Volvo Ocean Race – Major upset as fleet heads for Lisbon

by Rob Kothe on 25 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race – After a storming 24 hours by Team SCA, who once again have been Buffalo Girls, coming round the outside, the tail gunner in the six boat fleet is in fact, the overall race leader Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, who had lost more miles on the leaders in recent skeds.

Podium finishes in six legs with two wins and there was a general belief that Walker, Si Fi and the Assam team were unbeatable.

All of sudden the other teams have realised that Ian Walker still puts his pants on one leg at a time.

Their current sked last place shows that yes Walker is human and this morning we talked to a very subdued Abu Dhabi skipper by Sat Phone, just after the 645am UTC sked.

‘It’s not good, we are still losing ground- it’s all been a bit wacky racers out here.

‘The winds have been very different to the models in the forecast and then we have been just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

‘Going downwind has been a bit of an Achilles heel for us. Then it has all been about trying to position to get thru the high pressure system as fast as possible. We were late banking on the north but then the boats down south got the new wind and the shifts before us and SCA has carried more wind from behind and so we lost a couple of miles in the last skeds.

‘We were a bit late gybing back yesterday and then hung on for a shift and ended up getting a bit separated which cost us a bit further.

‘We thought we were going to make gains against SCA and Alvimedica and looking at the position report that obviously hasn’t happened.

‘There is nothing we can do about the top three boats. We would love Brunel and Mapfre to stay well ahead of Dongfeng but we have got no control over that.

‘It’s just a matter of trying to get through SCA and Alvimedica. It’s just a straight line reach to Lisbon. We are going to have slightly a worse angle than SCA and Alvimedica.

‘Right now all we can do is sail our own race. Get whatever points we can and move on.’

And the points certainly count, when the fleet left Newport, Abu Dhabi was leading with just 11 points, while Dongfeng had 17. It’s quite possible that as many as five points could separate the boats when they reach Lisbon and that will certainly add some spice to Lisbon Lorient and Lorient-Hague-Gothenburg legs.

Then there is the matter of the Traffic Separation- Exclusion zones issues where Dongfeng could, if previous outcomes are duplicated, lose points.

Interesting days ahead.