Volvo Ocean Race – 55 seconds only - Dongfeng ends in disappointment

by Dongfeng Race Team on 27 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race – 55 seconds. That’s all. 55 seconds was the difference between third and fourth place. After 2,800 nautical miles, it was a simple crew error saw us lose the third place to Team Alvimedica after an intense and exhausting match-racing finish to the leg seven finish.

The thing is, we shouldn’t have even been fighting for third place.

In the fourth ever closest finish in Volvo Ocean Race history, just 55 seconds separated Dongfeng from an ‘annoying but fair’ result in their minds and an ‘extremely disappointing’ one.

“I am really angry with myself for the mistake we made just before the finish line, but at myself not the team – they did a great job,' said Skipper Charles Caudrelier.

“My main mission is to keep my anger in me and to apologise to my team, as I don’t think I was a very good skipper this morning. They had a very good spirit and mine was negative which was maybe why we lost that position. I need to work on me. I need to spend a few days back with my family to recover.”

Picture this, Dongfeng are sailing less than one nautical mile behind MAPFRE, Team Brunel are in first place but parked up in less than two knots of breeze by the finish line and there is still very much everything to play for.

Suddenly out of nowhere a gust of wind pushes MAPFRE forward. It was an identical boat in the same spot of the ocean and somehow they got lucky, so lucky in fact they caught up with Team Brunel and crossed the finish line in second place.

Dongfeng, however, were forced to stay put – watching over their shoulders knowing that Abu Dhabi was ready to creep up on them any minute.

But it wasn’t Abu Dhabi that crept up on them… it was Team Alvimedica. In the harshest of ocean racing hammers, Dongfeng found Team Alvimedica (who were over 30 miles behind the day before) sail right up and straight past.

With the final twist of a dagger, after failing to break Alvimedica’s well delivered ‘cover’ in an hour long match race, Dongfeng was offered a nice shift of breeze just 300 meters from the finish line but didn’t manage to take advantage of it after a failed tack saw them stopped dead in the water.

Hearts sank for those that were watching. And no doubt onboard too. There was some anger perhaps unfairly upon himself from the skipper Charles and frustration for the team on the dock.

Having gone from first on the way out of Newport, USA, to last two days later – then back to a solid lead after a near perfect traverse of the Azores anticyclone from which the crew thought they would streak away to Lisbon alone, only to see it disappear in an unpredictable wind hole.

Dongfeng Race Team then fight back to the front, accidently hit a shark and lost both distance and rhythm. Skilled sailing saw them return to a being few hundred meters behind Mapfre to fight for second place on the way into Lisbon just eight miles from the finish… only to watch it all slip away as Mapfre sailed away in a new breeze that just never came for Dongfeng.

“I felt this leg was actually quite smooth and under control before today,” said Yang Jiru (Wolf) on the dock. “For example we could manage to catch up from last to first. But this morning when we were stuck in the area where there was no wind, I felt helpless, so helpless watching the boats sail past.”

Of course, this is a long way from over in this race. Whilst a missed opportunity to close up on the overall race leaders, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, in terms of points who unusually finished in fifth place (which was definitely never in their plan), a one-point gain is better than a loss – and now we have Team Brunel almost on level points to watch out for now as well.

Charles will bounce back and Team Director, Bruno Dubois will come up with the right words to bring everyone’s spirits back up again, to take on the next leg like it’s a whole new race. Two more legs, short ones – but they count for the same points as a three-week leg across the Southern Ocean.

This may not be our best result and Charles may be blaming himself, but we just need to remember – we started this project hoping for one, maybe two podiums throughout the whole race. We have five out of seven and the order of the overall podium is far from the set.

Leg seven results

First: Team Brunel
Second: MAPFRE
Third: Team Alvimedica
Fourth: Dongfeng Race Team
Fifth: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Sixth: Team SCA

Overall scoreboard

First: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – 16 points
Second: Dongfeng Race Team – 21 points
Third: Team Brunel -22 points
Fourth: MAPFRE – 26 points
Fifth: Team Alvimedica – 27 points
Sixth: Team SCA – 41 points
Seventh: Team Vestas Wind – 52 points