LEG 3 VOLVO OCEAN RACE DAY 3

LEG 3 ABU DHABI TO SANYA

Dongfeng race team has been very consistent throughout the Volvo Ocean Race. They won 2nd place in both the Leg 1 and Leg 2 and even controlled 2nd position at the start of the race. Within hours after the start of the Volvo Ocean Race,  Dongfeng Race Team overtook the Abu Dhabi Race team in the early hours of the morning and has held the lead position ever since. Dongfeng lost pole position to Team SCA for some 3 hours but soon regained the lead. Meanwhile the rest of the fleet have been continually gaining and losing position to one another.  

It is day now day 3 of Leg 3  and  Dongfeng Race Team is still some six nautical miles ahead of its nearest competitor  where it has been for the last 72 hrs. This is a first in the Volvo Ocean race, that this happened and will probably never to be repeated. My predictions for Dongfeng Race Team was spot-on but let me not jinx it for them, so I will  say nothing more other repeat what I previously said.  "My money is on the Dongfeng Race Team" and it would be jubilation uncontrolled if they should sail into China ahead of the fleet. There is a good ten days or more of sailing to be done, through the Monsoon  Winds and the Doldrums and the narrow Singapore channel, all of which can play havoc with the sails and the speed of the yachts.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE EXPO

VOLVO OCEAN RACE EXPO

The Volvo Ocean Race is likely the largest tourists expo that Cape Town has ever seen. The waterfront is a huge tourist attraction with its Big Wheel, Shopping complex, International Hotels, Foods, Wines and restaurants and the ideal stopover for the Volvo Ocean Race sailors.

Table bay harbour with the City of Cape Town  between Devil's Peak, Table Mountain and Signal Hill.

The Volvo Ocean Race Expo in the waterfront and the yacht moorings.

A fish's eye view of the yachts mooring

Sailing academy training in the bay

Vestas Wind support crew

Bishop desmond Tutu and the Alvimedica Team at St georges Cathedral

Final briefing before the start of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race

The Abu Dhabi crew behind the Palestinian Flag.

Spectator interest exceeded organizers expectations

Farewell to the Abu Dhabi Crew

Fairwell to the Brunel Crew

Rough seas and a 40 knot wind bids farewell to the Volvo Ocean Race fleet.

LEG 3 - ABU DHABI TO SANYA

OFFICIAL START OF THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE

ABU DHABI TO SANYA

As I'm writing this episode, the Volvo Ocean Race is due to start in the next 5 mins. It is quite misty but hopefully  there will be sufficient wind as to not delay the start of the race, as was the start of the Abu Dhabi In-Port Race.  Thus far, Alvimedica, Abu Dhabi and Brunel has won the In-Port races of the past three legs, namely Alicante Spain, Cape Town South Africa, and Abu Dhabi UAE respectively. Abu Dhabi also won the Leg 1 offshore race from Alicante to Cape Town and Brunel won the Leg 2 offshore race from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi. 

But consistence in any race is far more admirable. So that brings us to the Dongfeng Team who took 2nd place in both  the Alicante to Cape Town, and the Cape Town to Abu Dhabi races. So, fellow skippers, watch out for Dongfeng in the Leg 3. As I already mentioned in a previous blog, my money is on the Dongfeng Team. What an amazing feat it would be for the Chinese Team if they could sail into Sanya China ahead of the fleet. Jubilation from their countrymen like no other, I am sure. They are the least experienced sailors but have the most determination to win. In Leg 2 of the Volvo ocean Race, their boat sustained serious damaged caused by a rope that snapped which handycapped them severely, snapping the starboard wheel in half. This may have taken first position in the leg 2 away from them.

Two of the Chinese crew doing their very best

UAE, past India,  Malacca  into the narrow Singapore channel  past Vietnam or  Borneo to China.

Mist impacting on the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Misty conditions are not ideal for the start of any race, but the Volvo ocean race must go on.

Misty conditions at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race with Team SCA in the foreground

Dongfeng is the race Team who I think is going to win the overall Volvo Ocean Race.

Dongfeng at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race

Misty conditions obscure visibility but the race goes on.

Aboard Dongfeng.  As can be seen, the damaged starboard wheel has been replaced.

Sailing at the start of leg 3

Waiting for the gun

Alvimedica right behind, Mapfre, SCA, Brunel and Dongfeng with Abu Dhabi in the lead.

Brunel sailing at 6 knots 

NB! Some images supplied courtesy of www.volvooceanrace.com

LEG 3 - VOLVO OCEAN RACE PREAPARATIONS

LEG3 - ABU DHABI TO SANYA

Leg 3 of  the Volvo Ocean race Abu Dhabi to Sanya is  exactly 12 hours away. The images below gives an idea of what the sea is going to look like tomorrow when the race commences at 12.00 midday. Leg 3 is substantially shorter than both legs 1 and 2 by about 1600 nautical miles which roughly equates to approximately 16 days of sailing. The sailors are in for some exotic eastern travel past India, Ceylon, Shri Lanka, Sumatra and Malacca where the navigation charts are not very good, then through the narrow Singapore channel,  across the equator. Braving the straits of Hormuz and tacking through the monsoon winds.  At this point it is quite hazardous  and would be good for all skippers to remember the fate of Vestas Winds, so the skippers would choose to sail either along the coast or  Vietnam or Malaysia / Borneo on towards Hainan China. Shipping  lanes in the Singapore channel  is quite light and  care should be taken to steer clear of merchant vessels. Good luck to each and every team!

ABU DHABI IN-PORT RACE

TEAM SCA

Team SCA hasn't been doing too great in the offshore 1st and 2nd legs of the Volvo Ocean race. However, it looks like they starting off the 3rd leg with all the feminine gusto they could muster. The In-Port Race was delayed by a good hour and a half due to a lack of a decent breeze but regardless, Team SCA won the Abu Dhabi In-Port Race today, and that without bowman Sophie Ciszek and despite low wind conditions.  A huge congratulations is in order, "Well done ladies!" Achieving first place is an amazing morale booster for the entire SCA, even though Sophie Ciszek won't be on deck for the Abu Dhabi to Sanya leg since she hasn't recovered from  her back injury. This event is a huge tourist attraction especially for women who can relate to doing well in a "man's sport".

RESULTS FOR THE IN-PORT RACE

1 Team SCA - "The Girls"
2 Team Brunel - "The Dutchies"
3 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - "The Emirates"
4 Dongfeng Race Team - "The Chinese"
5 Team Alvimedica - "The Youngsters" 
6 MAPFRE - "The Spaniards" 

Unfortunately  "The Danes" don't feature at all. Their plan is to get Vestas Winds to the Persico boatyard in Bergamo, Italy, hitching a ride on a Maersk Line ship. Their objective is  to rebuild Vestas Winds and have it ready to compete in the eighth leg start from Lisbon to Lorient race culminating in Gothenburg. Good luck guys!

Team SCA leading the Abu Dhabi In-Port race by a good one and a half minutes.

ABU DHABI IN-PORT RACE PREPARTIONS

PREPARATIONS FOR 3RD LEG

The Abu Dhabi in-Port race is less than 24 hours away. To be more specific, just 20 hours to go, but what are the wind conditions going to be like, because the very next day,  the 3rd Leg Abu Dhabi to Sanya China starts. The 40 knot start of the 2nd Leg of the Volvo ocean race was a memorable occasion for each and every crew member on board their respective Volvo 65. However, right now, Sophie Ciszek of the SCA is down with a back injury and wheelchair bound but on the mend. Vestas winds was eventually salvaged off the reef, towed to Mauritius, and loaded onto a Maersk container ship with the hope of transplanting all the salvageable components from the wrecked Volvo 65 to a new hull before the start of the 3rd leg.  As can be seen in the image below, Chris Nicholson is in attendance. Right now, joining the race seems very unlikely but we will keep our fingers crossed to see how Vestas Wind is going to get back into the Volvo ocean Race.

Team Vestas Wind's focus is renewable energy specifically windpower

Vestas Wind wreck being salvaged

The Crippled Vestas Wind hitches a ride on a container ship

The skippers at a press conference in Abu Dhabi

Start of the Volvo ocean race Alicante Spain.

The memorable 40 knot Cape Town to Abu Dhabi start of the Volvo Ocean Race

Australian dare devil Mich Kemeter taking a slack rope stroll from SCA to Alvimedica

Alicante Spain where all seven yachts moored during the Volvo Ocean race.