Cruising at the Helm

Offshore racing sailors will always find the fastest route. That is, after all, the whole point of the exercise. Often that means sailing the rhumb line, i.e., the shortest, most direct course between the start and finish. Sometimes, though, they’ll also take “fliers,” sailing a longer distance, at the same time gambling on the weather or wind angles to get them to their destination that much faster.

During the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean, skippered by my hero Magnus Olsson, took one such flier as its was approaching Cape Horn on its way to Brazil. The navigator, Aksel Magdahl, saw an opportunity to break with the rest of the fleet and sail right through the center of a low-pressure system. If they could punch through, the wind on the other side would offer not only more favorable angles but faster boatspeeds—a passing lane, so to speak. Despite having missed the start in China due to damage sustained during the previous leg, they both caught and passed the entire rest of the fleet with that move. The team went on to hold on to its lead and eventually win what remains the longest leg ever of the Volvo/Whitbread Race (now The Ocean Race). Arriving victorious in Brazil was—in my opinion, at least—Olsson’s finest moment.