Stage 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race has entered its final stage. Almost all the difficult bumpy road across the Southern Ocean we watched a fierce match race between the two leaders, MAPFRE and Dongfeng.
The Chinese team led for most of the stage, but on Wednesday night the Spaniards managed to overtake their rivals.
If you recall, this meant 16 moves of equipment from one board to another weighing a ton, each of which needed to be completed in 20 minutes.
As a result, the team of Xabi Fernandez, seriously intending to add another victory in the second stage , managed to more than double their advantage, bringing it to 30 miles. The battle, however, is not yet over with just under 1,300 miles to go.
Once the teams feel they have taken the right angle to the westerly winds, they will turn the bows of their boats directly towards Melbourne and begin the final race to the finish line.
«Last day we had a pretty crazy day here aboard MAPFRE," said Spanish skipper Jaby Fernandez. - We needed to head south to get into a low pressure lane, which is why we had to turn so many times. It's quite hard, but the effort paid off. Now we can go south safely all day and all night and in the morning we will turn to Melbourne».
Latest estimates are that MAPFRE and Dongfeng should arrive in Melbourne just in time for Christmas Eve, December 24. Vestas, Brunel, Scallywag and Turn the Tide on Plastic will set foot on solid ground on Christmas Day on December 25, but AkzoNobel, which has had to deal with a broken mainsail liquefaction, will face Christmas at sea - the team will not complete Stage 3 until December 27.
