Yachts & Yachting - July 2018

Brunel gradually closed and took
the lead, just 170nm from Cardif,
with Dongfeng a little back.

CHANNEL CHALLENGE
he 10 metre tidal range up the Bristol
Channel was now the challenge. As
the tide rushed out the two Dutch
boats stalled, just 200 metres apart. It
seemed anchors would be deployed,
but the wind illed, and Brunel was

irst to creep eastwards, grabbing
a precious mile before AkzoNobel
moved. With the tide now turned, the
yellow boat held on to take the win.
Ater eight and half days of sailing the
delta was just 4 minutes, 5 seconds.
Bouwe Bekking said: “Beating

Dongfeng and Mapfre, with boats in

between, means that we have closed

the gap with them and the overall

win remains for us a realistic goal.”

AkzoNobel skipper Simeon Tienpont

“It was an insane leg. It is a little bit

sour now being headed ater leading

for so long, but we are unbelievably

proud to take the 24 hour record.”

Dongfeng inished third on the

looding tide, two places ahead of

Mapfre, while Charlie Enright’s Vestas

inished fourth. he team has up to

now had podium inishes, but the four

nil result legs (because of a collision

and dismasting) means the best the

team can expect is a ith place overall.

Turn the Tide and Scallywag, with

their string of back of leet results, are

ighting for the overall wooden spoon.

And so, to the leaderboard: Dongfeng

sits on 60 points, Mapfre on 59, Team

Brunel on 57, AkzoNobel 48, with 17

points still undecided. Dongfeng should

take the extra point for the fastest overall

elapsed time in the race, and this could

be decisive - although Mapfre has the

In Port series point, a tiebreaker.

Dongfeng navigator Pascal Bidegorry

says histeamneedsatleastonelegwin

with its bonus point in the remaining

two legs – Cardif to Gothenburg and

GothenburgtotheHague–totakethe

race, but Brunel has the momentum.

So, exciting times as the leet lines up

to depart Cardif on 10 June, but a point

to ponder: if the race switches to box rule

IMOCA60s where boat design comes

back into play, we may look back fondly

at the Volvo Ocean 65 one design era for

the incredibly close racing it produced.

ROB KOTHE speaks to Volvo Ocean Race teams

after the Altantic crossing leg to Cardi set the

race up for an enthralling final two legs

It was an insane leg... We are unbelievably

proud to take the 24 hour record

NEWS SPOTLIGHT VOLVO OCEAN RACE

July 2018 Yachts & Yachting 11