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.

VOR SPONSOR

VOLVO

The volvo exhibitions at the expo were interactive, loud and busy but wasn't all in one place. It was scattered throughout the waterfront on several quays. There cars and trucks and buses and earth moving equipment amongst many other. But the cars were the most exiting. Not to mention the skippers sailing simulation. if never seen so many people crash yachts in my entire life.

VOR TOURISTS EXPO 2

VOLVO OCEAN RACE TOURISTS EXPO

PART 2

This is collection of images depicting the festivities that took place at the start of the 2nd leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-35.  Some of the images below are hand written messages from the race teams prior to the start of Volvo Ocean Race 2nd leg. Its a tourists Expo at the waterfront with thousands of onlookers, spectators, visitors, and sailing fans everywhere.

The large tent structure houses the demo replica of the Volvo 65

The Volvo Ocean Race Yachts mooring closely watched by the  huge faces of the skippers.

The Volvo Ocean Race route with the designated stopovers. 

Mistrals performing as the Volvo Ocean Race Leg comes to an end.

The moorings of the yachts whilst they were out racing.

The backdrop of the Volvo ocean race with table mountain on the left and Signal Hill on the right.

The Volvo Ocean Race Sailors Pub.

Dongfeng Headquarters 

Dongfeng trucks flanking the martial Arts demo stage.

The Ocean Race show studio & cinema.

Lego scale model of  the SCA yacht.

Volvo exhibition hall on the left with the silver dome in the background to the right

The Volvo logo is quite pervasive.