Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 – Team Brunel on time for Christmas dinner
by Team Brunel 25 Dec 2017 11:50 PST
25 December 2017
Leg 3, Cape Town to Melbourne, Team Brunel arrival – Volvo Ocean Race © Ainhoa Sanchez / Volvo Ocean Race
On Christmas morning Team Brunel finished fourth in Melbourne. The third stage of the Volvo Ocean Race brought the sailors from Cape Town through the Southern Ocean in to Melbourne.
The team of the Dutch skipper Bouwe Bekking crossed the finish line after 14 days, 11 hours and 36 minutes. Just a few hours behind Mapfre and Dongfeng Raceteam and just one hour and 16 minutes behind Vestas 11th Hour racing.
Bekking: Let's first enjoy Christmas dinner
Skipper Bouwe Bekking after arriving in Melbourne: "It's been a really hard leg. You know in advance that this leg will be heavy but then immediately the first three, four days more than 40 knots wind. That really requires something from the crew. "
"The most important thing is that we have kept the boat whole and that everyone has arrived safely in Melbourne. In retrospect, I may have sailed too conservatively for the first few days. It is a continuous balance between risk and reward. You want to keep the boat in one piece. Especially if there are double points to be forgiven and you only have a short stopover to fix things."
"The differences are small and we are getting closer, the boat is as good as ready for the next stage. We don't have major damages. Most important for now is to get the whole crew back fit and rested before the next leg."
"But today there is first time for the family. When we left Cape Town there weren't many expecting us in on time for Christmas dinner."
24 hour record for Team Brunel
With a distance of 538.10 nautical miles on December 24, Team Brunel takes the Omega 24 hours speed record in this Leg.
Bekking: "Yes, we had a fantastic day on board, a lot went well. In the end it was just not enough to catch Vestas and get on to the podium. But we have really shown that we continue to give everything until the last. We are getting closer to the stage."
Leg 3 – Provisional Results
MAPFRE -- FINISHED -- 16:07.21 UTC – 14 days, 04h:07m:21s
Dongfeng Race Team -- FINISHED – 20:10:16 UTC – 14 days, 08h:10m:16s
Vestas 11th Hour Racing -- FINISHED – 21:52:11 UTC – 14 days, 09h:52m:11s
Team Brunel -- FINISHED – 23:36:27 UTC – 14 days, 11h:36m:27s
Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag – RACING
Turn the Tide on Plastic – RACING
Team AkzoNobel -- RACING
Volvo Ocean Race – Current Leaderboard
1. MAPFRE -- FINISHED -- 29 points (after Leg 3)
2. Dongfeng Race Team -- FINISHED -- 23 points (after Leg 3)
3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing -- FINISHED -- 23 points (after Leg 3)
4. Team Brunel -- FINISHED -- 14 points (after Leg 3)
5. team AkzoNobel -- RACING -- 7 points (after Leg 2)
6. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag -- RACING -- 5 points (after Leg 2)
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic -- RACING -- 2 points (after Leg 2)