Mike Sanderson and the crew of ABN AMRO ONE are back at the front of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet after a daring tactical move that saw the crew swap first place for last in a dash to find better conditions further south. Thankfully for Sanderson the maneuver proved to be one of the best tactical decisions of the race so far and put ABN AMRO ONE back into the lead within 30 hours of loosing it.

The decision to gybe to the south came on Monday night when concerns over a ridge of low pressure system to the north finally persuaded navigator Stan Honey, 50, of Palo Alto, Calif. and Mike Sanderson to bite the bullet and cut across the fleet to the south. Fortunately the crew were well positioned for the next phase of weather in the south and were able to make up the ground they’d lost by clocking up the fastest speed of the leg to date – 20.1 knots and a massive 482 nautical miles. By the last sched the crew had their noses back in front.

“We did the right thing, which is sometimes very hard to do”, said Sanderson. “We bit the bullet, got behind on a couple of skeds but now we’re back in the lead.”

Commenting on the extremely tough decision to change direction Navigator, Stan Honey, said, “These races are full of gut-wrenching decisions. We had a nice lead, but we were in a precarious position with respect to the weather. We needed to get South, away from the ridge below the wandering low that has been occupying our attention for the last several days. In a few days it looked like it might join up with another low on a Southern Ocean front and contribute towards the “mother of all” lows in the Westerlies heading towards the Horn. To do that required gybing to get South, which had the affect of sailing ourselves into last place. We’ve had to watch this movie on some of the previous legs as well, having to make gut-wrenching decisions that took us into last place in order to position ourselves where we wanted to be. The only good news about yesterday was that we had the resolve to make the hard decision.”

The conditions have certainly not favored the boats in the north as ABN AMRO TWO found to its cost. Having headed north out of Wellington Seb Josse found the best of the winds and moved into the lead after ABN AMRO ONE had gybed. The latest report however has the young crew in 5th position just ahead of Brasil 1 which sits at the top of the fleet in the most northerly position.

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