Last hard kick en route to Itajai
Brutal weather overnight on Friday night was another hard blow to the sailors...Peter Rusch
There will be a live feed of the leg 3 finish from Itajaí on the Eurosport.com blogs about The Ocean Race - details below.
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It was the last thing they needed.
A quick, deepening low pressure system bringing winds in excess of 40 knots, a sickening sea state, and another massive challenge for sailors operating on the 34th day of racing.
Some of the action on Team Holcim PRB
It meant for an exhausting, pressure-filled night, trying to compete for points while making sure the boat and crew could make it to the finish line.
"This is the final push - push, push, push!!!" said Malizia's skipper Boris Herrmann. "I'm trying to keep the boat upright and balanced under the sails... I have to confess, I'm a bit tense. You don't want to make a mistake now, here."
With the competition so close, teams are being circumspect about how much damage they really have. It's a competive advantage to hide your vulnerabilities from the competition.
But there is no doubt that every boat is operating at less than 100%. And every crew member is being asked to give past their comfort level.
Team Holcim-PRB dropped miles to Team Malizia on Friday evening. After the boats raced in lockstep since Cape Horn, it was unusual to see Malizia quickly stretch out to 30-plus miles.
It's not hard to imagine some level of damage on board as a contributing factor. The distance seems to have stabilised this morning (local time), but it could already be a leg winning difference for Boris Herrmann's team.
Further back, in fight for third place, we know Biotherm hit an object last evening and damaged a foil. The fact that 11th Hour Racing Team hasn't added in a meaningful way to its lead overnight would indicate Charlie Enright's squad is probably operating at somewhat less than 100% as well.
It would be impossible to overstate how challenging this last run up the coast since passing Cape Horn has been. Normally the turn to the north provides a respite from the southern ocean and a return to a week of tactical racing to the finish.
This year, it has been a continuous series of new challenges to be met by crews and boats who have been pushed long past their operational limits.
The finish line off the Ocean Live Park in Itajai can't come soon enough.
The ETA for the winning boat is between 0200 and 0800 local time Sunday morning in Itajaï - 0600 to noon UTC on Sunday.
Live coverage of the finish will be available via a player in The Ocean Race blogs on Eurosport.com.
The English blog is at: https://www.eurosport.co.uk/
The German blog can be found at: https://www.eurosport.de/