Volvo Ocean Race: Bound for the USA

Itajaí, Brazil (April 22, 2018) – It was a familiar sight on where the two red boats at the top of the Volvo Ocean Race overall leaderboard set the pace at the start of Leg 8 which takes the fleet from Itajaí, Brazil to Newport, USA

MAPFRE, in second place overall, led throughout the inshore portion of the leg start, with overall race leader Dongfeng Race Team giving chase just boat lengths behind.

Team Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic were up amongst the leaders as well, pushing the front-runners as they headed out to sea for the 5,700 nautical mile leg north.

Team AkzoNobel held down fifth place out of Itajaí while Team SHK/Scallywag and Vestas 11th Hour Racing were close to 3-minutes behind the leader at the final inshore gate.

The Scallywag team was sporting a new logo on both boat and uniform honouring their lost teammate John Fisher.

The forecast is for generally light winds, making for tricky conditions to start Leg 8. The fleet is likely to push out to the east to get further offshore before making a turn to the north.

After falling behind Dongfeng Race Team by one point on the leaderboard, MAPFRE skipper Xabi Fernández says his team needs to battle hard to regain the lead.

“We need to step up again and use all our strength to try to win this leg,” he said.

His counterpart on Dongfeng Race Team, Charles Caudrelier says the leg is complicated with tradewind sailing as well as a fourth and final doldrums crossing for the race.

“It’s a nice leg. We have to cross the doldrums again, but it should be in the easy part, further to the west, which is good,” said Caudrelier.

Then, it’s the Newport stopover, which is popular with the sailors, as the town is renowned as a sailing mecca.

“I love Newport,” said Team Brunel’s Bouwe Bekking. “It’s a sailing destination, with so much heritage with the America’s Cup there for so many years and of course all the locals know what our race is about. It’s one of the best stopovers.”

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

Leg 8 – Position Report (19:42 UTC)
1. MAPFRE (ESP), Xabi Fernández (ESP), 5013.4 nm DTF
2. Dongfeng Race Team (CHN), Charles Caudrelier (FRA), 0.2 nm DTL
3. Turn the Tide on Plastic (POR), Dee Caffari (GBR), 0.5 nm DTL
4. Team Brunel (NED), Bouwe Bekking (NED), 0.5 nm DTL
5. Team AkzoNobel (NED), Simeon Tienpont (NED), 0.7 nm DTL
6. Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag (HKG), David Witt (AUS), 0.8 nm DTL
7. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (DEN/USA), Charlie Enright (USA), 1.0 nm DTL
DTF – Distance to Finish; DTL – Distance to Lead

COURSE: Starting on April 22, Leg 8 takes the teams from Itajaí, Brazil to Newport, USA. Race organizers choose to estimate the tactical distance for each leg rather than list the actual distance, an unusual decision that’s revealed once the race starts and the tracker lists the actual distance to finish. The organizers say Leg 8 is 5700 nm whereas the actual distance from the tracker is 5027 nm.

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