Tough time for Team Brunel in Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4
by Team Brunel 17 Jan 2018 08:02 PST
17 January 2018
Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, day 16 on board Brunel © Yann Riou / Volvo Ocean Race
In Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, which brings the fleet from Melbourne to Hong Kong, Team Brunel are working hard for a better position. With little over 1.000 nautical miles to go, the team of skipper Bouwe Bekking is having a hard time. The team is currently in a disappointing sixth place.
Bekking: “It’s frustrating, but the only thing we can do on board is remain positive and trim and steer the boat as good as possible. Everybody is giving a 100%, there is no doubt about that, but at the moment that’s just not enough. We’ve made a mistake twice; one time at the beginning of the leg. We were able to correct the consequences of the first mistake. But in the Doldrums we made again a wrong decision. In the Doldrums that has particularly big consequences.”
Besides the tactical decision the skipper also sees a short of pure boat speed at several angles.
Bekking: “With lower wind speeds and when we’re sailing closer angles to the wind, we’re doing alright. But when it’s like this, with more wind and coming more from the back, we barely or don’t manage to keep up with the rest of the fleet.”
Crew change of influence
During the short stopover in Melbourne the team was forced to change no less than four crewmembers. Balcaen, Burling, Bolzan and Lush were replaced with Dolmer, Kirby, Newton and Barkow.
Bekking: “We’ve got two guys (Kirby and Newton ed.) on board that have no experience with this boat and three (Kirby, Newton and Barkow ed.) without experience in the team. That’s no offense to them, but it shows the extremely high level of all the teams in the fleet. The Volvo Ocean Race is absolute top-class sport, especially now it’s a one design and the sailors and their experience are of influence on the result. In this leg we miss that unfortunately.
Boats are expected in Hong Kong by the end of the week
The boats will arrive on Friday or Saturday in Hong Kong. About the possibilities to improve their standings in this leg the experienced skipper is realistic.
Bekking: “We have to be patient, maybe we can make a tactical manoeuvre but realistically it’s going to be very difficult this leg.”
Position report - 07:00 UTC
1. Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag
2. Vestas 11th Hour Racing
3. Dongfeng Race Team
4. Team AkzoNobel
5. MAPRE
6. Team Brunel
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic