Azzam’s real focus is not the speed as the Volvo Ocean Race leaders turn first at Cape Horn

Azzam skipper Ian Walker said his crew were more delighted to have made it through the Southern Ocean in one piece on their journey to Itajai. Matt Knighton / Volvo Ocean Race

Perhaps it was coincidence. Twice over.

Dongfeng Race Team broke a mast in high winds near Cape Horn on Monday. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing did not.

One of the biggest factors in the Volvo Ocean Race, the nine-month, round-the-world “Everest” of sailing is often overlooked: keeping your boat whole.

This has been a priority for Ian Walker, skipper of Ador’s Azzam, from Day 1 in Alicante back in October.

Any conversation with the Englishman about tactics, about competition, about going fast, is likely to veer into what seems mundane: reaching port with a sound boat.

“We just want to get there in one piece,” is the gist of what Walker has said over and again.

He has done the round-the-world Volvo stuff before, and he knows well what it is like to have a fragile boat.

In Walker’s first turn as Ador skipper, in 2011/12, Azzam’s mast snapped in the first few hours of the race. Then, in the Southern Ocean, the hull nearly fell to pieces. Two catastrophic failures.

Azzam of three years back did not have the speed to win, but the breakdowns that ended her first and fifth legs doomed the Abu Dhabi team to an also-ran finish.

Sailors are remarkably superstitious and to point out that Azzam has not yet experienced significant breakage in the 2014/15 race probably would be considered tempting fate, by the men who sail in her. But that is the reality.

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It may be instructive to re-examine Dongfeng’s plight as the Chinese boat attempted to round Cape Horn.

Skipper Charles Caudrelier said: “The mast broke without warning in about 30 knots of wind.”

A few hours later, Matt Knighton, Azzam’s on-board reporter, whose opinions probably reflect the thinking of the sailors around him, wrote: “We don’t know much else about the breakage other than that it was the top section of their mast – meaning we suspect they were flying masthead gear at the time.”

That last bit is what matters.

Translated, “we suspect they were flying masthead gear at the time” means too much canvas, or a heading that produced too much strain, at the top of the mast.

This is not the first time in this race that Caudrelier’s boat has had significant breakage.

On Leg 1, Dongfeng was leading when it struck a submerged object and seriously damaged its leeward rudder. As repairs were made, Azzam sailed past. Two weeks later, part of the Dongfeng sheeting system snapped and damage to the boat included a broken wheel.

On Leg 2, Dongfeng had a broken mast track and more time was lost to work around that.

On Leg 3, a tack line on the J1 sail, which is used for going upwind, snapped. Again, repairs were made. Dongfeng still won the leg.

On Leg 5, the broken mast, the first to occur in this fleet.

Why all the trouble for Dongfeng?

One of three explanations seems likely. 1) Horrible luck; 2) Dongfeng stuck with the lemon of the Volvo Ocean 65 one-design fleet; 3) Dongfeng pushes too hard.

While the Chinese boat limped towards port in Argentina on Monday, hoping to make repairs that would allow her to rejoin Leg 5 and avoid the two-point penalty for dropping out, Azzam rounded Cape Horn, an emotional highlight in the life of any sailor, and sailed back into the Atlantic.

Abu Dhabi’s boat had completed the most punishing stretch of the race.

Race organisers reached Azzam’s skipper via satellite and Walker said: “I’m just happy to get here safely.

“That’s the main thing. There is still a long way to go but it’s a big relief, and it’s even a bigger relief because we’re in good shape.”

Azzam has never been slow: at the weekend, she reeled off 551 nautical miles in 24 hours, the biggest gain in one day during this race.

But the Volvo race is about more than speed. Boat maintenance is Job 1.

No one wins while under repair in port and skippers best avoid that by knowing their boat’s limits and recognising when to back off to save sails and spars.

Walker has stressed this throughout the race and it is no coincidence Abu Dhabi’s boat likely will have a healthy lead in the standings when Leg 5 ends in Itajai, Brazil, a few days hence.

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