• Points system saviour – the new equal points scoring system has given the tail enders plenty of hope. But lack of preparation for the next leg is concerning

• Food for thought – with just two meals left, Knut Frostad’s Djuice Dragon team are on a serious diet!

• The real Djuice Dragons – was Knut Frostad’s choice of design a hit or miss?

Although the tail enders of the VOR fleet may not have too much to smile about at the moment as they slog it out in light winds off Cape Town, there is no doubt they are breathing a big sigh of relief. Thanks to the new equal-points scoring system, they will suffer no penalties, despite their slow progress. Had it been four years ago when the elapsed time scoring system was still in place, they would, by now, be seriously considering calling it a day and heading back home knowing that the winner of the first leg would probably win overall. Now, like any typical race series, it’s possible to finish last in the first race yet still win overall.

However, with nearly one week behind the leading two boats and less than two weeks before the start of the next leg on 11 November, it’s going to be tough for the crews of SEB, Amer Sports Too and Djuice Dragons. Not only will they need extra time for recovery having spent nearly a week more at sea, they’ll be seriously short of preparation time. Looking on the bright side however, at least Nautor Challenge’s shore crew should have sorted out the problems on Amer Sports One and will hopefully be ready and waiting to deal with the girls aboard Amer Sports Too who are due to cross the finish line on Wednesday 31 October.

Lack of food has become a major problem aboard Djuice Dragons. With two days to go there is barely anything left. All the freeze dried food has gone and the only food remaining are the two meals that were handed over when they stopped to pick up the new headboard car just off Brazil. “We have all lost weight and we will look thin when we arrive in Cape Town,” commented Mikael Lundh, “but we will be ready and fit for fighting for the restart as we enter the Southern Ocean.” It will be interesting to see what, if any emergency food rations the teams take on the next leg because there is no doubt that lack of food affects performance and the Southern Ocean is definitely no place for weak performers.

While lack of food and stamina, broken headboard car and tactical mistakes have undoubtedly affected Djuice Dragon’s performance, Knut Frostad’s must be questioning himself on his choice of design. While the rest of the fleet, except Grant Dalton who chose a Frers design, went for the Farr, Frostad decided on the one-off Laurie Davidson design. Two identical boats were built for the Djuice campaign and put through an intense period of two-boat testing. But with lack of mixed fleet competition prior to the start of the VOR, nothing could have prepared the team for what to expect from the boat’s overall performance against the other designs. They’ve had a bad one this time but who knows what lies ahead. I think the second leg will really start to sort the men/women out from the boys and give a better indication of who to put the money on!