PUMA Consider Lisbon Plan

With only 65 nautical miles separating first and last in the Leg 7 race to Lisbon, second place PUMA are asking should they play the offensive or defensive game as the pressure mounts over the remaining 500 nm to Lisbon.

Overnight, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG remained about 30 nm behind longstanding leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, while Groupama held third place and Team Telefónica jumped ahead of CAMPER to claim fourth.

PUMA Media Crew Member Amory Ross said nerves were running high with the team realising that others, including Telefóinca, Groupama, CAMPER and Sanya, were “cutting the corner” to Lisbon.

But, with Abu Dhabi just 29 nm ahead at 0400 UTC, the PUMA crew were torn between where they should be focusing their attention - - ahead, or behind.

The situation is only complicated by the long-dreaded ridge that lies about 100 miles off Lisbon’s coast, which will bring the fleet to a screeching halt and potentially cause chaos amongst the leg standings, Ross said.

“Abu Dhabi has always been in our sights, but we’re clearly more invested in the guys nibbling at our tail; there is more to lose against them than there is to gain against Abu Dhabi.

“The question remains: do we approach the remaining miles on the defensive or on the offensive?

“Some of the trailing boats appear to be cutting the corner to Lisbon, sailing fewer miles certainly has its merits, but Tom (Addis) is confident in our approach to this windless ridge and that deserves proper consideration, too.”

Meanwhile, on board CAMPER the team were feeling a little robbed having been knocked to fifth place by overall race leaders Team Telefónica at 1900 UTC.

Skipper Chris Nicholson said it was now a case of working hard to be close to the fleet when they “park up” in the ridge, and then negotiating whether to take a north or south route around those ahead.

“We have got a lot of work to do,’’ Nicholson said. “It feels wrong for us to still end up in fifth spot so we need to pull something out of the bag.”