Volvo Ocean Race: B&G Navigator winner of Leg 6

(May 16, 2015) – The B&G Navigators Prize for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 Prize is presented to the Navigator who has made the most effective use of meteorological, oceanographic and geographical information to gain distance on the majority of the fleet, as voted for by the Navigators themselves. Each of the Navigators competing in the race has been asked to score his or her fellow navigators from one to six points during each leg, with Lorient to Gothenburg counting as one leg.

The Navigator with the highest points score at the end of each leg will win a cash prize of $1000. The Navigator with the highest cumulative points score at the end of the race will win $5000. The Navigators are not allowed to vote for themselves. The B&G Navigators Prize for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 is, if you like, the prize for the ‘Navigators’ Navigator’.

The last leg from Itajai saw yet another immensely exciting finish in Newport with Dongfeng Race Team just easing ahead of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing to clinch the leg win. However, in the opinion of his fellow navigators, it was Simon ‘SiFi’ Fisher who was scored to win the B&G Navigators’ Prize for Leg 6.

B&G took some time to ask Si-Fi a few questions about Leg 6, here’s what he told us:

B&G: In your opinion, when planning the routing for this leg, which were the most challenging/least predictable factors to consider?

SF: Generally this leg is one of the more predictable, lots of trade wind sailing means conditions are generally very similar to the historical or theoretical routing although that doesn’t mean the leg is without its tactical challenges that is for sure! There were a few opportunities to say ‘it’s not normally like this!’ In the lead up to the start the was considerable un-predictability in the behavior of the South American cold front that was pushing up into the South Atlantic trades.

Neither weather model seemed to be capturing what was happening perfectly and there was considerable difference between both the EC and the GFS models which we rely on the most, both before the start and in the early stages of the leg. There was potential for quite a big inshore/offshore split in the fleet at Cabo Frio depending on which model you put your faith in but the herd mentality of the fleet put that one to bed early on!

Much more, read on.