Dana Johannsen: Two skippers proves one too many

Emirates Team New Zealand sails during the start of leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race. Photo / Supplied

As a great philosopher once said, indecision may or may not be a problem.

Just a few days in to a nine- month race around the world and Team New Zealand have discovered in ocean racing, indecision causes big problems.

After a 12-year absence from the Volvo Ocean Race, New Zealand's return to the event was marked by a less than auspicious start.

It was looking promising enough early on. Team New Zealand's Camper-sponsored boat was the first through the Straits of Gibraltar, having fared the best in the torrid conditions over the first 24 hours.

But upon reaching the open expanses of the Atlantic it was decision time. Left or right?

The pre-race weather data suggested taking the traditional trade route down the African coast was the favourable option for the voyage to Cape Town. But the fleet reached the Atlantic later than their initial forecasting suggested and once they did get there the prevailing conditions tended to favour going west.

It was a difficult call, and Team New Zealand made the costly error of failing to properly commit to a route.

Following the earlier advice, they tentatively headed towards the African coast, but soon found themselves parked up with their window of opportunity to benefit from the weather system closing fast.

Eventually they came to the realisation they needed to break away to the west but the move cost them the lead, sending them to the back of the pack. The team are hopeful this will be just a short-term hit for the sake of long-term gains, but it remains to be seen.

The bigger concern is whether the incident is symptomatic of wider problems on the boat.

Some have suggested that the early indecision is a sign the co-skipper arrangement between Chris Nicholson and his night watch captain Stu Bannatyne is not working.

With Bannatyne initially planning to commit to another team, Camper went ahead and signed Nicholson as their skipper. However, the campaign Bannatyne was expected to head did not get off the ground and Team New Zealand naturally leapt at the chance to sign the three-time winner.

With two experienced leaders on board, the Camper crew adopted a collective team management approach. But is this an effective set-up when decisive action is required?

It's a brutal lesson, but one that is best learnt on the first 500 nautical miles of a 39,000 mile race.

Team New Zealand are confident they can yet recover from their early stumbles. The team have positioned themselves well to pick up the expected strong northwesterly front.

The next 24 hours are shaping up as the defining period of the first leg, with all eyes on whether Groupama's gamble to trek down the African coast will pay off.

After Team New Zealand beat a rather slow retreat from the east, the French team were the only boat to take the coastal route. As of late last night the decision had brought Groupama a lead of 190 nautical miles over second-placed Team Telefonica, who along with Puma and, eventually, Camper headed west.

While it's a case of so far so good for the French, weather forecasts point to a new low pressure weather system that could come in to destroy the trade winds to their south.