OCEAN RACE
VOLVO
16
AUSTRALIAN SAILING (^) + YACHTING
APRIL-MAY 2015 MYSAILING.COM.AU
VOR UPDATE
FOUR WINNERS FROM FOUR
LEGS AS MAPFRE WINS LEG 4
WHAT a difference three legs make.
MAPFRE finished rock bottom in Cape Town
after Leg 1, but in Auckland, they emerged
victorious from one of the most closely fought
stages this 41-year-old race has ever witnessed.
“We were struggling with Abu Dhabi and
Dong feng at the beginning, we were a bit
slower, and in the Doldrums too,” explained
skipper Fernández Xabi.
We've now had four legs of nine - and
four different winners. First, Abu Dhabi
Ocean Racing, then Team Brunel, followed by
Dong feng Race Team and now MAPFRE.
For the best part of two days, the Spanish
boat had been in a tussle with Abu Dhabi
and Dong feng for the honour of winning
this 5,264-nautical mile leg from Sanya to
the ‘City of Sails’.
In the end, they pipped Ian Walker’s
crew by four minutes 25 seconds with the
Chinese boat hot on the Emirati boat’s
heels in a showdown for second. Abu Dhabi
eventually claimed that contest by less than
four minutes, tiny margins after so long
sailing through the South China Sea and
the Pacific Ocean.
The victory could not have been better
timed in so many ways.
None of the race’s 11 ports is quite
as sailing-crazy as New Zealand’s most
populous city and the people came out in
MAPFRE crossing
the finish line in
Auckland.
INSERT: The
crew celebrate
their Leg 4 win.
their tens of thousands – many of them by
water – to see the fleet home.
Team Alvimedica crossed the line in fourth
place, in the dark night, with the Auckland
skyline lit up in the background.
A beautiful, though slow finish – unlike
the last couple of days when the Turkish-
American boat fought well to catch up with
the first three.
Team Brunel sailed a great Leg 4, going for
a bold option north of the Philippines and
taking the lead seven days into the leg, on
February 15. Until they crossed the equator
and gybed east to avoid a Pacific island.
“Myself and our navigator Capey probably
made one little mistake, a costly mistake, and
it was the end of the leg for us,” says Bouwe
Bekking after his boat crossed the finish line.
Team SCA sailed almost the perfect leg,
being the first ones to tack north after the
Philippines early on in the leg, showing some
nerves and great boat handling skills.
“For us, it was the obvious option,” reflects
skipper Sam Davies. “We knew this option
was there before we left Sanya and we studied
how it was developing.
“It was looking good and it was surprising
not to see more teams going north.”
But despite a great first call, the rest of
the leg didn’t quite unfold the way the girls
wanted it to. That option initally paid off, but
they slowly dropped to the back of the fleet,
cloud after cloud, gybe after gybe.
Taking the sixth place in Auckland almost
seven hours after the first boat, Sam was a
mix of satisfaction and disappointment.
“It was nice being close to the fleet... but
we’re still not quite there.
"We’re pleased that we’re making good
moves, we’re getting better and better."
On the overall ranking, Team SCA
remains in sixth place while MAPFRE and
Team Alvimedica are tied for points for fourth
place, MAPFRE currently ahead because they
lead in the In-Port series.
Team Brunel is third, and Dong feng and Abu
Dhabi Ocean Racing are tied for points for the
lead, the first place going to Abu Dhabi for the
same reason – a better In-Port result. ✵
- VOR Media
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 8
- Dongfeng Race Team 8
- Team Brunel 14
- Team Alvimedica 16
- MAPFRE 16
- Team SCA 24
- Team Vestas Wind 28
OVERALL STANDINGS
AINHOA SANCHEZ/VOLVO OCEAN RACEXAUME OLLEROS/VOLVO OCEAN RACE