Volvo Ocean Race: Rich get richer

(February 25, 2018; Day 19) – With routing taking the lead teams more toward Australia than New Zealand, the forecast has finally given the green light for the left turn to the finish in Auckland.

AkzoNobel is the known pacesetter, as their longtime running mate Scallywag has engaged Stealth Mode earlier this morning. They won’t return to the position report until 0100 UTC tomorrow. At the time they went in, they had a narrow 4-mile advantage on AkzoNobel.

AkzoNobel, Turn the Tide and Plastic and Scallywag have held the advantage for days, diving hard south and getting into the new pressure first. Although they are sailing a greater distance to the finish, sweeping in from the west, the extra speed is making the gamble pay.

“The current picture to Auckland doesn’t show the pain we thought we were going to see,” said Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari. “It looks like we’ll come in with pressure and it will stay with us. Fingers crossed that does happen.”

If the weather news is good for the leading group, it’s not as favorable for the trailing trio.

“They are going three or four knots faster than us. I don’t think there is anything we can do to come back,” said Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier. Instead he has his sights on winning his southern group, over Brunel and MAPFRE.

With just over 400 miles to go for the leaders, time is running out to make a move as the course slips around Cape Reinga and North Point, the northern tip of New Zealand, and then dashes down the east coast of the North Island and into the finish of Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

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), 415.7 nm DTF
2. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 44.1 nm DTL
3. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 129.7 nm DTL
4. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 132.0 nm DTL
5. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 152.9 nm DTL
Stealth mode. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS)
DNS. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA)
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTL – Distance to Lead; DNS – Did Not Start

Editor’s note: We find Stealth Mode as a clever tactical option for the teams but a completely contrary feature to the mission of the race. With all the effort to engage fans, it is beyond our comprehension why the organizers can’t figure out how to allow teams to go dark to their competitors but keep the lights on for us. C’mon people!

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