Volvo Ocean Race - Potentially boat wrecking start to leg 2

by Dongfeng Race Team on 20 Nov 2014 As Yann Riou (Onboard Reporter) described it in a direct tweet from onboard Dongfeng just 30 minutes after the start, 'Zero to 40 knots before we’ve even left Cape Town'. A full on, nerve-racking and potentially boat wrecking start to the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Table Mountain and its unstable winds that have such a reputation for causing havoc for the racing sailors that tackle it, didn’t disappoint.

The ‘starter’ of the five course (and rounding mark) menu of this testing first hour already highlighted the quite different ‘characters’ of the seven teams - Abu Dhabi sailing with reduced mainsail (Two reefs versus one in rest of fleet) sailing a tidy route and rounding, Dongfeng going wide and doing a ‘chicken gybe’ as it’s known to reduce the stress on its rigging and sails around a gusty sharp corner despite it sending them from fourth to last, and leading boat off the line Mapfre straight in to a full on crash gybe with boom smashing in to the runners (that hold up the mast). The next three short legs had the boats flying at up to 30 knots in winds estimated by VOR veteran Skip Novak at over 35 knots with spectacular images that we recommend replaying online - and then as the boats headed out of Table Bay, back to flat calms and gusty squalls in equal measure as the fleet tried to negotiate their way around the notorious wind shadows behind Table Mountain. As the live coverage came to an end it was SCA leading the fleet from a more inshore position, and Abu Dhabi and Dongfeng at the back on the numbers, but with a more offshore positioning.

As the sun set, the fleet were in for a tricky couple of hours to get around the Cape of Good Hope, made even harder once darkness fell in terms of seeing the wind shifts and gusts funnelling down from the peaks of the famous Cape. Then on to a tough, bone and boat breaking upwind night around the southern tip of South Africa. It’s a night for seamanship not brinkmanship. And all the crews will be looking forward to getting away from the effects of land and making their way initially east in to the Indian Ocean, careful to navigate well the fierce tides of the Agulhas Current.

Mike Horn: 'A leader is somebody that doesn’t have to say much but has a presence. On this boat Charles has a presence. He listens to people and I know that his word is stronger than his pride, this is perhaps the advantage he has an advantage over the other skippers.

Charles Caudrelier: 'My Chinese sailors are not passengers on this boat. Black will be the same because he has a good spirit. My expectations for leg two is for Black to have a good race, people ask me ‘how can you be competitive and train rookies at the same time?’ My answer is that we try to do well because this is how we will teach them, we want to teach them how to have a good result. I hope to inspire, that is my most important job as a Skipper.'

Pascal Bidégorry: 'I am stressed. There is a lot of wind at the start of this leg.'

Liu Xue (Black): 'I’m a little bit excited. Well I’m very excited but I try not to be, I don’t want to distracted I want to be focused, I try to stay level. So I’m only a little bit excited, not a lot. This team is a big family, we eat together, sleep together, we talk about everything on the boat, we are like brothers. Well… maybe Pascal is like a father! We Chinese only have little experience so the others they help us. They have helped my mentality and now I’m ready.'

Kevin Escoffier: 'Maybe having new Chinese onboard is a compromise to performance but we are look at the global picture. Black is very good and Horace too. For Horace sometimes I am not a good teacher enough for him to be able to do everything. We have all to learn and I need to learn how to be a better teacher for Horace at the bow and he has to learn how to be a better bowman at night or in tough conditions. He is very young and for him it is his first offshore legs and I am quite confident it will be very good. Eric is helping at the bow too.'

Eric Peron: 'It’s been a short break but I’m really excited to get back on the water, it’s going to be an interesting leg with strong wind at the start. It will be very interesting to see how the teams manage this leg because there are a few key decisions to make early on. The start is going to be very windy and even though sailors want wind, this much wind can be dangerous. I guess we will focus on not breaking people or boat. We just need to keep in mind that we did something good on leg one and we can hope to do something good again, Black is a good element for the team, he is motivated and I’m not too worried about the crew change. Horace is very confident from leg 1 and we aim to make Black confident too.'

Yang Jiru (Wolf): 'I have known Black for a long time and now he’s finally made it to be onboard for a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. He is so happy and I am happy for him, I hope he will sail well and travel Dongfeng Race Team