What else could Telefónica Blue do? At 0700 GMT this morning, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.
Now running hard downwind, the wind direction had called for a gybe, and Bekking’s dilemma was when, exactly, should he carry out the manoeuvre? He took the only decision he could and played his Stealth card, keeping secret, at least for 12 hours, the moment he made his move. Telefónica Blue’s position will be revealed on the 1900 GMT position report tonight.
‘A very tricky call has to be made. You gybe too early and you run out of pressure, you gybe too late and you end up with a bad angle to the whale exclusion box, as the breeze will come rapidly forward until we are hard on the wind. That will be the race call,’ Bouwe explained yesterday…Â Details