Volvo Ocean Race: Offshore match racing

(February 26, 2018; Day 20) – The finish of Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race is shaping up to be a nail-biter as AkzoNobel and Scallywag are all even after making the turn at the northern tip of New Zealand.

The teams now face lighter breeze stretching around 70 miles from the tip down south to Cape Brett at the entrance to the Bay of Islands before moderate north-easterlies will fill in to provide fast reaching conditions into the finish line.

With Turn the Tide on Plastic not far behind, the dilemma facing the top three teams is whether to punch into adverse current closer to the coast on the shorter route to the finish line or head further offshore to pick up favourable current at the cost of more miles.

With the leaders dealing with the light winds, MAPFRE and Dongfeng have roared back as they engage in their own private match race to Auckland. Count on both going full on to help their positions at the top of the overall standings.

The latest ETA for the leaders is early afternoon UTC tomorrow.

Beginning on February 7, Leg 6 is listed as a 6,100 nautical mile course from Hong Kong to Auckland, New Zealand.

For crew lists… click here.

Damage: Only six of the seven teams are competing in Leg 6 as Vestas 11th Hour Racing is repairing their boat following the collision with a fishing boat as they neared the finish line of Leg 4 in Hong Kong. The team shipped their boat to Auckland to complete repairs in time for the March 18 start of Leg 7 to Itajaí, Brazil.

Race details – Tracker – Scoreboard – Race route – Facebook – YouTube

Leg 6 – Position Report (19:00 UTC)
1. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 174.3 nm DTF
2. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 0.0 nm DTL
3. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 12.1 nm DTL
4. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 47.0 nm DTL
5. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 48.1 nm DTL
6. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 114.0 nm DTL
DNS. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTL – Distance to Lead; DNS – Did Not Start

Overall Results (after 5 of 11 legs)
1. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 34 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 30
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 23
4. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 20
5. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 18
6. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 15
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 9

2017-18 Edition: Entered Teams – Skippers
• Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED)
• Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA)
• MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP)
• Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
• Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS)
• Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR)
• Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED)

Background: Racing the one design Volvo Ocean 65, the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race begins in Alicante, Spain on October 22 2017 with the final finish in The Hague, Netherlands on June 30 2018. In total, the 11-leg race will visit 12 cities in six continents: Alicante, Lisbon, Cape Town, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Auckland, Itajaí, Newport, Cardiff, Gothenburg, and The Hague. A maximum of eight teams will compete.

Source: Volvo Ocean Race