LEG 3 SANYA STOPOVER

VOLVO OCEAN RACE VILLAGE EXPO

It's about 72hrs to the end of Leg 3. But the last few hours of straight-line sailing is going to be most strenuous on the sailors. Currently the fleet is tacking upwind along the Vietnam coast with Dongfeng still in the lead by a good 40 nautical miles. Straight-line upwind sailing requires tacking every half hour to an hour, and it entails moving a half a ton of sails and kit from port to starboard and back against a heel of 20 to 30 degrees. To make matters worse, the swells are fairly large and frequent, causing all the yachts to be airborne for a few seconds at a time, only to smack their hulls when they drop back into the water. Something like surfing with a Volvo 65. But when a Carbon fibre hull beats on water, the sound is much louder than that of an aluminum or fibreglass yacht, frazzling  the nerves of everyone below deck and making the entire boat reverberate.  This kind of sailing action can cause the sails to tear. 

Apparently Team SCA tore their mast head zero on Friday and they had computer issues shutting down their electronic navigation for a few hours. Yep! its going be tough for everyone. In Vietnam several locals live on their boats and there are  thousands of  fishing boats in the water as well. Hopefully they will not get too close to the racing yachts as to obstruct their speed, let alone collide with one of them.  Talking about collisions: one big problem in Vietnamese water is that their fishermen catch prawn at night without any lights, so the racing fleet needs to be extra vigilant and extra careful not to run into one of these unlit fishing vessels  in the dark of night. With the moon in its last quarter, there won't be much light at night in anycase, so guys forget about sleeping, get out there and keep a watch for those submerged floating containers and those unlit fishing boats.

Dongfeng Race Team Best Performance in Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race - Abu Dhabi to Sanya

Sanya Volvo Ocean Race village Expo fireworks display.

There is definitely enough wind in Sanya to get the fleet there in double quick time.

Dongfeng spectators or just interested Volvo ocean Race fans

The Volvo Race Expo displays shipped from Alicante to Cape town to Sanya.

Beating the drum is what the Chinese and the Indians have in common

Dongfeng cultural display artists wearing Indian motive clothing

Dongfeng cultural display with a  South American Indian flavour.

All eyes on the Volvo Ocean Race app.

Dongfeng Race Team members getting the lions share of attention because Dongfeng crew has exceeded expectations