ABU DHABI VOLVO OCEAN RACE EXPO

All the yachts are finally in. Just a few moments ago Team SCA arrived with a finish time of 025d 06h 23m 34s. Caution is the word and rightfully so considering what happened to Vestas Wind.

Positions as at 15th December 2014, Official Race  25d 1h 23m 34s by which time Team SCA wasn't in yet

Volvo Ocean Race 1st Position Team Brunel finished time: 023d 16h 25m 20s

Volvo Ocean Race 2nd Position Dongfeng Race Team finished  time: 023d 16h 41m 40s 

Volvo Ocean Race 3rd Position Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing finished time: 023d 19h 08m 15s

Volvo Ocean Race 4th Position MAPFRE finished time: 024d 11h 18m 18s

Volvo Ocean Race 5th Position Team Alvimedica finished time: 024d 21h 29m 23s

Volvo Ocean Race 6th Position Team SCA finished time: 025d 06h 23m 34s

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2ND LEG DAY 23

ABU DHABI STOPOVER

After a gruelling 23 days and 19hrs of non-stop sailing, the 2nd Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race has been completed by at least 3 yachts, viz, Brunel and Dongfeng and Abu Dhabi.  Meer hrs from now six yachts will safely reach their stopover destination - Abu Dhabi. The 7th Yach Vesta Winds unfortunately didn't even manage to cross the equator and abandoned adjacent to Madagascar, or rather Port Louis, Mauritius to be exact. (see map below)

Salt water, Sea spray, damp clothing, freeze dried food and sleep deprivation has been each sailors nemesis for this entire duration, but no more. Abu Dhabi has greeted the sailors with "Ahlan wa Sahlan" where nourishing food and delicious fruit, dry clothing and hospitality awaits them. These incredible bunch of seafarers will look forward to their time in Abu Dhabi with its near perfect weather. 

Current Position Chart

The Official Volvo Ocean Race positions as at the 13th Dec 2014 

As can be seen in the above image, Mapfre, Team Alvimedica and Team SCA will finish some time tomorrow weather permitting. However, Vestas Wind sailors will not make it, since they ditched their yacht and made it safely to Port Louis in Mauritius after striking a reef in the Indian ocean.

The Turquoise colour boat to the east of Madagascar is the abandoned Vestas Winds, in the vicinity of  Mauritius.

Aerial View of the Vestas Wind Wreck, mast still in tact.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE - DAY 4

CAPE TOWN TO ABU DHABI - DAY 4

Its been exactly four days since the start of the 2nd Leg - Cape Town to Abu Dhabi - Volvo Ocean race. The teams has been clamoring for position and all of them have successfully covered approximately one fifth of the total distance of the 2nd Leg. All the yachts are positioned roughly 36 degrees S and 45 degrees E. Simplified, they are horizontally still in line with Cape Town but a lot more east, vertically below Madagascar. Initially all the teams gybed south, to almost half way between the  Southern African coast and the Ice exclusion zone before they ported north. The 40 knot winds in Table Bay more than pressured them to go this route.

Team Abu Dhabi ported north and broke away from the pack quite early but it appears that their strategic move  wasn't to their advantage. Team Brunel is currently  leading the race closely followed by  Team Dongfeng and Team Mapfre. Both the Emirates and the Girls are a good a distance behind the current race leader. If the 'Emirates' are 15 nm behind then the 'Girls' are at least twice that distance behind.

Its more than obvious that all the teams must have had a tough time braving the waves, the 40 knot winds  and the Agulhas current thus far, and just about able to keep their food down or perhaps not. The fast flowing Agulhas current is arguably the strongest of ocean currents for boats or yachts sailing northeast off the South African coast. The VOR has the reputation for being the world's most extreme sailing event, which is most likely based on the grueling extremes of the second leg,  since sailing against the current isn't easy. The sailors clothes would be constantly wet at the speeds at which they are sailing and getting face blasted with cold water every wave.

However, the teams would also all be sleep deprived since their body clocks are still trying to adjust to their new schedules. With the seas being as rough as it was, bailing must have been a full time job for most of the crew even with the bilge pumps would be on full  throttle. Repairs to torn sails or snapped jibs in a common occurrence under these conditions and certainly all the teams would be somewhat affected by it.

The yachts are expected to arrive in Abu Dhabi in and around the 14 th December 2014

The Distance to Abu dhabi is 5,185 nautical miles and at the current sailing speeds, it is expected that the yachts should take 24 days to reach their destination and arrive there by the 14th december 2014, however wind dependant, it could take them anything from 25 to 30 days. Considering, the fleet will sail from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.

NB! Images may be subject to copyright

NB! Images may be subject to copyright

NB! Images may be subject to copyright

NB! Images may be subject to copyright

LEG 2 - VOLVO OCEAN RACE DEPARTURE

VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEG TWO

Today the Volvo Ocean Race Expo at the Waterfront Cape Town came to an end. At about 4.00 o' clock this afternoon the race started, as the starters pistol fired. This was a preliminary start giving the sailors two hours of sailing in the bay, yachts fully loaded and ready to depart. Team SCA was the first yacht out, followed by Abu Dhabi then Dongfeng, Mapfre, Brunel and Vestas Wind, each spaced by about 5 minutes. This start is just to check if everything worked fine.  The yachts were propelled by the engines rather than their sails and the sailors could be seen going through their paces The support teams were in the bay in their rubber ducks alongside their respective yachts.

Panoramic view of the bay  where the yachts are motoring.

See the clouds rolling as it is blown by the wind  over  Table mountain.  The  official start of the
Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 drawing  near and Abu Dhabi is heading for open waters.

Brunel 

Alvimedica heading for open waters as Mapfre returns from it.

Abu Dhabi returning from the open water as the Brunel heads towards it.

Abu Dhabi and Dongfeng passing one another in opposite directions.

Dongfeng on the verge of makeing a roundabout.

The clouds over Table Mountain is on the increase

The official start of the race was at six o' clock.  Meanwhile the sailors on their 7 yachts darted in and out of the bay, turning and reversing , making loops and entertaining the crowds for a good two hours. Essentially they were killing time, testing their  electronic equipment, testing the satellite navigational systems, checking their mechanical systems. etc. Occasionally the support teams rubber ducks would toss a clothing item onto the yacht, then it seemed as if they were darting off to fetch another.

There wasn't much wind today and by the time the race officially started it took a good 15 minutes before the 1st spinnaker was seen. About 5 minutes later a second spinnaker was seen but the other 5 yachts seemed to rely on the main sails. A good 30 minutes into the race and all the spinnaker were ballooning with wind but still not sufficient to get them past Robben Island. All the yachts made U-turns, sailed back towards the bay because tacking seemed virtually impossibly. Then they turn course and none of their sails were visible. Suddenly there was a 40 knot wind blowing and the yachts took off at high speed (see last picture below). We were looking at the sterns of the main stay and mast until they were out of site. I wish them a bon voyage.

Four of the yachts vying for position at the start of the race 

Suddenly 7 yachts are clumping together, Three helicopters circling overhead.

As quickly as they came together, they were spreading apart.

Brunel took the lead at the start of the race powered by 40 knots of wind.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE FLAGS

VOLVO OCEAN RACE FLAGS

Abu Dhabi was flying its flags today. Looking at the picture immediately below, there are three smaller tangled flags between the mast and the Abu Dhabi red and yellow flag. The  Grey flag, -at the  top- is for Overall Race Leader, The Blue flag hanging in the middle reads  1st Leg Winner and the pink flag hanging at the  bottom reads in-Port Race Winner. The successive flags gives a better inkling of the inscriptions on the flags.   By the looks of things Abu Dhabi Racing appears to have a bright future in the the successive legs. Collectively their sailors have more than 20 years of sailing experience.

The three flags are fully visible but the writing is indistinguishable.

Cameramen filming on deck while the Pink flag is getting tangled
 yet readable saying In-Port Winner.

The words "OVERALL LEADER " is just above visible in the tangled Grey Flag

The words " IN-PORT RACE WINNER" is much clearer & 1st LEG WINNER reads back to front

Abu Dhabi against the backdrop of Table mountain and Devil's peak.

Race day in the Bay, some two hours before the official start of the race.

Abu Dhabi and Dongfeng passing on another in opposite directions.

Small yachts race is clearly visible in the bay leading up to the main event.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2014-5 COUNTDOWN

VOLVO OCEAN RACE SECOND LEG

Tomorrow will be the final day in Cape Town for the 7 yacht teams before they leave for Abu Dhabi - the 2nd leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15.  As can be seen on the image below, the sailors will be celebrating new years eve in the beautiful city of Abu Dhabi then start with the In-port race on 2nd January and depart on the 3rd of January for Sanya in China; the 3rd leg of the Volvo ocean race 2014-15.

Abu Dhabi is the Stopover for the 3rd Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15

The Abu Dhabi Team are having a strategy meeting and the Dongfeng Team are still busy with preparations. Power leads and air tools were humming with sailors are all scurrying along the floating quays loading water and their daily rations.

Final Words before departure.

The Volvo Ocean Race Cup is made of highly polished stainless steel completely engraved and weight a good 20kgs.

The Volvo Ocean Race Around the World cup.

Flags are blowing full height in attention to the Volvo Ocean Race sailors.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2014-15 EXPO

continued from  VOLVO OCEAN RACE.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2014-15 EXPO

CAPE TOWN STOPOVER

Just two more days to go before the start of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race; Cape Town - Abu Dhabi. Yesterday the winds were blowing at about 20 knots inside Table Bay Harbour, luckily the yachts were safely moored safely alongside the floating quays well shielded from the howling winds by the Harbour Quays. Today the wind was once again calm and hopefully it will remain that way until the the 19th when the 2nd Leg, Cape Town - Abu Dhabi will commence.  It a blessing in disguise that the In-Port race was completed when it was, two days ago.

The results for the In-Port Race on the 15/11/2014 are as follows.

Abu Dhabi 1st
Team Brunel 2nd
Team SCA 3rd
DongFeng 4th
Team Vestas 5th
Team Alimedica 6th
MAPFRE  7th

Team Alvimedica busy with final preparations.

All hands were on deck as final preparations were made before departure. Mainsails, Jibs and Spinkers were checked and additional sails were loaded, hatches were checked and the coffee grinders and ropes were checked. Navigation equipment was checked. All 7 boats are fitted with Inmarsat satellite navigation systems.

The Abu Dhabi Team seems to be done with everything with 9 harnesses hanging waiting for the crew.

Team Brunel also still busy working on their yacht.

Team Dongfeng  just closed up the mainsail with its cover.

Team Vestas doing final checks.

Team Mapfre complete loading drinking water a few  minutes ago.

Team SCA has replaced 1st leg sailors and busy as bees.

Continued on NEXT BLOG.