Volvo Ocean Race - Team Brunel in pole position to Cape Town

by Team Brunel on 12 Oct 2014 Today in the Spanish port of Alicante, the Volvo Ocean Race started. In calm conditions the seven teams started the first 6487 mile (about 12.000 kilometers) long leg to Cape Town. Immediately after the start Team Brunel - with the Dutch television host Humberto Tan on board – took the lead. The boys of skipper Bouwe Bekking didn’t make any mistakes, did nicely their mandatory laps around the buoys and sailed afterwards as the first boat to sea.

Team Brunel director Gideon Messink 'After the start they could reach the first buoy without tacking, they choose to use in place of the code zero, the jib one. They arrived first at the bottom mark. After they rounded the buoy, we made a good decision to tack immediately, so we came out almost exactly on the layline to the windward mark. The combination of the best tactics and the right sail choices has ensured that we sailed in pole position to Cape Town.'

Humberto Tan: 'It’s so cool onboard and the boat is so fast. It was wonderful to see how hard the guys were working and how quiet it was on-deck. Team Brunel is a well-oiled machine, which is extremely well adapted to each other. I found it very exciting to jump, because the distance to the water was very big. '

The boats are expected in South Africa early November. The 12th edition of the former Whitbread Round the World Race has ten stages and one so-called 24-hour pit stop in the Dutch city Scheveningen. The fleet of seven VO65 boats will finishes after 38,739 nautical miles (68,500 kilometers) in the Swedish city of Team Brunel Volvo Ocean Race