The last hours of the OSTAR 2017, the most difficult transatlantic race, have been characterized by a series of retreats.
Last one, that of the strong Portuguese Ricardo Diniz, who was injured on board his boat, hit his head twice with suspicious concussion.
Previously, Polish Andrzej Kopytko retired because of the breaking of the tailings with the concrete risk of disrupting his Opole; The French Christophe Dietsch, who – hit by a giant wave – has embarked on too much water on his Breizh Cola. Even in Twostar there is a withdrawal: that of the French catamaran PiR2 – CCI Fecamp Bolbec with Etienne Hochedé and Françoise Hanss, with the damaged shaft and electronics out of order.
Andrea Mura keeps on leading by pointing to North.
With a clear strategy: double the low pressure point of the cyclone to the North, holding it to the left, then making a speculative way to the South, which will take him with favorable winds and sustained straight speed to Newport.
It is an unprecedented strategy, so many other competitors have followed an opposite South path, and it is risky, because in order to not go too far North (with icebergs and polar temperatures), you must look at the eye of the cyclone and Andrea has been looking closely at it for quite some time now.
“I thought I had made it to reach and overcome the depression eye – Mura confirms – but it literally ran away and moved. It’s a race against time, the boat is subjected to incredible stresses. I’ll have to go up again … maybe even up to the 60th parallel … “
