VOR: Vestas 11th Hour Racing, skippered by Charlie Enright (USA), the early leader in Leg 1 as the f
ALICANTE, ESP – With still 1000nm to go in the 1450nm Leg 1 from Alicante to Lisbon, there likely will be a few stops and starts for the fleet, and probably a few lead changes, as the wind changes over the course of the race that is expected to finish Saturday afternoon. Another caveat – the race tracker will be purposely delayed six hours so the teams cannot use it to gather real-time info on their competitors. But it is currently live, so the screen shot below that your Ed. took a few minutes ago is a real-time representation.
Charlie Enright (USA) at the wheel of Vestas 11th Hour Racing soon after the start in Alicante on Sunday.
The early leader is Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the orange boat in the screen shot below, skippered by Charlie Enright (USA). They are now past Tarifa, Spain. Vestas and second-place AkzoNobel, skipper by Simeon Tienpont (nice surprise after all they've been through this past week!) were the first teams to tack back to the Spanish coast on Sunday night, and were rewarded with more breeze that pushed them into the lead. Indeed, the tracker shows Vestas now in nine knots more breeze than the others, and they have been extending their lead over the other six over the past hour or so.
La Punta de Tarifa is the southern-most point of mainland Spain, indeed of continental Europe. Tarifa has great beaches and is famously windy. It's a favorite spot for windsurfers and kite-board riders who crave big breeze.
Watch the race tracker here. And read Peter Rusch's excellent race report update from about 2.5 hours ago here. Check out the VOR Facebook page, too. Plenty of information, videos, and photos there – almost too much to comprehend; and a little rationalization and streamlining by the VOR social media team may be in order.
Screenshot of the VOR race tracker taken about five minutes ago. While currently live, after all the yachts have cleared Gibraltar the tracker will be delayed 6 hours until the yachts get close to the finish. This so the teams can't use it to gather real-time strategic and tactical information on their competitors.