quite busy, sailing upwind in 12-16 knots with the J1. A few tacks, some big shifts with clouds. Ended up positioning themselves as the most north of the fleet. Pretty happy where they are. But still have to pass a small high pressure ridge. First one going out is going to stretch a lot. Hopefully the investment we've made in the northwest will work out. Have to see what happens. Neti, lying on the bow, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: Whole fleet is in a line. Waiting for the wind from the southwest. We are very nervous, as you can see. Xabi in the cockpit. Blair. Talking about Dongfeng. AkzoNobel three-quarters of a mile away. Joan in the cockpit. Crew lying down on the foredeck. Tamara resting. Joan sleeping. Crew sleeping in the bow.Willy talks in Spanish on the bow as they sail in light conditions. He repeats in English: 24 hours after the start, pretty much in the same spot they were at the start. Together with Dongfeng and Brunel. Three or four days to go. Forecast is to start going upwind. Probably the Volvo decided in the next 10 hours. Because after that the wind comes and it's harder to pass people. Drone shots: stacking aft, sailing with competitors in the background, rounding Irish headland, Blair aloft with Ireland behind him. Other boats all around them. Slomo of Xabi. Brunel and Dongfeng. AkzoNobel, TTToP, Vestas. Rob on the bow talks to Joan about strategy. Joan reads off his tablet about Dongfeng's status. Three other boats and Fastnet Rock. Dongfeng and Vestas behind them. Sophie calls to Rob: There's seaweed everywhere. Rob: Tricky race so far. Gave Dongfeng a 5-mile lead at Fastnet. Tricky transition. Akzo and Vestas coming from behind.... I don't know what we did wrong, but it was all very difficult. Now beating up west side of Ireland, around islands. Evening's been good so far, but it's going to be a long night. Last tacking exhange overtook Brunel; they're about 3/4 of a mile behind them, Dongfeng 3/4 of a mile ahead, and then Vestas ahead of them. Busy night with lots of tacks. Got some sleep on the first night. No one's resting today or tonight. Going to have to keep pushing hard. Keep the coffee coming and we'll see how we feel in two days time. Slomo of Xabi grinding. Stacking. Slomo spray on the bow. Tack. Irish coast. Xabi looking through binoculars: Yes, he has tacked. Drone shot of them sailing upwind with Dongfeng a quarter mile ahead. Beautiful drone shots with clouds and land, other boats.Xabi talks in Spanish about the start, competition. Repeats in English. Good start in Cardiff. Tricky conditions. But then the wind dropped to nothing and the guys behind got better wind in the middle of the channel. Could be worse. Now Dongfeng a little ahead of them, Brunel to weather. Now we need to work our way back into the lead. Brunel in glassy conditions. Blair talks strategy. Sophie up the mast to kick battens. Other boats: Vestas, Dongfeng, Scallywag. Drifting. Pablo on the helm. Sophie hosting a sail on the bow, stacking aft. Boat on the horizon ahead of them.Sophie explains there is no wind, and plenty of current. And they have the anchor built just in case. Postponement. No triangle, sausage; just go straight out. Pablo, on the helm, talks in Spanish. Blair, sitting on deck, talks about the low wind and big current. Helicopter noises. Race committee boat with 2:05 to star. Rob and Blair calling tactics in the cockpit at the start. In the prestart, they come toward Brunel on starboard, then tack while waving a protest flag. Committee boat green-flags it; Pablo throws the protest flag down in frustration. After the start they are ahead and to leeward of Brunel and Dongfeng. Rob calls for weight forward; trying to accelerate. Brunel, AkzoNobel and Vestas to weather. Drifting conditions. Willy on the bow. Brunel crossing behind them. Vestas sailing to leeward. Blair: "Here they go. Nice, nice, nice." Blair and Joan talk strategy and wind on the bow. Xabi trimming. Vestas on their weather quarter, then crossing behind them.Pablo talks in Spanish on the weather rail as MAPFRE sails upwind in 10 knots of wind on port. Sounds like he's talking about the competition, the tricky last part of the race. Repeats in English: Finish in Cardiff will be quite tricky for all the boats. A lot of work to windward; we have some chances. We want Dongfeng to be as far back as possible, but it's not something we can control. Have to be fast and do the best we can and wait and see. A little over 100 miles to go. 30 miles to Vestas, so quite a lot of distance. Stacking. Grinding in the runner. Dolphins alongside. Slomo dolphines. Pablo, Joan, and Rob at the nav station looking at a sched. They discuss with Neti in the cockpit. Brunel still leading? Just. Rob: I'm just happy that Dongfeng look less likely to win the leg. Sunset. Drone shots of MAPFRE sailing upwind under MH0 and J3. Such beautiful peaceful shots. Low-altitude drone.Rob: Talks about transitions in the leg. Compressions. First boat in slows down and the others catch up. It varies. Sophie sits silent behind him. Rob expects they'll see more compressions, tidal compressions, in the Bristol Channel. Blair: about 24 hours out of Cardiff now. We're in pretty big trouble. We're in fifth place at the moment. Vestas is 30 or 40 miles ahead of us, and the others further than that. Looks like there won't be a complete compression. We'll keep going, but not on that good a shift at the moment. Sailed a few too many miles. We'll keep going; never give up. But not great at the moment. Pablo says something in Spanish; Blair steers behind him. Tamara looks serious. Sophie on the bowsprit hooks up a new sail. Looks like they're peeling J0 -> MH0.Sophie, on the bow in light conditions, talks about the compression that's happening. Knew it was coming, but it's super good to see the other boats. She points out Vestas and Dongfeng in front of them. Xabi, on the bow, talks in Spanish. He talks about Dongfeng ahead of them, and points out Vestas on the port beam. He repeats in English. 600 miles to go to Cardiff. He talks more in Spanish, repeats in English. After this leg hasn't gone well for them, this light spot is important to try to make a change. Hopefully they will be close and have more options south of Ireland. Making numbers all the time and they don't look very good for us right now. Dongfeng ahead, and have a boat between us. Going to be a big fight all the way to The Hague. Neti trims and talks in Spanish. Slomo shots of crew in the cockpit. Rob throws a coiled line. Sophie on the bow. Blair looks through binoculars for another boat. Xabi trimming. Vestas on the horizon. Dongfeng on the horizon. Crew on the bow.Joan talks below in Spanish. Lots of mention of wind. Rob, below: Right now we're not in great shape. The leaders, first 3 boats, have extended quite a lot. That may change in the ridge. Dongfeng not that far away. Scallywag probably going to overtake us in the next sched. Dee not far away. Podium still a possibility, but we're going to have to get some luck with the upcoming ridge. Joan talks more in Spanish; discusses the limit of the Gulf Stream. Rob: Had a very cold night last night. Water was down to zero at one stage. Passed an iceberg; could see it on the radar. Water's probably 10 or 12 now. More Joan in Spanish. Washing machine shots of the cockpit from the hatch. Slomo washing machine. Neti grinding. Crew putting on foulies below. Stern cam shots of big spray. Sail change: Hoisting the FR0. Sophie wrestling the sail. Spreader cam shots of the sail change. Drone shots of them triple-heading wiht the FR0 and full main: Must be in lighter wind than some of the other boats. Looks like 20 knots of wind or less from the sea surface. Favoriting for those drone shots at the end.Pablo, on the stern, talks in Spanish, rapidly and at length. Sounds like he's talking about different boats, different parts of the race? Not sure. My high-school Spanish can't keep up.Pablo, on the stern, talks in Spanish about the current situation with the northern and southern boats. He repeats in English: Last few days quite intense. Some boats went south and some went north, and now we're converging. In the last few scheds we gained quite a few miles. Hope that continues. In one day and a half we'll converge completely, hopefully in front, but even behind as long as we're close and can keep fighting. Blair, trimming the main: Heading toward the ice gate. Dongfeng 30 miles ahead of them. Did well against them in the last sched. And that pack that rode the front a day longer than we did. We've done well against them for the past few scheds; now they've got the breeze. So... play on. Sophie on the pedestal in her cold-weather gear. Sailing fast. Slomo washing machine. Joan, at the nav statio, reads a sched in Spanish. Stern cam and spreader cam views of them sailing fast with a double-reefed (triple-reefed?) main. Spreader cam view of the foredeck.Xabi summarizes the first 2 days of the leg in Spanish. Discusses the complicated conditions, the relative positions of the northern and southern groups. Tamara, on the bow as they flop, talks in Spanish. Xabi repeats his summary in English. First time they've seen such a big split in the race. Very slow for them and Dongfeng and TTToP. The fleet in the south always kept in front of the front. They have a lot of work to do now to get to the north. They look quite strong. We need to wait and see. Tamara repeats her comments in English: In a transition. Hard to wait for the wind. Hope they'll be sailing fast soon. Xabi trims. Sophie and Blair grind. Stacking forward. Flopping. Xabi rubs his head. Instruments show them doing 3 knots. Drone shot of them floopping from above the masthead, then low and alongside in very flat water.Neti, on the aft pedestal, talks in Spanish. Blair: Sailed well through the night. Dongfeng pulled away from us in the reaching conditions. Just got the sched, Dongfeng is 30 miles away. Rest of the fleet didn't come with us. Massive split. It's a little bit of a worry that Brunel has got separation from us. Because we did well we got further to leeward, and got out of the breeze and gybed. Just one of those things; you've gotta sail the wind you've got. Joan at the nav station, talking to Xabi about when to gybe. Pablo sleeping sitting up. Gybe on deck with Neti and Willy grinding. Stacking. Joan and Rob talking. Rob on the helm. Slomo washing machine. Drone shots of surfing with clouds. Super low-altitude drone shot from just in front of the bow.Neti talks in Spanish. He and Willy talk in Spanish. Discussion of what day they'll finish: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Rob, on the helm, chimes in. "Are we talking UTC or local?" Tamara talks in Spanish, laughing.Xabi, at the helm motoring out, talks in Spanish. Sophie: Super nice to be back on board. Not fun sitting on the sidelines. Gonna be pretty windy, and that's exciting. And we all realize how well it is to do well on this leg. Rob: This is probably the most important leg of the race for a lot of teams. So we'll be giving it everything. First time to the UK since 2005, which was his first race. Looking forward to arriving; hope they arrive in daylight. Slomo parade with wacky slowed-down audio. Xabi says goodbye to young boy, who puts his hands over the lens. Spectator boat with MAPFRE on the side waves and blows horns. Sailing upwind with Dongfeng to leeward. Slomo of Tamara tailing. Dongfeng on their weather quarter with the A3 up. More slomo grinding. Brunel crossing astern on a downwind leg. Sailing past the bridge. Slomo behind AkzoNobel heading into fog as someone (Blair?) gets doused on the bow. Dongfeng on their hip as they reach in the fog.Xabi and Joan talk at nav station. Neti, on deck, reads out latest sched. "MAPFRE (us): third." Rob, on the helm as they sail in fog in light winds: Last sched sounds pretty good. Talks about the strategy getting through the front and timing their tack right. We were hoping just to get to fourth. Now we're up to third and Dongfeng isn't that far away. Got 200 miles to go. Gotta keep fighting. Blair, forward, clears a halyard. Crew working in the cockpit. Slomo grinding. Sail change. Pablo on the helm. Rob, gesturing to port: "Brunel's down here 17 miles." Pablo, below: The last sched was better than we hoped. He talks about the boats ahead. Will be very tricky at the arrival in Newport, light wind and current. Anything can happen. So go MAPFRE... The weather forecast opened a gate for us. It was a tough night, but we sailed very good, so we softened up some miles to the leaders, and then the compression was very good to us. Neti, on deck, talks in Spanish about thier change of fortune. "Vamos MAPFRE. Vamos MAPFRE." Crash cam footage from the night before of them broaching. Spreader cam view of the cockpit. Sail change on the foredeck: Hanking on the J1. Hoisting the J1 inside the J0.Xabi, in the cockpit talks in Spanish. Wind is about 12 knots. Talks about Turn the Tide and AkzoNobel, the approach to Newport. Repeats in Spanish: The last 24 hours we knew would be very tricky. Last night had winds up to 35 knots downwind. Now we've passed the front and we're going upwind with 7 or 8 knots. Going to be a compression. Managed to pass Turn the Tide, and made some distance as well with AkzoNobel. Are now 8 miles from Vestas. Still some hope. A lot can happen. Crew stacks to leeward in anticipation of a tack. Working the jury-rigged keel turing the tack. Joan, Xabi, and Neti clustered over the nav station, talking in Spanish. Washing machine from the cabin looking aft. Rob on the helm; Xabi on the pedestal. As it gets dark, wind is lighter, Rob looks to starboard through binoculars. Willy forward for a sail change. Looks like going from MH0 to J0 or vice versa.Xabi, below, talks in Spanish. 1,300 miles more or less to Newport. Talks about the other boats, TTToP, Vestas. The complicated situation. He repeats in English: Had some compression from behind, AkzoNobel gained from behind. About 3 and a half days left. The boats in front have an important lead. Going to be very hard to catch them. But have to keep hope, keep the options open. Right now we think Turn the Tide and Vestas are achievable. (Heh. I'm writing this up after I know the actual result.) Xabi hopes the high pressure is moving to the east so they can cut the corner a little bit. Crew in the cockpit, slomo washing machine with sunset behind it. Rob on the helm. Willy grinding. Neti trimming. Crash cam as Joan reads the latest sched. As he reads about them gaining on the competition the crew on deck shouts "¡Vamos!" and pounds the deck.Xabi, below, talks in Spanish about the fleet and their position, the approach to Newport. Something about having two fewer hands (because of Sophie being off the boat this leg without a replacement?). Talks about the electrical problem. Washing machine shot on deck. Slomo spray on the bow. Spreader cam view of the foredeck, the cockpit.Literally the exact same shot to open the video: Pablo below talking in Spanish about the last day's results. He repeats in English: Got some breeze after the doldrums, 20-22 knots. One of the steering cables broke, and the boat broached. But it's a good thing that both wheels are independent. So can steer, but you have to steer from the leeward side. But at least you can sail the boat in a straight line. Luckly Neti was on deck, he went down and took the spare one, and we fixed it quite quick, and in a half hour were able to sail the boat normally again. Night footage from the cabin as they sail in big wind, and someone (looks like Xabi) works on the wheel in a headlamp. Xabi below, in the aft crawl space, fixing the steering cable as Tamara talks to him in Spanish. Crash cam footage in black and white.Pablo, below, talks in Spanish about the latest sched, the fleet, the doldrums, the Sargasso Sea. He repeats in English: Last sched was so-so. The boats that are ahead are out of the doldrums, as we are. Talks about the Sargasso Sea, weed on the foils. Annoying. Need another technique for sailing in these conditions. Hopefully we can do it better, and it will mean a small advantage for us. (Maybe this is part of why TTToP lost out in this part of the leg, the same as SCA did last time around: They aren't as good at the trick of doing broaches/S-turns to clear weed from the foils.) Shots on deck of weed on the lifelines, sailing fast.Neti and Xabi working on the keel hydraulics. Joan talks to them in Spanish. Joan to the cockpit: "You don't have instruments, right?" He gives a thumbs up. Neti, below, talks in Spanish, apparently about the breakage and repair. They have a jury-rigged piece of string marking the keel position. He demonstrates releasing pressure, and then adding pressure. Closeup of the markings on the box under the string.Closeups of B&G instruments with nothing displayed. Neti, below, explains that they have "No batteries, no systems, nothing." Neti and Joan working in the bottom part of the cabin. Pablo, on the helm, talks about the issue in Spanish. Shot of the compass binnacle. Xabi stands talking on the satellite phone, explaining the situation. Computer screen showing electronic schematics. Neti working on an instrument panel while engine runs. Joan and Neti talking in Spanish. Joan stands on the stern on the sat phone, holding it high for better antennae operation. Closeups of various components. Xabi talks about fuses blowing, the electronics breaking, the PLC (?) broken means they can't control the keel. Working on a workaround. Pablo talks in Spanish in the cockpit. Instruments behind him apear to have readings, though. Pablo, Neti, and Xabi below work on the keel box. Xabi, to the cockpit: 'It's moving. So what do you need now?" They laugh at the response. Neti: "It's 33 now; what works for you?" He manually opens a valve. "There. That's 30." They laugh. Looks like they're manually bypassing the fuse to operate the keel hydraulic pump manually. Neti, on deck, explains that they took a switch from the bilge pump, and rigged up a system where they can move the keel. It's tricky, and in windy conditions would be very hard, because one person would need to be below at all times to move the keel. He then repeats the explanation in Spanish.Closeups of B&G instruments with nothing displayed. Neti, below, explains that they have "No batteries, no systems, nothing." Neti and Joan working in the bottom part of the cabin. Pablo, on the helm, talks about the issue in Spanish. Shot of the compass binnacle. Xabi stands talking on the satellite phone, explaining the situation. Computer screen showing electronic schematics. Neti working on an instrument panel while engine runs. Joan and Neti talking in Spanish. Joan stands on the stern on the sat phone, holding it high for better antennae operation. Closeups of various components. Xabi talks about fuses blowing, the electronics breaking, the PLC (?) broken means they can't control the keel. Working on a workaround. Pablo talks in Spanish in the cockpit. Instruments behind him apear to have readings, though. Pablo, Neti, and Xabi below work on the keel box. Xabi, to the cockpit: 'It's moving. So what do you need now?" They laugh at the response. Neti: "It's 33 now; what works for you?" He manually opens a valve. "There. That's 30." They laugh. Looks like they're manually bypassing the fuse to operate the keel hydraulic pump manually. Neti, on deck, explains that they took a switch from the bilge pump, and rigged up a system where they can move the keel. It's tricky, and in windy conditions would be very hard, because one person would need to be below at all times to move the keel. He then repeats the explanation in Spanish.Blair: Getting used to sailing on their own. Broke through a cloud line, and had to stick with our line. Got a bad sched; lost 20 miles on the leaders... Every cloud is very different. Haven't done the best job. The ones that screwed us the other night developed on top of us, and we couldn't do anything about it. Certainly not our best friends at the moment, the clouds. Willy talks in Spanish about the comptetition, the weather. Shots of them sailing on starboard. Drone shots of them triple-heading with the MH0 with clouds and rain behind them.Neti talks in Spanish as they sail in 15 knots of wind on starboard tack. He then repeats in English: After a shitty night, they got stuck in bad wind. Have been losing the whole day. Hopefully we can catch up again. It's been a hard day for us. But it's what it is. Lost so many miles in 15 hours. We knew that Turn the Tide on Plastic was well positioned. We didn't expect to lose as much with Dongfeng and Vestas... Have to keep pushing and not give up. Cannot say we are happy with what happened last night. But we push, and we're here for racing. Shot looking forwar as they sail faster than they have been. Blair grimaces into the camera. Joan comes up and gives the latest sched. Willy trimming. Smiles. Joan and Blair at the nav station.Tamara talks in Spanish about the current situation with the other boats. Rob, on the helm, talks about their current surroundings. Massive clouds, hopefully through the worst of it now. Should start getting lifted tonight and will be able to ease the sails, faster angles. They knew that getting offshore was the key, and Turn the Tide did that and got to the outside. They're leading, and will probably do more through the night, then hopefully things will change and they can start getting back into them. Crew grinding. (Maybe it's just me but there's a definite sameness to these last few videos.) Night vision shots of the cockpit, with rain. Night vision shots of maneuvers, light conditions with flopping. Xabi talks in Spanish, then repeats in English. Big squalls, big rain, big wind. When a sched came through they lost 9 miles on Dongfeng. Now another sched will come in 2 hours. For sure they had some big things to deal with too and hopefully we can catch them up.Joan talks on deck: yesterday had big showers, had to take a few of them on starboard, and ended up left of the rhumb line. Got passed by Vestas and Turn the Tide. In a group of four boats with Dongfeng ahead. Xabi recaps the same events in Spanish. They're especially concerned about Dongfeng because of how close they are in the standings. Shot looking forward as they sail to weather on port under the J1. Rob on the helm. Pablo trimming. Shifting the stack to leeward in preparation for tacking. Then we see the tack. Tamara grinding. spreader cam view of the deck with the J1 flying. Night-vision shots with rain. Night-vision shot of the bow with spray coming over.Pablo, in the cockpit, talks in Spanish about the leg so far. Dongfeng a half mile ahead; rest of the fleet behind. He talks in Spanish about what's coming up in the leg. Then he does it all again in English. In theory it's a leg without too many maneuvers. Will be a lot of cloud activity and stalls, lots of peels. Have to keep their focus if they're going to win this leg. Other boats will be close by. Speed of the boat is key in this kind of leg. You want to gain meter by meter. You get a small advantage, and then you can use that to get in the right position with the clouds. Shot of sunset with fleet close behind them. Rob and Tamara stacking on the foredeck. Rob on the helm with other boats behind them. Dongfeng crossing on starboard a half mile ahead of them. Shifting the stack to leeward in preparation for tacking. We see the tack from the cabin, looking aft. Xabi calling jib trim. Blair and Neti on the bow. Lowering the J1.Blair, in the prestart, talks about the upcoming leg. Rob calling tactics at the start. Brunel sailing down on them. Sailing away from the line with the best start. Neti: "Dongfeng is tacking." Grinding. Leading the fleet around the weather mark. Dongfeng right on their stern. Lots of cool sailhandling footage. They're doing a good job without Sophie. Neti: Start was pretty good for us... Now comes the tricky part, which is the leg. (He repeats in Spanish.) Rob recaps the start. Learned their mistakes from the in-port race. "A long port tack now and try to stay in front."Conversation on shore between two people in MAPFRE shirts who I don't recognize. Shore team? Dockout parade. The same two are there. One has a special flag and a GoPro mounted on his chest. Guessing he's the jumper. Maybe they're both jumpers? Wisom dancing. Onto the dock. We see the dockout from on board. Xabi and the younger jumper exchange flags. Younger jumper puts on a swim cap and goggles, then jumps overboard. Xabi, back on the dock, talks in Spanish.Below, Neti counts out days and food. Discusses with Rob and Tamara how much food they have and how many days remain. Discussion in Spanglish. Neti gets out the hydrogenerator and talks about it in Spanish. I guess they need to conserve deisel fuel to drive the watermaker? As he talks in Spanish I catch commentary about Itajai and "much hambre". Ah. Rob opens the emergency watermaker. "About 40 minutes each. I guess it depends on how thirsty you are." He demonstrates pumping the handle of the watermaker.Pablo, by the mast as MAPFRE sails in 6 knots of wind, talks in Spanish. Neti talks in Spanish. Tamara talks in Spanish. Blair, on the foredeck: We've still got 800 miles to go. Brunel is just finishing now. They sailed a very good leg. Hopefully Brunel can hang on (against Dongfeng). Selfish for us, but we want to keep a couple more points away from Dongfeng. Below, Pablo through food bags, and Xabi at the nav station announces that Brunel won. Pablo: "yes, yes." Rob announces it to the cockpit: "Brunel won." Xabi talks in Spanish about the result.Rob, on the helm in light air: Got the mainsail back up 24 hours ago. Did a couple of days with no main. Not sheeting too hard; I'd say we're at 95%. Joan talks in the cockpit in Spanish. Rob: Provisioned this leg for 19 days, and are a bit over 20. So basically we're running out. We're all right on freeze dried. But snacks are running out. Going to be a few hungry people when we get to Brazil. Bow. Drone shots as they sail with MH0 and full main.Xabi, on deck, talks in Spanish. They appear to be motor-sailing in protected waters close to shore. He talks about their suspension of racing. He then explains in English. Part of the mast track came unglued. Fought hard with ratchets and straps on the mast, not with the main working properly. Today, just as they pass Cape Horn they had a bad tear of the mainsail. So they have no choice but to try to fix this. Expects to spend 12 hours; will be challenging. They had a plan with their shore team just in case. He talks again in Spanish. Shot of the main torn in two. Sign underfoot says "Cabo de Hornos".Below, Joan talks about approaching Cape Horn, and the conditions over the next few days. Trying to find a balance between safety and pushing the boat hard. Vestas and Dongfeng ahead of them; expect to be close to them as they round. Ñeti, below, talks in Spanish. He shows a piece of hardware (mast track car?). Ñeti and Xabi work to repair a fitting. Washing machine shots in the morning sun on deck. Gybe from the stern. High-wind drone shots as MAPFRE surfs. Slomo drone shots of crew working on the bow to hoist the FR0. Drone shots in very windy conditions: streaking on the water as they surf with just J2/J3.Xabi, below, says they have to be happy where they are. Everyone knows about the mast track problem. Yesterday they did some reinforcements, which aren't brilliant, but are enough for them to push hard to Cape Horn. They're 50 miles back from the lead, which is nothing. [Big bang. It sounds like they hit a pretty solid chunk of water.] He repeats his explanation in Spanish. Stern cam, and then spreader cam, views of the cockpit as they sail fast with big waves washing over them. Washing machine. Mast cam looking forward as they surf.Blair, below, talks about having passed Point Nemo this afternoon. Pretty cool, but mixed emotions because of the issue with the mast track. Have been struggling to keep up with the fleet. Below, Tamara talks in Spanish. In the cockpit, a crewmember holds a sign with distances to Itajai, Auckland, and the International Space Station. Mast cam view forward as they surf and stuff the bow. Drone shot as they sail downwind in lighter conditions (for the Southern Ocean) as a crewmember aloft just below the first spreaders works on the mast track. Favoriting for that epic shot.Xabi, below, talks about how they were preparing for a gybe, putting in a second reef so it would be safer, and the mast track came unglued, like it did for AkzoNobel in Leg 3. Pretty disappointed, but reacted well. Got the main on the lock on the second reef and ratcheted the track. Now are sailing with the FR0 and double-reefed main. Plan is to keep sailing hard, because these are good conditions to stay with the fleet. After the Horn can maybe do something with glue to repair. Trying very hard to stay in the race. He then repeats the explanation in Spanish.Rob, in red light below, says as expected wind has built to 35-40 knots. Borderline survival conditions. Willy, below, talks in Spanish. Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. Something involving his gloves. Sophie, below, says when you're holding the mainsheet it's always wet. "For me that's the coldest time for my hands. It's basically painful." The other thing about doing the main, she says, is that you're not really moving. "So after an hour and a half of that you get pretty cold." Willy talks in Spanish. Rob: In previous Southern Ocean legs got massive torrents of water through the boat, wiping out the helmsman. So we've built a wave breaker, which is on leeward side now so it's useless. Slomo shots on deck. Shot of the "wave breaker" (a mesh on the railing in front of the wheel) on the starboard (leeward) wheel.Slomo washing machine in the cockpit, with camera being washed into th wheel. Below, Stacey: "It's hard work, actually." Surfing and plowing into the waves brings water over the deck. It's cold, and 45 knots. More slomo washing machine shots. Someone on the stern (I think Phil?), trimming the main, has a whole discussion about how bad the conditions are, how it's cold and no one's talking. "Am I scared? No. A little bit bored and friggin' cold." This isn't his idea of an ocean race to Brazil. "How many days is it to Cape Horn? Four." He calls out to TJ on the pedestal: Which would he prefer: the doldrums or this? TJ: "Neither!" Nick: "We went from 8 miles behind Dongfeng, took our mainsail down, and somehow ended up 3 miles behind them." Jeremie laughs; "maybe take the main down!" Nick: "That's what we said; make it way easier." Slomo washing machine. Favoriting for Jeremie's getting out in the elements and getting such good personal stuff; really conveys what it feels like to be in the cockpit on these boats in these conditions.Rob, in red light below, says as expected wind has built to 35-40 knots. Borderline survival conditions. Willy, below, talks in Spanish. Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. Something involving his gloves. Sophie, below, says when you're holding the mainsheet it's always wet. "For me that's the coldest time for my hands. It's basically painful." The other thing about doing the main, she says, is that you're not really moving. "So after an hour and a half of that you get pretty cold." Willy talks in Spanish. Rob: In previous Southern Ocean legs got massive torrents of water through the boat, wiping out the helmsman. So we've built a wave breaker, which is on leeward side now so it's useless. Slomo shots on deck. Shot of the "wave breaker" (a mesh on the railing in front of the wheel) on the starboard (leeward) wheel.Slomo washing machine in the cockpit, with camera being washed into th wheel. Below, Stacey: "It's hard work, actually." Surfing and plowing into the waves brings water over the deck. It's cold, and 45 knots. More slomo washing machine shots. Someone on the stern (I think Phil?), trimming the main, has a whole discussion about how bad the conditions are, how it's cold and no one's talking. "Am I scared? No. A little bit bored and friggin' cold." This isn't his idea of an ocean race to Brazil. "How many days is it to Cape Horn? Four." He calls out to TJ on the pedestal: Which would he prefer: the doldrums or this? TJ: "Neither!" Nick: "We went from 8 miles behind Dongfeng, took our mainsail down, and somehow ended up 3 miles behind them." Jeremie laughs; "maybe take the main down!" Nick: "That's what we said; make it way easier." Slomo washing machine. Favoriting for Jeremie's getting out in the elements and getting such good personal stuff; really conveys what it feels like to be in the cockpit on these boats in these conditions.Joan talks about being at 52°S, near the ice gate. Can see a few boats; Dongfeng by them, and on their windward side Vestas. Will get the first front passing, and lows, and winds about 35-40 knots. Anticipate a few maneuvers to keep near the ice gate. When the wind increases being close to the ice limit will not be as important, with winds even north to south. Tamara, below, talks in Spanish. Pablo, below, talks in Spanish. Rob steering on deck, washing machine shots. Night vision shots of people working on the foredeck and in the cockpit as they make a sail change.Ñeti talks below in Spanish; I hear him mention Dongfeng. On deck he trims, talks with Willy in the cockpit in Spanish. Slomo of three sailors, including Sophie, on the bow. Sail repairs below in red headlamps.Ugo hands Xabi something at the nav station: An envelope containing a photo? Then Joan also looks at an envelope containing a photo: "Mi hija, y mi padre." Xabi shows his photo, talks about it in Spanish. Joan talks in Spanish as well.Ugo hands Xabi something at the nav station: An envelope containing a photo? Then Joan also looks at an envelope containing a photo: "Mi hija, y mi padre." Xabi shows his photo, talks about it in Spanish. Joan talks in Spanish as well.Xabi does a dockout interview from the rail in Spanish. All I caught was "rapido" and "seguro".Xabi does a dockout interview from the rail in Spanish. All I caught was "rapido" and "seguro".Tamara, in the galley, talks in Spanish about food preparation. Closeup of the burner. Food prep. Sophie: "Twenty days of freeze-dried food is not very nice." Blair: it keeps up the energy. Sophie: Getting pretty hard to eat. Willy: Talks in Spanish about the food. Tamara talks in Spanish about the food. Beef hot pot. Chicken marsala, topped off with some chicken and noodles. They all talk about wanting fresh food when they arrive. Fruit and veggies.At the nav station, Joan talks in Spanish about the doldrums, wind, the comeptition. Rob, on the wheel: Dongfeng 3 miles behind us. Leaders 100 miles away off their bow. Brunel and TTToP off their port bow. But weather is changing dramatically. Light air between them and New Zealand. Uncertain. We're optimistic. Hoping the fleet's going to compress. Anything could happen. Fleet is spread quite widely, with 150 miles separation, so it could go either way. About 1200 miles to Auckland; 5 or 6 days. Quiet shots of them concentrating in the cockpit, trimming. Drone shot of MAPFRE with an atoll a few miles to starboard of their track. Drone shots.Everyone answers the question: What is MAPFRE's secret weapon? Tamara: Answers in Spanish. Willy: Answer's in Spanish. Louis: Xabi. Xabi is the secret weapon. Blair: Willy. Willy: (With Dongfeng behind him as he trims): Answers in Spanish. Pablo: Answers in Spanish. Rob: Our optimism. We're all very hopeful. Tamara: Talks in Spanish. Rob: Coffee, and looking forward to your next sleep. Willy: In Spanish. Xabi: In Spanish. Pablo: In Spanish. Xabi: In Spanish. Sophie: Talks about how the fact that you're racing keeps you going despite the fatigue. Joan: Talks in Spanish. Blair: Staying positive; trying to keep the boat going as fast as you can.Pablo talks in Spanish on deck. Drifting in glassy conditions with huge clouds in the distance. The keel. Dongfeng sailing about two boatlenghts away to weather. Dongfeng rolls them. Sophie on the bow. "I think they were quite happy to pass us. We are officially last." She waves to them. Blair and Xabi trim while watching them. Then Dongfeng is behind them again, yay! Drone shots of the two boats sailing a few boatlengths apart.Xabi, trimming in light air, talks about the close competition with Dongfeng. Sunset. Xabi talks in Spanish. Pretty drone shots of sunrise with Dongfeng on the horizon. Tacking the MH0 with Dongfeng 2 miles ahead of them. Dongfeng behind them. Crossing Dongfeng a half mile ahead of them. Sunset shots with Dongfeng.Below, Willy talks in Spanish about the fleet, compression, competition. Blair, on deck in the sunset, talks about how the last sched wasn't very good for them. Not stoked to be in this position. Just trying to make our way toward the bottom of the Solomons as quickly as they can. Nice seeing another boat (Dongfeng); helps them push harder. Dongfeng a mile away. Drone shot with Dongfeng in the distance. Drone shot of Sophie working on the bowsprit.Pablo, in the cockpit, talks in Spanish about the competition. Rob gives a recap: heading southeast through the monsoon. Westerly breeze, big clouds, 10-30 knots of wind with big direction changes. A lot of work. They're a day behind the fleet. Giving it their best shot. Dongfeng on the bow. Fingers crossed we'll see AkzoNobel again before Auckland. Xabi looking through binoculars. Louis on the clew. Easing sails in a squall. Slomo spray on the bow. Blair and Willy grinding in slomo. Grinding in a squall. Rain clouds. Slomo rain. Tamara makes the shaka sign.The crew sings Happy Birthday to Tamara in the cockpit. They have a present for her: Some food treat ("to share, to share" says Blair), a fish swim cap, and a card they all signed. She talks about it in Spanish.Tamara in night vision shot on the bow, talks in Spanish about little wind, changes. Blair and Tamara grinding. Joan rubbing his eyes at the nav station. Pablo on the helm. In daylight, Xabi talks about the latest position report, which wasn't great. Have some hope, but let's see how things develop. More doldrums in the next couple of days.Louis, in the cockpit, talks about how the last few days have been challenging. Transitions. Sail changes all night. Other boats have come past them with pressure. In the back of the fleet now. Lot of transitions to go. Trick is not to get too happy when you're in front, not get too sad when you're behind. Just keep on sailing. Sophie on the bow: Back in the doldrums, I guess. Half an hour of sleep in the last two off watches. Xabi talks in Spanish. Sailing with wind, then flopping as Joan points out wind. Xabi comes up with a tablet and reads a bad sched. "We lost 16." High drone shot of them flopping with no wind, then a drone shot of them sailing on starboard with a raincloud on the horizon beyond them.At the nav station, Xabi talks in Spanish about wind, the competition. Then he talks on deck, still in Spanish. At nav station, Joan talks in English about weather forecasting. Tricky to find a balance between staying with the fleet and believing their own weather routing. When weather is more uncertain, keep an eye on the fleet more. Other times have more confidence in your forecast. Xabi at the nav station. Stacy triming. Rob grinding. Dongfeng close astern. Drone shots showing both boats in the sunset.Xabi, below, talks in Spanish about strategy. Blair, below, talks about it being full-on going fast in the strong wind and big sea state. Talks about the competition. Dongfeng behind them, Brunel to leeward. Going well speed-wise against those guys. No wind in 12 hours. Night vision shots of the cockpit. Stern cam shots of rough conditions, washing machine. Spreader cam. Cockpit washing machine shots. Slomo of Támara getting doused while trimming. Slomo washing machine. Sailing fast in strong winds.Támara talks in the cockpit in Spanish about the competition while trimming. Rob is on the wheel behind her. A boat is visible on the horizon behind them. Rob, on the helm, talks about passing Taiwan and sailing north, away from New Zealand, to set up for a better wind angle once they get to the tradewinds. Slomo of Brunel to port of them, then of Brunel and Dongfeng. Slomo of Támara, Xabi. Grinding, slomo grinding by Blair. Closeup of winch. Pablo on helm with Brunel behind them and to leeward. Willy on the bow lowers a furled headsail.Xabi talks in Spanish about the competition and strategy. Repeats in English: very close to Dongfeng and fighting since the start. Passed each other a couple of times. Small details. Less than a mile between them, but a long way to go to New Zealand. Xabi on the helm, sailing fast on starboard gybe. Louis grinding, then someone (Pablo?) on the helm. Támara trimming, Louis grinding, Pablo sitting down at the pedestal.Blair, on deck, talks about the start. Not the best start for them. Fourth now. Start not a huge priority in these conditions. Rough stuff in the next couple of hours. "Feels like back home now; back on the boat. So it's all good." Támara talks on deck in Spanish as they sail to weather under the J1. Looks like Scallywag is a quarter mile haed of them; I'm guessing that's Brunel beyond them. Then we go back in time and see the prestart, and the immediate start aftermath. Grinding, tacking out of Victoria Harbor. Close cross of Brunel behind them. Big duck of them to go astern of Dongfeng. Xabi trimming. Pablo on the helm. Rob calls for the hoist of the J1; we see it going up, then the furled MH0 coming down. Scallywag and Brunel sailing ahead of them and below, to starboard.Below, Joan explains that they have just passed the Phillippines, and have about 370 miles to go to the finish. Tricky, because there's a lot of traffic (oh yeah) and they don't always have lights. Sophie on deck: "The most enjoyable part of this leg for me was the start. Was sad to leave home, but it was really cool to go down the bay, and then turn left and go down the coast where I grew up surfing." Willy talks in Spanish. Louis: "There hasn't been a best part of the leg, man. THIS is the best part of the leg, because we're a day from the dock." Támara talks, laughing, in Spanish. Blair talks about the tradewind sailing, that being the highlight. Louis: "The worst part of the leg was when we came out of the doldrums and pretty much were dropped by the entire fleet." Willy talks in Spanish. Sophie: "Some of those days in the doldrums. They were pretty tough." Blair talks about the doldrums. Támara talks in Spanish. Sunset. Gybing with land behind them. Rob, on the helm, smiles. Islands. Drone shots of them sailing past islands.On deck, Pablo talks in Spanish about the remainder of the leg, the other boats. Below, Blair and Joan eat. Shot of the bow as they triple-head on port gybe. Blair trims. Drone shot from astern, from alongside, circling the boat with the sunrise behind them, from above.On deck, Xabi talks in Spanish. Sunrise shots; Rob steering, Sophie brushing her teeth on the stern. Támara grinding, Louis trimming.Rob, on the wheel, sails in about 10 knots of wind on starboard gybe. "It's been difficult. It's certainly been the hardest doldrums crossing I've ever been involved with." Blair talks about 4 or 5 days since the Solomons. "Not much fun at all." Támara talks in Spanish. Sophie talks about how frustrating it has been, how long it has been. Blair doesn't want to say they're out, because that's come back to bite them before. Rob talks about the 3 boats to the east popping out into the tradewinds and making big gains. Blair reads the sched from a tablet. Shakes his head. "Don't look at that anymore." Pablo talks about the competition in Spanish. Xabi: "It's quite painful to be where we are. Especially when a few days ago we were within a mile of the leaders." Have to fight hard now to get back into position. Pablo talks some more about the competition in Spanish. Sophie and Willy grinding; Sophie on the foredeck as they hoist an inside headsail with a rainbow in front of them. Drone shots of them triple-heading in front of the sunset.Joan, in the cockpit, talks in Spanish as MAPFRE flops with no wind under cloudy skies. Rain; slomo of Sophie, Joan, Xabi grinding in the rain. Sophie and Támara on the bow in the rain. Moving fast in the squall, and... becalmed again. Crew looks for wind; Xabi discusses it. Blair hauls the clew aft.On the bow, Xabi talks in Spanish. "Mucho calor." At night, we see a light shining forward from the cockpit toward the sail and hear a sheet being eased. Looks like a squall. Trimming, grinding, lightning. Stacking. Lowering the J1.Standing in the galley, Joan talks in Spanish. On the helm, Pablo talks in Spanish. I'm picking up "hot" and "tired". Louis, below, shirtless and sweating: "It's really hot at the moment. It's very difficult to sleep." He shows the spritzer and spritzes himself with water. Támara, lying down in the bow, talks in Spanish and laughs. Sophie looks down through the hatch, talks about shade being important. Blaire, trimming, talks about heat and sun protection. Below, in the galley, he talks about the fresh water being warm, and the fact that the watermaker is getting much more of a workout than in the Southern Ocean. On the foredeck, Támara talks in Spanish, I think about her drinking water being hot. She and Blair construct a sun shade from the stack and an outrigger. On the helm, Pablo talks in Spanish. Blair puts on sunscreen. Below, Louis spritzes himself. Late in the afternoon, they get some wind and start moving. Everyone is looking to starboard. The view shifts in that direction, and we see why: AkzoNobel, less than a mile away to leeward and slightly ahead; behind them, two more boats: I think Vestas to the left and Dongfeng to the right. Night shot with AkzoNobel just a boatlength or two behind them.Sophie, invisible in the dark, talks about how it's been painful. Not a lot of wind, Dongfeng is a long way ahead and AkzoNobel has passed them... Quite frustrating. Xabi's voice, announcing AkzoNobel's position. Crew stacking forward on the bow in red headlamps. Views of stars, sounds of slow sailing. In the dawn, Blair holds the clew of the J1 as they flop. Talks in detail about how frustrating it is, how a big cloud came through and compressed the fleet. They went from furthest north boat and the fleet compressed and sailed around them. Daybreak now; it's fully glassed. AkzoNobel was most frustrating; went from 2 miles behind them before the cloud to 6 miles in front, sailing a half-mile to leeward of them. Willy, sitting on the lowered J1 on the bow, talks in Spanish about the wind and the competition. Blair on the helm. Sunrise. Glassy conditions. Rob on the helm. Joan looking around. Willy and Blair sit under the clew of the MH0, talking.Joan talks in Spanish about the Solomons, wind, squalls, complicated strategy, Dongfeng ahead, and the other boats behind them. Xabi talks about how they've been in this situation before, lead by Dongfeng through much of the leg. "Now we've gained as much as possible, and wait for our opportunity." Talks about the doldrums coming up. Night shot of distant lightning silhouetting the helmsman. In the day, Xabi in the pit. Shot of Dongfeng ahead of them and to port with an island below them. Stacking. Green island to leeward. Pablo grinds with an island below them. Stacking forward. Shot astern with a whale surfacing; then slomo of the whale surfacing. AkzoNobel behind them. Dongfeng ahead and to weather. Light winds. AkzoNobel close behind them. Willy looking through binoculars. Drone shot of a fishing boat with a purse seine and MAPFRE in the background. Circling drone shot of MAPFRE with Dongfeng visible in 3 miles away, ahead and to weather.Xabi, at the nav station, talks in Spanish about squalls, competition, Solomon Islands. On deck, Rob talks about the wind and the squall; future conditions. Pablo talks on the deck in Spanish about the competition. Closeup of nav computer screen showing the four lead boats all lined up. Shots on deck of fast sailing in a rain squall. Crash cam stern cam footage of Xabi getting washed off hte aft end of the cabin and ending up on the cockpit sole next to the middle pedestal. Hope he's okay. Slomo shots of competitors: AkzoNobel and Dongfeng to port, and Vestas to starboard. Slomo faces in the rain. Low-altitutde drone shots of MAPFRE sailing under full main and MH0.Pablo, sitting ahead of the wheel as MAPFRE reaches on starboard, talks in Spanish about the competition. Rob, on the wheel: There's a split in the fleet, and you had to decide inshore or offshore. A bit of current offshore, but also better breeze. "We lost out bigtime, actually. The two leaders are far ahead." Talks about moving past Vestas and TTToP, and gaining some miles on the leaders. Willy, on the middle pedestal, talks about how of course it's good to gain miles on the leaders, but it's a long race, and you need to realize that the bungee stretches and comes back. "Winning more than losing. Still a long time to go." Pablo talks in Spanish. Shots at night: moonlight, full moon past clew of the sail, ratcheting the stack. In the sunrise, Blair and Xabi laugh about something on the aft pedestal. Wake shot of sunrise. Closeups: The wheel, Támara's face, Willy grinding. Slomo shots of Vestas to port and behind, and then astern of them. Louis works the outrigger, then gets hoisted out to the clew of the A3 to do something with the sheets.MAPFRE is sailing fast on starboard gybe, triple-heading. On the aft pedestal, Támara talks in Spanish. Willy talks in Spanish. Támara talks more in Spanish. Blair talks with the coastline visible behind him: "VMG'd all night. All day today. Quite a few gybes actually. Very reminiscent of the ice gate, but slightly warmer here. Right by the coast." He talks about how the fleet has compressed. AkzoNobel caught up and passed everyone. They just passed Vestas. Shot of Vestas (I think?) inside them. Shot of AzkoNobel behind and to weather of them. Vestas crossing in front of them on starboard gybe, land visible behind them, while MAPFRE sails on port gybe. Shot from the cockpit as they gybe from starboard to port. Another gybe from the cockpit, this time from port to starboard. Closeups of grinding, winches. Pretty drone shot with MAPFRE on starboard gybe in the foreground, competitor (Vestas?) silhouetted by the low sun ahead of them.Below, Xabi talks about how they kept pushing hard. On deck, Xabi and Louis grnd on the pedestal. Xabi is REALLY pushing it; that's a lead-by-example leader there, methinks. Sophie grinding the starboard secondary winch. That's where that lined-face still photo of her that was making the rounds on SA came from, I think. Blair, below, recaps the last 36 hours, different winds, getting a 30-40 mile lead on Dongfeng. Them going into stealth mode, which made them have to push the boat the whole time. It was fun. 30 knots, massive waves. Trying not to break the boat. Stern cam / crash cam of the two grinders (Louis and Blair) being blown off the aft pedestal. Xabi, below, talks in Spanish. Washing machine shots. Támara grinding a pit winch. Xabi, below, recaps in English: Conditions tough for the past week. Last night very squally. A few broaches. 38-40 knots. "I think we did very well. We kept the boat in one piece, and everyone safe."GoPro head-mount shot of someone emerging from the cabin, slapping the selector button on the side of the forward pedestal. Who is that? Hand on the hatch coaming at 0:05 looks like relatively slender and not too grizzled with age; maybe Támara? It's not Blair, Sophie, or Willy; they're all identifiable in the shot. Oh, he says "Ready". It's Louis. Thanks (again) for accents. We see the gybe from his perspective as he grinds on the starboard side of the middle [sic - he's now on a different pedestal. possibly a different gybe?] pedestal, opposite Willy, as they gybe from starboard to port gybe. We see the gybe again from the perspective of the spreader cam. "Runner made!" We see a gybe (a different gybe; only one person is on the middle pedestal) from the stern cam. It might be that the spreader cam and the stern cam can't both be recorded at the same time, so these were separate gybes. Bow cam shot of the J2 being unfurled. Slomo shot of Willy and someone else on the forward pedestal, grinding. Xabi, below, talks in Spanish. He repeats in English: Last day has been crazy on MAPFRE. Almost 30 gybes along the exclusion zone. This morning, another 10 or 12. "We have to go south; it's a goal... It's pretty hard but it's pretty soft, but finally we're free of gates, and can send it south all day and night, before heading north towards Melbourne."Willy, on the stern trimming the mainsheet, talks in Spanish saying something about two days, Dongfeng, ice gate, fighting, sleeping, cold. (3 years of high school Spanish, folks.) Xabi, his arm around the runner, talks to Jen while Willy steers. He talks about having a long board now since the gybe this morning, so people can sleep/recover. They've had a whole off-watch. He offers Jen water. Jen: "No thanks." Xabi talks in Spanish. Xabi talks to someone off-camera (Rob?) in English. Xabi: "Last time the Southern Ocean leg was very hard as well, you remember? Lots of gybing..." Then the storm after the... spreader broken [?]. Xabi: "I think the last 48 hours have been very intense. For us, [points toward Dongfeng ahead and to windward] for both of us for sure. We've done, I haven't counted, more than 20 gybes, and it's been very hard. But it's good fun as well, we've had good battle with Dongfeng. We passed them, they passed us again, and now they are 3 miles [?] away... It's one week to go, hopefully after today and tomorrow we will gybe, and have little bit quiet for the last week, but it's going to be windy again, and it's going to be a full-on fight with Dongfeng." Willy, on the mainsheet, jokes about sending a message to his friend. "Please! [something] come and save me!"Below, Pablo talks in Spanish. (Same as the previous video, where he talked in English about keeping their clothes on when off watch because they were going up to gybe every hour.)Below, on port gybe, Pablo gets dressed in his bunk above the nav station. Kyle stands in the galley eating something. Pablo explains the importance of getting the boots and pants just right so they don't get wet. Because once it gets wet it's wet. A little break is enough. He then explains the same thing in Spanish.Xabi, below, talks about managing to be in the front in the first 24 hours, where the competition is, waiting for the wind to pick up. Repeats the same stuff (I assume) in Spanish. In the background Sophie does something in the galley. Shot from the cabin of crew at the back of the boat in windy conditions. Slomo washing machine shots. Grinding.Xabi, below, talks in Spanish about the competition. Joan, below, talks in Spanish. In the cockpit, Blair lies on his back to turn the middle pedestal handles with his feet, Team New Zealand AC-style. Ñeti does it too. Drone shot from close to the bow of the J1 being hoisted, then of crew clearing the old sail, then drone shots from low altitutde, coming really close to getting dunked by a wave, on the starboard quarter as MAPFRE reaches on starboard, then a drone shot pulling away to higher altitude.Below, Joan talks in Spanish. He then translates: They have a pretty steady breeze, and a reach with increasing wind, so they estimate finishing in Cape Town Friday afternoon or evening, 1700 or 1800 UTC.At the nav station, Xabi talks in Spanish about the other leading boats. Shots on deck of MAPFRE sailing fast on port gybe. Slomo spray. Pablo, in his foulies hood, smiles in slomo. Slomo spray on bow, water dripping off the clew of the reefed main. Slomo washing machine in the cockpit.Below, Blair talks about being in the lead but it being tense. Brunel in stealth mode. "Somewhere behind us, we hope." Pablo, below, talks in Spanish about the situation with the competition. Shot from the cabin as Blair brushes his teeth in the hatch; spray on deck as Ñeti and Támara grind. Nav station. Washing machine shots on deck as MAPFRE sails fast on port gybe with Xabi on the helm.MAPFRE sails on starboard gybe. Xabi talks about how they've been sailing around the St. Helena high, and last night gybed [to starboard] to go southwest to hook into the front and head for Cape Town. Ñeti, trimming the main, talks in Spanish about where the other boats are. Xabi says he thinks they have a good position despite gybing quite early. He and Rob talk about the other competitors' positions relative to them in the latest sched. Joan reads from the tablet, telling Rob, on the helm, where the other boats are. Joan talks in Spanish about the other boats. Sunrise. Sophie trimming the main. Blair and Xabi grinding. Shifting the stack. Shot of the bow as they are triple-heading on starboard. Translations here: https://youtu.be/LqY11k_IjCI.Willy talks in Spanish: "I miss land in general." Rob, on the helm, talks about missing things on shore: "Communication with the outside world, human interaction." Támara talks in Spanish. Sophie: "Not having any nice food, fresh food, veggies." Xabi talks about the good sched and where they stand compared to Dongfeng and the competitors behind them. Rob talks about the hydrogenerator, how much they've been using it. Xabi and Joan at the nav station. Willy goes up the mast; shot of them grinding him up in the cockpit, him calling to them to stop. Sunset. Very-low-altitude drone shots.In the cockpit, Sophie works on the disassembled mainsheet winch drum. Sophie: "It's like winch school at SCA. When I was on SCA I learned quite a lot about winches." Ñeti talks about the hydrogenerator. Pablo talks in Spanish. Closeup of the hydrogenerator. Blair, on the helm, talks about Rio, and about winning the gold medal at the Olympics. Blair: "It's an awesome city and I have very fond memories of it."Támara talks below in Spanish. Xabi works the pit in rain. Rob talks at the nav station about being under the FR0 when a squall caused them to do a big frenzy of sail changes. Talks about competition. Shot of crew (including Ugo) showering in the rain. Pablo, on the helm, talks in Spanish about the competition.We see a whiteboard (?) below with what looks like a child's drawing of a birthday cake, a person at a steering wheel, and "Happy Birthday Patan!" Blair emerges from the cabin with what look like three chocolate suckers. They sing Happy Birthday to Pablo, who is on the helm. Xabi (referring to the chocolate): "To share." Pablo takes a bit of the chocolate, drops a piece, and scrambles for it while Blair holds the wheel for him. Below, at the nav station, Pablo watches videos of what sounds like birthday well-wishers. Pablo talks in Spanish.Joan, at the nav station looking at a display of a chart showing the leg, talks in Spanish. Closeup of the chart as he zooms in on the Cape Verde Islands. Xabi, below, talks in Spanish about strategy and the other boats. He repeats it in English. Xabi: "Everyone's happy. We just overtook two boats last night. We just hope to catch Dongfeng. We will fight very hard with these two guys, with Vestas, and with Dongfeng of course." On deck in the dawn, Ñeti sits, Tamara grinds the aft pedestal, and Pablo steers. Shot aft, through the wheel, of Vestas a few miles behind them. Slomo shot looking up at Xabi on the helm. Slomo shot of Sophie during a sail change taking spray on the bow.Sophie, on the foredeck in the warm sun, shows how the J3 bag is torn. Sophie: "Well, this is what a bunch of water over the deck will do to your bag. So I'm going to try to sew it up so we can use it again." Shots of Sophie sewing. She talks about how the calm weather is a nice time to dry out and fix things for the next windy patch. Willy, on the helm, talks in Spanish. Shot of Rob, shirtless, on the wheel. Clothes drying on deck. Crew sleeping in the bow. Rob doing pushups. Sophie: "We're all warming up now, and taking our weather gear off. Hopefully we'll get some rain clouds soon and we can pull the soap out and have some showers. Clean ourselves, it'll be good. We're all sweaty and pretty gross at the moment." Willy and Sophie continue to talk about the doldrums and showers. Behind Sophie we see AkzoNobel a few miles east of them. Sophine puts the J3 back in the repaired bag. At sunset we see AkzoNobel, now on the west side of them silhouetted by the sun.It's afternoon, with MAPFRE heading south on port gybe in about 10 knots of wind. Ñeti, at the middle grinder handles, talks in Spanish. Pablo pops into view and says something in Spanish. Sophie, at the shrouds: "It's a little bit frustrating, because it looks like they have a little more pressure, and we're trying to catch them. I think when you have another boat in sight, especially in front of you, the whole boat is working as hard as they can. It give syou something to push for. We just changed sails [to the A3, visible behind her]." Ñeti talks more in Spanish. Shot of crew shifting the stack. Sophie on the foredeck helping to hoist the A3. Crew in the cockpit grinding. Ñeti, on a halyard, goes out to the clew of the A3. Wide (pretty) drone shot of MAPFRE in the sunset. Blair, on the helm as MAPFRE sails on starboard gybe in the morning: "The last 24 hours on average for us have been a little bit bad; we've lost a lot on Dongfeng, Vestas, and AkzoNobel, but in the last hours of the night or very early morning we've gained on them very quickly and have them right here." [gestures to the port quarter] Pablo talks in Spanish about the competition. Shot of crew working in the cockpit; shot of AkzoNobel, slomo telephoto shot of AkzoNobel.Below, Chuny talks in Spanish. Behind him, Stacey puts mustard on a flour tortilla (I swear). Jena, below, talks in Danish.Rob, at the nav station in red light, talks about strategy. Getting south, far enough west away from the Canaries. Rob: "We've been gybing the last 48 hours to try to stay in pressure, and get west whenever we can... Difficult shifts to predict, cloudy and stuff... Vestas did well, they got across our bow, about 10 miles in front of us." Joan, below, talks in Spanish. Xabi, below (now in daytime), talks about doing the hard job of lots of gybing and maneuvers. Xabi: "And now we have all a drag race, racing south." Joan talks more in Spanish. On deck, MAPFRE sails fast on starboard gybe, triple-heading. Crew shifts the stack aft, with the helmsman (Pablo) calling the cadence and giving one hand to pulling the sail. Interesting that they don't do the "two-six-heave" chant. Just "one, two, three" (moving on "three"). Downward mast cam view of the deck, then relatively high-wind drone shots of MAPFRE sailing fast on port gybe. Looks like the wind is around 20 knots; triple-heading with Masthead 0, J2, and J3.Maciel, below in his foulies, talks about their position in the race, first in Italian, then in Spanish.Pablo, below in his foulies, still wet from coming off the deck: "The crew is performing very good. We are all very happy. We are figthing hard, because the beginning of the leg is very important." Blair, below, in progress on getting out of his foulies with sunscreen on his face: "It was cetainly a pretty fast start. Wind's a little lighter now. Managed to get some sleep. Lots of gybing. Everyone's a little bit tired but not too bad." Pablo: "This morning we were leading, we were in front of the boats, probably a little furthe south than them. Then we had to gybe... Dongfeng crossed our bow. Now we are getting to Madeira." Slomo shots on deck: tailing line, spray, Xabi on the helm, bow spray, Pablo on helm. Sunset shots of Mapfre running fast on starboard gybe. Sophie stadning on the stern trimming the mainsheet. Ñeti on the stern with the mainsheet talks in Spanish about the wind, passing Madeira, the other boats.Joan, below, talks about how windy it has been, with up to 30 knots. Got lifted as they headed offshore, then gybed to the south. Xabi, below in red light, talks in Spanish. In the background, Sophie preps a metal bowl of food, then sits and eats it. Joan: "At the moment we're ahead in terms of distance to Cape Town, but that doesn't mean much."Wide drone shot of MAPFRE at sunset as they were approaching the virtual waypoint on the evening of October 26. More cool drone shots. Ñeti talks about how the virtual waypoint was good for them, because they did well against the other boats. (I think.) Blair working the pit. Xabi grinding. Below, Joan talks in Spanish about the approach to Lisbon. On deck, Ñeti talks about the tricky approach to Lisbon, and how that will be their best chance to catch up with Vestas. Blair and Ugo discuss who's in focus (first Ñeti, then Blair, then Ñeti again).Night-time shot of the chart at the nav station showing the approach to Porto Santo. Night-vision shots of the crew working in the cockpit, changing a sail on the foredeck with spray. Below, Pablo talks in Spanish about their passing Porto Santo, the widely varying wind conditions they've been racing in, and the other boats. On deck again: more sail changing, a shot of the nighttime lights along the south shore of Porto Santo.Drone shots: Distant shot with sunrise; very low-altitude shot overtaking boat from the starboard quarter. Shots on board of slatting sails, instruments with low-wind/low-speed readings. At night, Joan and Xabi talking in Spanish at nav station about a position report. Then, in the dark, we hear Joan (?) relaying the position report in English to Rob (?), talking about how they're doing vs. Vestas (ahead of them) and the peleton (behind them).Red-light shots at night: stacking, sails. Joan (in Spanish): talks about rounding Cabo de Gata, wind. Sunrise drone shot, circling MAPFRE. Early morning light shot of Scallywag ahead of them with A3 and J2 flying. Shot of Sophie on MAPFRE on port watching Scallywag pass behind them on starboard and Brunel passing in front of them. (This was the big gybe in toward the Spanish coast where Vestas went before the other boats and took the lead.) Shot of Joan with MAPFRE now on the starboard gybe talking (in Spanish) about strategy. In the background, Xabi and Rob talk strategy (in English), mentioning Akzo, Vestas, and Brunel.