Volvo Ocean Race - Team SCA’s fired up for short courses

by Jedda Murphy on 26 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race Leg 7 Leader Brunel is now less than 270 miles from Lisbon, followed by Mapfre and Dongfeng. These boats are now in stronger winds, doing 18 knots, so they are extending their lead on the back group.

Team SCA this morning was 14 miles behind Abu Dhabi, after losing four miles in last three hours.

As the boats get closer to the Tagus River in Lisbon, conditions will lighten and the fleet will compress again, so Alvimedica, Abu Dhabi and Team SCA will close up.

Sail-World's Jedda Murphy was aboard Team SCA for the three practice races in Alicante, last October, this morning she talked to SCA skipper Sam Davies by Sat Phone as the Volvo fleet blasts towards Lisbon, now a day away.

Can you tell us about this leg from SCA's viewpoint?

'I think we are improving as a team all the time. I think we made a couple of mistakes in our navigation which has slowed us down a little bit I guess and that’s what set us back. I think we have probably negotiated the high pressure a bit better than the others and then we put ourselves in a position which we could use to our strength and make a final gain today and on the approach into Lisbon.'

Had you had any equipment issues on the boat on this leg?

'No. The boat is doing really well. We are looking after it and it has actually been the most amazingly calm, gentle crossing that I have ever done I think. There really hasn’t been too much wind. It’s been pretty scenic conditions for sailing and that has meant less wear and tear on the boat and crew too.'

Looking ahead to the short legs from Lisbon to Lorient and Lorient to Gothenburg, with 48 hour stopover in The Hague. You are the only team with two wins in the inshore races, do you feel this will stand you in good stead in these short legs?

‘Yes I think we have shown we are good at racing the short courses and shown we are pretty fired up for the last two legs that’s for sure. We have got extra people and extra hands for the manoeuvres and it is obviously going to be legs where you really get to position carefully.

‘More people means less stress and so we are pretty sharp with the manoeuvres compared to the guys who are a little bit more short-handed.'

The strategy of the leading teams has been to stick together, inside AIS range watching each other every closely. Would you aim to do that in the short legs?

'Well it’s not different from the other legs in that respect. The AIS is pretty good and when you are in range of the other boats it’s the best way to compare your boat speed and course so yes for sure in the short legs.'

Will you be rotating crew for the final legs or just putting your fastest crew on the boat?

‘We have two extra people so essentially we can choose either to rotate or keep the same crew but we haven’t made that decision yet.

‘It also depends on injuries. If anyone gets hurt then we can switch people. We are a really complimentary group so we have lots and lots of combinations that work really well so that’s pretty good because that means filling in it is not going to make too much of a difference to us and we can switch them out.

‘That’s still something to decide once we arrive before each leg. Essentially Lorient is a short stopover and that might make a difference in how we put our crew together for the last two legs.'

On a personal note:

'We are sorry that we didn’t come to Australia. It would have been nice to stop in your country as well. Sorry your audience didn’t get to see the fleet and witness the In Port racing and hopefully next time we will have a stopover in Australia for you guys.'

Unfortunately for Team SCA, along with Dongfeng and Mapfre they will start their Lisbon stopover in the Jury room, after that things can only get better!