"In this case, it is just to help plant the seed of doubt into the minds of our competitors"
Friday 10 November 2017 18:19, UK
As the Volvo Ocean Race begins to heat up, Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari has explained her decision to activate 'Stealth Mode' as the crew head towards Cape Town.
The teams are currently on the second leg of the race and began the 7,000-nautical-mile sail from Lisbon to the southern point of Africa on Sunday.
Turn the Tide on Plastic are seventh in the overall standings, finishing just behind Team Brunel in a leg that was won by Vestas 11th Hour Racing.
Caffari, who is the only female skipper in the race, has now activated 'Stealth Mode' - a tactic which allows the team to disappear from the other teams' radars for three of the four daily position reports.
"We had been sucked into a cloud from hell and felt we had lost out on the fleet. This cloud just kept wanting to push us west," said Caffari.
"We liked the idea of setting up west but this was making it too extreme and we were not sure we were comfortable.
"Finally, we were released and we saw blue skies and stable breeze for the first time in a long time.
"Now we could focus on sailing as fast as possible down the track just like our competitors had been doing - heading south."
Turn the Tide on Plastic will still receive position reports on the other teams while they remain invisible.
"With the leverage we have on the fleet at present, if we were to go into 'stealth' mode then they would not really know if our being west of the fleet was continuing to have a positive effect by giving us more pressure.
"I know the concept was created to encourage us to make some bold decisions, but in this case, it is just to help plant the seed of doubt into the minds of our competitors as to how much extra pressure we may be enjoying out to the west.
"We shall see and in the meantime keep trying to sail fast and close that delta on the rankings."
