Volvo Ocean Race: Leg 11 Media Conference and Preview

by Peter Rusch 20 Jun 2018 05:47 PDT 21 June 2018

Three teams will start Leg 11 – the final 700 nautical mile sprint leg of the Volvo Ocean Race – in a virtual tie for the lead, setting up an epic, dramatic and unprecedented denouement.

After racing over 44,000 nautical miles around the world, two teams now sit tied at the top of the overall leaderboard on 65 points – MAPFRE and Team Brunel – with Dongfeng Race Team currently just one point behind them on 64.

However, if Dongfeng beats the other two in Leg 11, it means they will also be positioned to receive the bonus point for the shortest elapsed time around the world. This has effectively created a three-way tie that will only be settled by the result of this final leg.

The race around the world will now be decided by a 700-mile sprint around Denmark. Never in the 45-year history of the race has the competition been so close heading into the final leg.

"It's amazing to see three boats on the same points," said Charles Caudrelier, skipper of Dongfeng Race Team during the press conference on Wednesday. "I think one of these three teams deserve to win the race. Now it's up to us to push harder to be ahead of these guys in The Hague. We know it's going to be a big fight, it's good for the race and we're excited and ready to go."

Xabi Fernández, the skipper of MAPFRE, has led the race for more stages than any other team. Now he's pushing to bring victory to Spain for the first time in the history of the race.

"We are in an amazing situation now, we have three boats, equal points, one leg to go. I am very happy to be among these three boats and fighting," Fernández said. "But we know that only one will win. We have one mission, we have to beat them."

Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel has already made a tremendous comeback from being in sixth place in Auckland to now having the overall title within their reach, if only they can keep up their recent form.

"We're in the flow," Bekking said, brimming with confidence. "If you look at the leaderboard, we're going faster on every leg. Last leg we found some new gears and I think that's a good thing. And I think we have ended up with a team that we're really happy with. Last but not least, I'm sailing in my home waters. I've lived in Denmark for more than 25 years. And of course the place where we finish, I've grown up over there. We have all the ingredients to win the race."

Further down the leaderboard, Dee Caffari's Turn the Tide on Plastic, has pulled into a position to overhaul David Witt's SHK/Scallywag, with just one point separating the pair in sixth and seventh place.

"It would be huge to get past them," she said. "For a team coming in late, with a young, inexperienced crew, everyone had written us off completely. But we've been much more competitive than everyone thought we would be in our sailing, and to not finish at the bottom would be the cherry on the cake for our team. It would be a huge achievement and I'd be very proud of them. But he (David) isn't going to let us get it easily – I know that!!"

For Vestas 11th Hour Racing skipper Charlie Enright, his position on the leaderboard is locked in with a fifth place finish overall, not where he'd wanted to have finished after winning the first leg.

"Had things bounced a different way maybe we'd be talking about four boats at the top," Enright said. "But we are where we are. We've grown stronger as a group and I probably have grown as an individual as well, given the adversity we've faced. I've learned a lot... I'm proud of our team and everything we've accomplished on the water in the face of adversity."

The final leg brings the fleet into The Hague and with two Dutch skippers in the race, the reception is expected to be epic.

"What we can expect in The Hague is something we've never seen before in the race, even going back to the Whitbread," said team AkzoNobel's Simeon Tienpont. "There might be up to one-million visitors expected in that week and I think that shows what kind of event this is in the sporting world and especially in The Netherlands."

With the final leg to determine the winner just 24-hours away, SHK/Scallywag skipper David Witt was doubling down on a prediction he first made in Cardiff: "That's how confident I am Bouwe is going to win."

How to follow the start of Leg 11 - the epic winner-take-all final leg of the race:

Racing starts at 1400 local time (1200 UTC), on Thursday 21 June.

On Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com

We will be streaming the start of the race live on the homepages.

On the website: Head to www.volvooceanrace.com to catch a livestream of the action from 1345 local time (1145 UTC). A post race story summarising the action and with quotes from the skippers will be posted shortly after racing has finished.

Check out Facebook Live: We'll go live at 1345 local time (1145 UTC). You can go to our page to schedule a reminder so you don't miss it.

Join the conversation on Twitter: Send us tweet on hashtag #volvooceanrace. We'll be live-tweeting the action, as it happens. Check it out as we share the best content from the teams, stakeholders and fans on our feed.

Join us on our live blog: We'll be blogging all the moves, previews and news from the racetrack on our live blog, including the best of clips and social content, from 1330 local time (1130 UTC). You can find it at www.volvooceanrace.com under the 'Racing' section.

Download the app: It's full of great content and fits on your mobile phone. Why wouldn't you want the official Volvo Ocean Race app? Head to the App Store or Google Play to download it. It's called Volvo Ocean Race.

Volvo Ocean Race Overall Points Leaderboard after Leg 10:

1. MAPFRE – 65 points
2. Team Brunel – 65 points
3. Dongfeng Race Team – 64 points *
4. team AkzoNobel – 53 points
5. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 38 points
6. SHK / Scallywag – 30 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 29 points

* One additional point will be awarded to the team with the best elapsed time at the conclusion of the race in The Hague. Currently, Dongfeng would win this point.
** Should there be a tie on the overall race leaderboard at the end of the offshore legs, the In-Port Race Series standings will be used to break the tie.

The Legends Race

Also starting on Thursday 21 June is The Legends Race.

To celebrate the history of the race, 12 legendary boats from seven of the past editions have gathered for another chance at victory, putting their lineage on the line for a competition from Gothenburg, the Swedish stopover port of the Volvo Ocean Race, to the Dutch port of The Hague, the finish destination for the current round-the-world race.

Full coverage at www.facebook.com/legendsrace2018