Mapfre is the big Winner in the VolvoOceanRace (VOR) Leg 3 starting in Cape Town and finishing on 24 December in Melbourne.
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| Mapfre wins VOR Leg 3 |
Leg 3 was an intense route with overall good winds, but mostly governed by a rather far Northerly Ice exclusion zone, that during the race even got extended further North, around the Kerguelen islands.
As expected, sailing far South paid off and some nice low pressure systems with sometimes heavy winds, allowed boats to hook on and ride the storm to bring them to the West. The first storm was too fast and overtook the fleet, that had to jump on the next weather systme.
Mapfre, managed to stay close to the leader Dongfeng for 80% of the distance, only to pass them later on, using a less optimale route choice of Dongfeng. Once in front Mapfre had only one target , Victory in Melbourne. Congrats.
Dongfeng as said, sailed in the lead for most of the Leg, but got passed in the latter phase. Ultimately, Dongfeng got some scary moment, looking over their shoulders to the chasers Vestas and Brunel, as the Keel ram on Dongfeng brought problems. However, they managed to secure the keel and take the 2nd Place in Melbourne.
Vestas and Brunel fought side by side for most of the Leg, missing out on the finesses of sailing to Mapfre and Dongfeng. They had a kind of battle, but Vestas was mostly in the lead. Vestas indeed is the first Boat that has benefitted from their period in stealth mode, to continue a decent lead on Brunel to finish 3rd with Brunel in 4th place.
The other 3 Boats are still battle for the 5th place in Melbourne.
Melbourne will be a short stop over, with only limited options for repairs on the Boats and no In-Port Race.
Leg 4 from Melbourne to HongKong will start on 2nd January 2018 at 3:00 UTC.
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