Race 5 Day 7: Ocean Sprint gets underway as OneDLL reclaims its crown

In the last 24 hours OneDLL has reclaimed its crown, but with just 10 miles separating the top four competitors the fight to win the coveted podium positions into Sydney rumbles on, as the Ocean Sprint gets underway.

In the last 24 hours Derry~Londonderry~Doire became the first entry to cross the Ocean Sprint at 19:16 UTC, with the rest of the fleet hot on its heels. However, with OneDLL now leading the fleet by just 1 mile, it’ll be the fastest entry to race across the lines located between latitude 43S and 40S which will be awarded one point, and not the first across the line.

After leaving the Southern Ocean and the most southerly point of the entire race, Skipper of OneDLL Olly Cotterell explains the challenging conditions on the east coast of Tasmania which threaten to slow down the entire fleet, shaking up the leaderboard once again.

“The conditions around the south of Tasmania have been challenging with swell from all directions 180 degree wind shifts and massively gusty conditions.

“It seems that the front runners are at a bit of a disadvantage as these challenging conditions are slowing our progress drastically. As I am sure you have seen at home some of our tacking angles have been horrendous as we fight fluky conditions and an unfavourable current.”

Never one to follow the rest of the pack Mission Performance decided to take a tactical gamble choosing a wide tack around Tasmania eager to avoid the large wind shadow on the east side. However, the manoeuvre failed to pay off leaving the team in an eighth place dropping two places down the leaderboard from yesterday - leaving Switzerland and Jamaica Get All Right to take full advantage. 

With Henri Lloyd slipping into fourth place overnight skipper Eric Holden has chosen activate its Stealth Mode from 12:00UTC today. Its position will be hidden from the Race Viewer and the rest of the fleet for the next 24 hours and will be broadcast at 12:00UTC tomorrow (Wednesday 11 December).

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