The doldrums loom

On day ten of leg one CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand is well and truly in typical trade wind conditions and making solid progress towards the Equator.

CAMPER remains in third place 166 miles behind new race leader Telefonica as they head south in champagne sailing conditions on the verge of entering the fickle doldrum zone.

CAMPER is expected to enter the doldrums which are just north of the Equator in the next few hours.

Skipper Chris Nicholson says that the steady north east trade wind conditions that CAMPER has enjoyed for the last 48 hours are likely to become much more variable in coming days

“The doldrums are characterised by light winds and sudden squalls and the localised weather conditions means that they are incredibly tricky to navigate.

“We’re confident that we’ve done our homework and can make some gains crossing them but there’s always a good degree of luck involved.

“We are likely to see the fleet compress in the near future and if we can do a better job than Puma and Telefonica in getting out of the doldrum conditions and into the southeast trades it will be game on.

“It is a crucial point in the leg – we just need to back ourselves and hope that we have some luck on our side.”

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1500h 15 November NZT is averaging 19 knots in a 17 knot north easterly.


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