Team Telefónica navigator Andrew Cape has manoeuvered the overall race leaders into contention overnight and within striking distance of Leg 6 leaders PUMA.
At 0700 UTC the fleet's leaders were within about 15 miles of Recife, on the north east coast of Brazil, after a slow night negotiation fickle wind and the difficult coastal rounding.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were 11.3 nautical miles ahead of CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and 12.3 nm ahead of Team Telefónica, who took a course on the inside lane nearer the coast and moved into second place at 0100 UTC, before slipping back to third.
CAMPER took a more cautionary approach further from land and were bumped to third place, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing remain fourth and Groupama sailing team are fifth, more than 114 nm behind.
Telefónica have notched up the greatest sailing distance in the past 24-hours, covering 280 nautical miles at an average speed of 11.69 knots, compared to PUMA’s 10.67 kts, CAMPER’s 11.04 kts, Abu Dhabi’s 11.5 kts and Groupama’s 9.54 kts.
CAMPER Media Crew Member Hamish Hooper said the approach to Recife was tense as the team balanced getting a good breeze offshore with making sure they didn’t leave too much room to be passed on the inside.
“Curiosity killed the cat once, so we are hoping history might repeat and PUMA might get a wee bit curious and get caught in too close to shore along with Telefónica, leaving us to take off with the fresher trades,’’ Hooper said.
“If only it would happen like this. It is never that easy.”
Skipper Chris Nicholson said his team weren’t taking any risks as they approached the final corner of Brazil where the fleet will turn west towards the Caribbean’s Windward Islands.
“It’s very light, I would have much rather come in here in normal breeze and got around here,’’ he said. “We are moving alright now, but I think we are going to give Recife a wide berth, it just looks light and dangerous in close to the shore.”
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