Volvo Ocean Race - Team Brunel wins Leg 7 in Lisbon

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 27 May 2015 Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking) (NED) has taken line honours in Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

She crossed the finish line in Lisbon at 0500UTC crossing in light winds just after daybreak.

Next to finish was Mapfre (Iker Martinez) (ESP). Both boats just ghosted up the estuary, pushing the outgoing tide. Crews were packed right forward along with the sails to get all the weight as far forward as possible and reduce stern drag.

The breeze increased for the final mile for Mapfre assuring her of second place. Following her home was Team Alvimedica 6nm astern of the leader, with Dongfeng Racing the same margin away initially after she was passed by the USA/Turkish flagged entry.

Despite the match racing skills aboard Team Alvimedica, Dongfeng was able to cut the lead back in the last couple of miles to the finish and for a time the boat were bow to bow.

A tacking duel close to the finish line saw both competitors fluff their tacks in the shifting puffy breeze. Eventually Team Alvimedica regained control, got Dongfeng out to the port layline for the finish and Charles Caudrelier could only follow Charlie Enright home. The margin was just 55 seconds after 10 days of intense trans-oceanic racing.

As those two crossed the line, Abu Dhabi was 7nm from the finish and Team SCA had 17nm to sail.

After the finish, Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker was sanguine about the fact that this was the first time his team had finished off the podium. 'if you told us before the start we would be five points in front at the end of Leg 7, we would have been very happy', Walker commented.

He said the Emirati entry lost the race sailing down the Ice Gate, they were relatively slow running, and could not catch up.

Walker also noted that three of the crew were ill, however still performed up to their required workload and he wasn't offering that as an excuse.

The result does not alter the points situation with Abu Dhabi retaining a lead of five points over Dongfeng. However the Chinese entry is still to appear in front of the International Jury over incidents at the start of Leg 7. Dongfeng is two points ahead of Team Brunel.

Alvimedica is four points astern of Team Brunel with Mapfre one point behind. However Mapfre also has a problem to work through in the Jury Room and that situation may change.

The race boats reported they had a very comfortable trip across the Atlantic with a peak wind of 24kts, the leg was sailed in mostly flat water.

For the first time in the history of the Volvo Ocean Race the finish off all boats in a trans-oceanic leg was covered live in video broadcast in its entirety, after 10 days of racing.

Team Vestas Wind has also arrived in Lisbon, just beating the boats who finished Leg 7. The blue hulled yacht eased into the race village at Lisbon with eleven days to go until the start of Leg 8. The Vestas Wind program is ahead of schedule.

Final preparations, including the reassembly of the keel and rig, are now underway on land as the team prepares to return to the water for the first time ahead of the weekend of racing (4th – 7th June).