Volvo Ocean Race - Team SCA completes closest race in race history

by Annaleisha Rae on 1 Mar 2015 Volvo Ocean Race Team SCA arrived into Auckland, in the early hours of this morning, Sunday, March 1, just seven hours behind the winner of the leg, Mapfre (ESP) in the closest ever race leg.

After 5,648 miles in some of the toughest conditions the fleet had experienced to date, the leg from Sanya, China to Auckland was the closest leg in the history of the race, with the three leaders finishing within eight minutes of each other.

On the dock Annie Lush (GBR) reflected on the leg.

'It was tough, so we decided to take a dive to the north and we were kind of relieved to see someone (Team Brunel) follow us, so at least we had someone alongside us. That was pretty exciting for quite a while, it was going well but unfortunately we didn’t quite take the right moment to cash in on all the gains we made and we ended up in less pressure than we had anticipated.

'I think we dropped the ball when we had a bad night - some clouds, which we didn't sail too well. As a result they gained some miles and I think that shows what this race is like. It is relentless, it is tough, and you let up for one minute and that’s it – that’s one design racing for you.'

Sally Barkow commented, 'I think this leg was good in that we were always in touch with the group and every sked was something to think about, we were sometimes right there, sometimes had some catching up to do, but I definitely think that we have more to give and maybe we can start making some bigger leaps.'

The team will spend the next few days resting before they start preparing for Leg Five from Auckland to Itajai, Brazil which, 6,776nm is the longest leg of the race. The leg begins on Sunday March 15 and is expected to arrive in Brazil on April 5.