Volvo Ocean Race - Cape Town superstition

by Volvo Ocean Race on 29 Nov 2010 Volvo Ocean Race.

A year from now, the Volvo Open 70 fleet will be arriving into the first port of call in the 2011 - 12 Volvo Ocean Race, Cape Town. ‘The tavern of the seas' will be a safe haven after the proving ground of the first 6,500 nautical miles of the race.

Legend has it that the first boat into Cape Town will eventually go onto win the race and past experience does prove this folktale to be true. In the last edition of the race, this leg was won by Ericsson 4, the overall race winner, with PUMA Ocean Racing coming in second in both leg and race as well. More proof comes from the 2008-09 Race when ABN Amro One won the Fighting Finish Trophy for the race and the leg, as did illbruck in 2001-02.

So is this a strange coincidence, or are there other reasons for it?

Many say that this belief manifests from the fact that the team that wins the leg is normally the team that has had the best training and preparation before the start of the race. They have the smoothest crew work, as they have been a racing unit for a long time and often have been sailing on their boat for extensive periods.

This was certainly true for Ericsson 4 in the past edition as they spent the year before the race start training in an old Volvo Open 70, whilst building two new boats. They were also the only team in the race that kept the same crew all the way around the globe. These factors certainly will have helped them win the race and the first leg.

When the new rule was introduced to limit two-boat testing for the 2011-12 race, this not only reduced costs for the race campaigns but also allowed every team to play on a fairer level. It meant the well-funded projects did not have an unfair advantage and it has also resulted in most of the new teams for this coming race making use of older Volvo Open 70s for their training. At the moment, Team Groupama, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing Team and Puma Ocean Racing are all sailing on older boats. In addition, Team Camper is well on its way to getting their new Volvo Open 70 in the water.

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/