Volvo Ocean Race: Restart in the Atlantic

(October 24, 2017; Day 3, 21:12 UTC) – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet punched into the Atlantic today after surviving their first test from the weather gods through the Gibraltar Strait overnight.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing led the fleet through the Straits, at one point stretching out their advantage to more than 27 miles powered by following winds gusting as high as 35 knots.

However, that lead has been whittled away as the frontrunners find painfully light winds blocking their path south west as they point for the turning mark at Porto Santo in the Madeira Islands.

It was a good overnight for MAPFRE which entered this morning in second, working their way through the pack, but then later in the day bravely split to the north to now come even with Vestas.

“To be honest, anything can still happen in this leg,” explained MAPFRE navigator Joan Vila.

Lying between them and Porto Santo is an enormous wind hole 100 nautical miles wide which the navigators must carefully pick their way through.

Aside from MAPRFE, Vestas navigator Simon Fisher likes their position on the chasing pack. “If we get wind, we should get it before them but the outlier is MAPFRE which has a little more wind than us. Hopefully we get around (Porto Santo) in front of them.”

Leg 1 – Position Report (21:12 UTC)
1. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP) 791.5 nm DTF
2. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 0.0 nm DTL
3. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED) 13.0 nm DTL
4. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS) 28.8 nm DTL
5. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED) 30.8 nm DTL
6. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA) 31.7 nm DTL
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR) 31.8 nm DTL
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTL – Distance to Leader

To see the crew lists… click here.

Race details – Live content – Scoreboard – Race route – Facebook – YouTube

The first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race started on October 22 and extends 1450 nm from Alicante, Spain to Lisbon, Portugal via Porto Santo.

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