Volvo Ocean Race visits Nansha
by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia 3 Feb 2018 09:55 PST
VOR 2017-18 Nansha Stopover. The In-Port Race from the spectator gallery © Guy Nowell
Events sometimes have to bend over a long way to satisfy the commercial interests of sponsors, because commercial sponsorsorship is very often the life blood of the events.
Yesterday and today, however, saw a new level of flexibility achieved in the form of the Volvo Ocean Race’s Guangzhou Stopover - which is actually in Nansha, some 20nm downstream from the capital city of Guangdong Province. That’s like saying that Gravesend is in London, which it isn’t.
Furthermore, the motoring expedition from Hong Kong to Nansha was officially scored as a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race – one point for every boat that participated: ‘competed’ is too generous a word. This, we understand, was to ensure that boats and their crews did actually pitch up in Nansha. Two VOR skippers that we spoke to said that they would rather rest their crews in Hong Kong in advance of the re-start heading for Auckland (07 Jan), were it not for that salutary point. [Present forecast for the Luzon Strait after leaving Hong Kong is 40kts from the east. Smack on the nose.]
We understand, we really do understand; but we also believe that calling a motoring trip a ‘leg’ of the big race, and awarding points for a 50nm sector under engine seriously undermines the credibility of the Volvo Ocean Race. Rethink needed. When awarding stopover contracts, be careful what you promise: Hong Kong was to be the only stopover in Asia until sponsor Dongfeng exercised some financial muscle, declining to fund an entry in the race unless there was also a stop in mainland China.
Anyway, the fleet arrived in Nansha Marina safely on 01 February. Today was the In-Port Race, a fully-fledged event on the In-Port Scoreboard, and at the top of the table were local heroes Dongfeng Race Team. The race course was laid not in front of Nansha Marina where the attending crowds could actually watch the proceedings, but half a mile or so upriver and on the other side of the Humen Bridge, which did nothing to improve visibility of the event. There were no spectator boats and no media boats because the local marine authority decided, in the wake of the tragic accident involving Vestas 11th Hour Racing on her approach to Hong Kong, that the best way to make everything as safe as possible was to remove all ‘non-racing’ boats from the area – completely ignoring the fact that Vestas’s collision took place in the dark (01.30h), in strong wind (20kts and some) and involved an unlit fishing boat. A far cry from racing in broad daylight in a maximum of 10kts of breeze.
The race started after a short AP with SHK/Scallywag and Dongfeng OCS, but while Scallywag returned and restarted cleanly, Dongfeng hooked the pin. By the time she had disentangled herself, the rest of the fleet was about to round the windward gate some 0.7nm away. MAPFRE led from wire to wire, and the real battle was between Team Brunel and AkzoNobel, with Scallywag relegated to fourth after the first run of the four-sausage windward/leeward course. Dongfeng Race Team never recovered from their disastrous start, and sailed home at the back of the pack behind Turn the Tide on Plastic.
Back at the dock, MAPFRE skipper Xabi Fernández said, “It was very tricky racing in the river, of course. But we had a very good start and then we were able to stay in phase with the wind and current [1.5 kts at the start of the race, more like 3 kts by the end] and extended away.” MAPFRE now leads the In-Port Series with 32 points, followed by Dongfeng (27), Team Brunel (23), AkzoNobel (21), SHK/callywag (13), Vestas 11th Hour Racing (12) and Turn the Tide on Plastic (10).
Reflecting, it feels as if this was a ‘stopover’ so constrained by compromise that it was hardly worth the slog up the river – except in commercial terms, of course. The boats didn’t race to Nansha, but earned a point for turning up, and the in-port racing took place on a ludicrously short course where nobody could see it: hardly the sort of promotion of a prestigious event that is going to keep the crowds coming back for more. “It’s yacht racing, Jim, but not as we know it.” Visitors to Nansha Marina were promised pizzazz, excitement, and entertainment – what they got was a race they couldn’t see and a row of waterfront carnival stalls selling property and skin whitening cream.
On 05 Feb the VOR fleet heads back to Hong Kong, and the pontoons behind the now defunct race village. 06 Feb is for recuperation and readiness, and on 07 Feb heads out through the Lei Yue Mun Gap towards Auckland. Back to the tracker!