Volvo Ocean Race: The Final Miles

(June 21, 2015; Day 2) – Since the re-start from The Hague pit-stop on Saturday, it has been an obstacle course of exclusion zones and variable winds for the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15. And now as the fleet approaches the northern tip of Denmark, winds have been backing and diminishing.

Alvimedica, eager to maintain the lead they held at the re-start, was the first one to get into the transition around 1720 UTC.

“In all likeliness the fleet will compress there with a full race restart for the final sprint to Sweden,” reports Amory Ross from Alvimedica. “It is obviously not what we want so we are working particularly hard to hang on to a passing weather front that may be able to carry us comfortably to the finish!”

Alvimedica began the day with a 15 nm lead which has been disappearing during the day and they are now only 4.9 nm ahead of hunters Dongfeng with Brunel and MAPFRE just as ready to pounce.

It was not clear how the transition would play out. A park up was expected but it wasn’t clear for how long. The front pack is now in the new breeze from the east, sailing upwind angles. Alvimedica is directly upwind and covering the pack.

If the finishing order remains unchanged, the overall standings would be: 1. Abu Dhabi; 2. Brunel; 3. Dongfeng; 4. Alvimedica; 5. MAPRE; 6. SCA; 7. Vestas Wind.

ETA for the leaders is between 1000 and 1600 UTC on Monday. Live broadcast will go live starting at 0530 UTC.

The final event of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, the 12th edition of the 41-year-old event, will be the Inmarsat In-Port Race Gothenburg on Saturday, June 27, drawing to a conclusion nine months and more than 38,739nm covered, visiting 11 ports and every continent.

Leg 9 (930 nm) Position Report (at 22:38 UTC)
1. Team Alvimedica, Charlie Enright (USA), 91.0 nm Distance to Finish
2. Dongfeng Race Team, Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 4.8 nm Distance to Lead
3. Team Brunel, Bouwe Bekking (NED), arrived, 5.0 nm DTL
4. MAPFRE, Iker Martínez (ESP), arrived, 5.4 nm DTL
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker (GBR), 10.0 nm DTL
6. Team Vestas Wind, Chris Nicholson (AUS), 28.2 nm DTL
7. Team SCA, Sam Davies (GBR), 28.8 nm DTL

Race website – Tracking – Scoreboard – Videos

Background: The 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 11 with the final finish on June 27 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Racing the new one design Volvo Ocean 65, seven teams will be scoring points in 9 offshore legs to determine the overall Volvo Ocean Race winner. Additionally, the teams will compete in 10 In-Port races at each stopover for a separate competition, the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Series. The ninth and final leg from Lorient, France to Gothenburg, Sweden (930 nm) started on June 16 with an ETA on June 22.