The waters off the Atlantic, drifting in an expanse between the westernmost chunk of Africa and easternmost tip of South America, aren’t nicknamed the doldrums for nothing.
Wind on these seas is hard to come by. The sailing is, for the most part, slow.
Five of the seven boats that compose the Volvo Ocean Race fleet can attest to this right now. Two, however, have come upon a breezy patch of ocean.
As most of the fleet meandered toward the eastern tip of Brazil, where the yachts must round a marker before tacking back southeast toward South Africa, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Azzam and the boat of Team Brunel establishd a gap with their rivals on Tuesday.
As of the 1.11pm UTC (5.11pm UAE) position report, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Brunel were even – neck-and-neck, on each other’s heels, side by side, tied.
The closest boat behind those two, in third, China’s Dongfeng Race Team sat just over 30 miles adrift.
And scattered out over the course of another 42 miles were the boats of Team Alvimedica, Team SCA, Mapfre and Vestas Wind.
"Doldrums. What doldrums?" asked Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing onboard reporter Matt Knighton in his team blog.
“We should have already seen 5-10 knots of breeze and dropping. So far all day we’ve had around 15 knots and been making great speed straight south.”
By contrast, the Alvimedica onboard reporter, Amory Ross, could merely relay that, “The wind speed is barely registering at all. Somewhere between one and two knots.”
Dongfeng’s Yann Riou? “Let’s face it: we’re not having a very good time on Dongfeng.”
Mapfre’s Francisco Vignale? “Flying fish, seaweed, a bird every once in a while and ahead of us 400 miles with barely any wind.
“This is going to be long.”
Indeed, the yachts are just over a third of the way through the first leg to Cape Town from Alicante, Spain, some 4,000 miles and change still to traverse through the Atlantic.
That, though, should offer some hope to the rest of the boats. While Azzam and Team Brunel have clearly given themselves an early edge in this first leg of the round-the-world regatta, it's a nine-month race. They've been sailing for 10 days.
For now, the five boats bringing up the rear must wait for ADOR and Brunel to slow themselves and, in the meantime, forge along to the equator where winds should pick up.
“Two days, eight hours, thirty-four minutes, and ten seconds, nine seconds, eight seconds, six, five ... over the last few days the clock has gotten louder and louder as it counts down to October 23 at noon – the time when we cross the equator,” wrote SCA onboard reporter Corinna Halloran.
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The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
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McIlroy's struggles in 2016/17
European Tour: 6 events, 16 rounds, 5 cuts, 0 wins, 3 top-10s, 4 top-25s, 72,5567 points, ranked 16th
PGA Tour: 8 events, 26 rounds, 6 cuts, 0 wins, 4 top-10s, 5 top-25s, 526 points, ranked 71st
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Friday's schedule in Madrid
Men's quarter-finals
Novak Djokivic (1) v Marin Cilic (9) from 2pm UAE time
Roger Federer (4) v Dominic Thiem (5) from 7pm
Stefanos Tsitsipas (8) v Alexander Zverev (3) from 9.30pm
Stan Wawrinka v Rafael Nadal (2) from 11.30pm
Women's semi-finals
Belinda Bencic v Simona Halep (3) from 4.30pm
Sloane Stephens (8) v Kiki Bertens (7) from 10pm
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SPECS
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'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
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BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5
The specs: 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Price, base / as tested Dh97,600
Engine 1,745cc Milwaukee-Eight v-twin engine
Transmission Six-speed gearbox
Power 78hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque 145Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 5.0L / 100km (estimate)
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