Volvo Ocean Race – Make or break

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 8 Jun 2015 This afternoon the eighth and penultimate leg of the Volvo Ocean Race started in Lisbon. Team Brunel must win this leg to the French port of Lorient to still have a chance of final victory.

Thanks to winning the last leg, the chance that Team Brunel will win the Volvo Ocean Race has got slightly greater. However, they will have to win the last two legs. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing will also have to end twice in fifth place or lower and Bouwe Bekking and his men will have to hold off Dongfeng Race Team.

“I’m happy that a lot of wind is expected on the next leg,” says a fired-up Bouwe Bekking. “If the weather forecasts are right, this opens up possibilities for us because we generally perform well in severer conditions. The last stretch of the next leg - from after we pass Cape Finisterre and just before we reach Lorient - could be the toughest 24 hours of this Volvo Ocean Race. We’ll be sailing upwind with 40 to 45-knot winds. We trained for a week in the same area in February 2014 in similar conditions, so we know exactly how the boat will perform close hauled with this wind speed. That’s why I’ve got a lot of confidence in this leg.”

The fleet is expected in Lorient around 10 June. This 12th edition of the former Whitbread Round the World Race comprises nine legs and a so-called 24-hour pit-stop in Scheveningen. The fleet of seven VO65 boats will cross the line in the Swedish city of Gothenburg after a voyage of approximately 38,739 nautical miles.