Volvo Ocean Race - Upset in the last legs??

by Rob Kothe on 24 May 2015 Volvo Ocean Race -Leg 7 Newport to Lisbon. There is now just over 900 nautical miles to go, before the Wednesday finish. If current positions are maintained to the Lisbon finish line with Dongfeng taking the gun and Abu Dhabi finishing fifth, then Abu Dhabi would lead the overall race with 15 points while Dongfeng would be second on 18 points.

With the short legs upcoming Lisbon to Lorient, Lorient to Gothenburg, a poor start, another pallet hookup another poor finish for Ian Walker's Emirati boat and Charles Caudrelier and his Dongfeng crew could snatch overall race victory.

It's not surprising therefore that Abu Dhabi - the emirate’s team in the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race - is apparently going to gamble on a fast passage around the Atlantic Ocean light wind zone known as the ‘Azores High’ to help get them back in contention for a podium place on leg 7 from Newport, Rhode Island to Lisbon, Portugal.

Despite leading the fleet for much of the 2,800 nautical-mile transatlantic leg, Abu Dhabi dropped to fifth place after snagging a wooden cargo pallet on the keel of their yacht Azzam overnight on day 4.

After clearing the obstruction and suffering a decrease in their speed for the 24 hours after the incident, ADOR has reported they are head north. If its true then this will be a desperate manoeuvre in a bid to catch the higher winds, avoid the centre of the ‘Azores High’ and catch up to the rest of the fleet on approach to Lisbon.