The six multi-million-dollar yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race are set to begin their trip to North American waters in the fifth leg of the around-the-world event today.
Dutch entry ABN AMRO ONE -- winner of three of the first four legs -- is the favorite to lead the way in the 9,260km trek from Rio de Janeiro to Baltimore in the US.
The 21m boats will have to negotiate the fickle winds and weather systems of the intertropical zone known as the Doldrums before arriving in Baltimore in about two weeks.
"Every time you go into an area like the Doldrums, the stress levels seem to rise dramatically," said Steve Hayles, navigator on the Swedish yacht Ericsson. "The heat is very demanding."
The boats will head toward a scoring gate in Fernando de Noronha isle in Brazil's northeastern coast, then move out to open sea en route to the Chesapeake Bay.
"If you don't get it right at the start, you might cop it for the whole leg," said Australia's Andrew Cape, navigator on Spain's movistar.
ABN AMRO ONE, which also won the in-port race at Guanabara Bay on March 25, leads the overall standings with 52.5 points, 16 more than ABN AMRO TWO, and 21 ahead of the US yacht Pirates of the Caribbean. Movistar is fourth with 31 points, followed by Brasil 1 with 28.5, and Ericsson with 23.5.
"To bring us into contention for the title, ABN AMRO ONE will have to have a collision and miss two legs, but you never know what could happen," said Cape, whose movistar was forced to head to port earlier during the fourth leg to fix a leak.
ABN AMRO ONE won the 12,400km fourth leg from New Zealand to Brazil on March 11, after more than 20 days through the Southern Ocean and around Cape Horn. Pirates of the Caribbean was second, and ABN AMRO TWO third.
ABN AMRO ONE also won the first and second legs and was second to movistar in the third.
The nine-leg, 58,000km race includes other stops in the US, Britain and the Netherlands before the finish in Goteborg, Sweden, in June.
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