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IT’S STILL WIDE OPEN
At 45,000 miles, this 2017-18 VOR is the longest in the 45-year
history of the event. Auckland – the end of Leg 6 from Hong
Kong – was the halfway mark. Plenty of racing remains, and
anyone could win.
Only five points separate Mapfre – the Spanish team leading
the race – and Dongfeng Racing Team, the Chinese boat in second
place (39 to 34 points).
In third place is Team Sun Hung/Scallywag from Hong Kong
(26), Team AkzoNobel, Dutch, and USA/Denmark’s Vestas 11th
Hour Racing (both on 23), followed by the Dutch Team Brunel
(20), with the United Nations’ Turn the Tide on Plastic bringing
up the rear on 12 points.
While you might think this efectively equates to a two-horse
race, think again.
To appreciate how close the race is, you need to understand
how the scoring works. Boats win 1-7 points for each Leg: the
winner receiving 7 points, the last finisher 1 point. A DNF gets
zero points.
But for three of the 12 Legs (the most difcult), boats receive
double points – ie; the winner receives 14 points, and the last
finisher 2 points. The three are the Cape Town-to-Melbourne
Leg (through the Southern Ocean), Leg 7 (Auckland-to-Itajai in
Brazil), and the trans-Atlantic Leg, from Newport on the east
coast of the US to Cardif in Wales.
So the Auckland-to-Itajai Leg the boats are now tackling
will be pivotal. It’s widely regarded as the most difcult/
extreme/dangerous, with the boats venturing down to 50°
South – and then, as they approach South America, dipping
even further to round the infamous Cape Horn at 56° South.
The scoring system explains why Vestas 11th Hour Racing
is in equal fourth place, even though it scored DNFs for Legs 5
and 6 following a collision with a fishing boat near Hong Kong.
The badly-damaged yacht was unable to complete Leg 5, or
participate in Leg 6. But finishing third on Leg 3 (Cape Town-to-
Melbourne) gave it a healthy 10 points (2 x 5).
Bonus points are also awarded for winning each Leg, and to
the first boat to round Cape Horn. The boat with the quickest
overall time also picks up a bonus point. If there’s a tie after all
that, the results of the in-port races – held at the end of each
leg – will break it.