What after the VolvoOceanRace2017-2018 event.

An announcement has been made already that the next VolvoOceanRace will be starting in 2021. That is very good news. 

The VOR committee had come to an agreement with the IMOCA organisation to make the IMOCA 60 boat available for next VOR

The IMOCA60 is an open boat, with canting keel and foils. So we may expect some close and fast sailing again in next VOR. 


What if you can not wait 3 years?
Well, what I do and can recommend is to hone your sailing skills in the Virtual Sailing community. For me the best Virtual Sailing Player is LiveSkipper Virtual Sailing Game  

Sorry to say that LiveSkipper has ended their fantastic Virtual Sailing Game and is not longer available. 

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I have switched to a rather small, but simple and beautiful new Virtual Sailing Game called Virtualgame.
Virtualgame has a simple , but comprehensive game screen. It allows to choose from a number of sail per boat type and shows a clearn Polar diagram for each of the chosen sail, specific for the actual wind conditions. 
You can also use the auto pilot and a scheduler with 5 Marks for free and 9 Marks with a subscription. It refreshes the NOAA wind-data , twice at day at 0800 and 2000 CET (central European time)  
The community is friendly and quiet active and regular short and longer duration sailing race are organized.
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LiveSkipper is modern, does not use so much computer power as the ram hungry Virtual Sailing that was used in previous VOR's .
In LiveSkipper, you have a lot of free navigation and sailing optimization tools that makes live for a virtual sailor comfortable. All the features, like multiple sails, autopilot, scheduler, marks, wind forecasts for 7 days etc are free, such that all Boats have same opportunity of sailing same speed and win race.  

LiveSkipper Game screen

 The game screen offers:

• view of your Boat
• view of your set route
• wind information 
• wind data at the mouse
• Polar diagram and 3hrs polar projections, upto 24 hrs.
• winds forecast upto 7 days
• extensive date on the ruler, 
• clear maps and shorelines to prevent grounding
• Marks, 4 for free and optional 10 for minimal contribution
• regular short and long duration sailing races
• an easy to use Forum
• an easy to used chat box,  also for closed groups
• and an easy to understand LiveSkipper wiki, to learn all about virtual sailing and optimal sailing in LiveSkipper. 

Hope to meet you either in LiveSkipper or in next VolvoOceanRace.              


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Brunel takes Victory in the Last In-Port Race in The Hague

It was beautiful sailing weather, stable strong winds and only small waves.

Brunel made a blistering Start and got was soon in the Lead, only to take it to the Finish. Rounding the 1st buoy, was a close battle with SunHungKai/Scallywag, and though they were somewhat faster around the buoy, it is Brunel that squeezed themselves back in the lead. 

Brunel already in the Lead, In-Port The Hague

For Brunel it was important to win from AkzoNoble with at least one Boat in between, in order to get the 3rd prize overall in the In-Port race series. With Dongfeng sailing a strong race and taking the Runner-Up place, it was exactly what brought the 3rd prize to Brunel.


Another very important battle was between TurntheTideon Plastic and SunHungKai/Scallywag. Both had same scoring on the Overall VOR scorecard, and thus the standing in the In-Port serie would decide who would take the 6th and who the 7th place. 
SunHungKai, was nicely in the lead and had nothing to fear,till............. their ruder got hooked on the rope of a mark. This allows TurntheTideonPlastic to pass them and once SunHungKai got released their disadvantage was that big that TurntheTideon Plastic was long gone. 

Dee Caffari smiling already before the race, or did she know the good result to come?

Dee Caffari sailed a strong race, and was able to pass Vestas in the last leg, while Mapfre made an easy sailing and was no threat at all. 
So TurntheTide on Plastic, got a 4th place and with this won a 6th place in the Overall standings.

This was the last event of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 and hopefully in 3 years time we will have a new VolvoOceanRace. 

VolvoOceanRace last event in The Hague In-Port Race

Today is the last event of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018. It was an epic event this year and for most teams the results are fixed, except for TurntheTidetoPlastic and SunHungKai boats. 
These Boats gained equal point in the Overall ranking, and there for the results of the In-Port race serie will decide who takes the penultimate and last place . 

And there is the battle between the Dutch boats, for the final Podium place in the In-Port series. 

So we may expect some fierce battles on the North Sea coast in front of The Hague.

In-Port Race The Hague

Wind forecast promisse a 14 kts wind strengtsh , so that could bring some nice fast and sharp sailing. 

The race will start 11:30 UTC, 13:30 local time. As normally I expect a live broadcast can be seen via the VolvoOceanRace website or via Twitter. 



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Dongfeng wins last Leg in VolvoOceanRace.. AND .. Overall Victory.

This version of the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 has been very compatitive with a close and exciting last Leg. The Overall Ranking after 10 Legs was even for the 3 leading Teams, Mapfre , Dongfeng and Brunel; taking into account that Dongfeng would win the bonus point for the shortest sailing time overall. 

Thus the results of these 3 Boats, would automatically rank them in the Overall accounting the finishing order in The Hague. 

In the begin, it was Dongfeng leading closely followed by Mapfre, and Brunel loosing out and on the chase. It was the last stretch over the North Sea to wards the finish, where multiple exclusion zones, gave options for different strategies.

That split in the fleet, Brunel and Mapfre choosing the middle route over the North Sea, while Dongfeng choose the more risky route along the coast into a narrow "channel" between the exclusion zone and the coast. The latter route was longer, but the High would give Dongfeng a better wind towards the Finish. 

Dongfeng wins the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018

It was exactly this, that brought the Victory to Dongfeng. Trailing the other boats till about the Island of Texel on the NW corner of The Netherlands, where Dongfeng gained a better boatspeed only to cut in front of the other boats just before the finish in The Hague and take the Win. 



The Scorecard looks like this, with now a clear winner.

There is one In-Port Race to come, Saturday 30th June at 11:30 UTC, 13:30 local in the waters just outside The Hague. This last In-Port Race is especially important for TurntheTideonPlastic and SunHungKai/Scallywag as these boats ended with equal points and the best score in the In-Port scorecard will decide the ultimate ranking. 

VolvoOcean Race fleet approaching the Last Finish line.

This version of VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018 is on the approach to the Finish in the last Leg 11, Gothenburg to The Hague. 

It is a very exciting last Leg, as the 3 highest ranked Boats for the Overall win, all have the same number of points; considering the bonus point for shortest overall sailing time goes to Dongfeng. This implicates that the 1st of these three Boats will take the VolvoOceanRace Victory for this year ; the 2nd the 2nd etc. 

The most interesting is , that the fleet have split. One part sails the middle route on the North Sea in between the exclusion zones, amongst them Mapfre and Brunel, and the other part sails the German and Dutch coast, a narrow gap between the land and the exclusion zone. 
The winner of this separation battle on the 3 top boats, will take the Overall Victory; so ultimately it is a strategical decision that decide.

Some 88 Nm to go for the wWestern group and 134 Nm for the Eastern group.

The expectation is that the last 20Nm will decide the winner.

Live broadcast of the Finish , between 11-13 UTC today, is expected,keep an eye on VolvoOceanRace website , or Twitter. 

Vestas wins VolvoOceanRace penultimate In-Port Race.

It was from the beginning a hard battle between Mapfre and Dongfeng and also between Brunel and SunHungKai/Scallywag, but it was Vestas that sailed a perfect sail and took Victory. Congratulations.

Vestas wins Gothenburg In-Port race.

. There was a strong wind and Brunel made a fantastic flying start from behind, to take the lead. They could keep the lead till the 2nd Mark with strong sailing, but on the first downwind leg, Brunel had the wrong sail, too small, and somehow could not change it. While starting Leg 3 as the leader, they were in 6th at the end, never to recover, so far for the speed-kings of Leg 10.
Mapfre, straight from the start jumped on Dongfeng and prevented Dongfeng by pushing them into the wind, from sailing away from the Start . Later with a starboard-port Mapfre again fought Dongfeng , apparently Mapfre had more intentions to beat Dongfeng than to win the In-Port race; well actully by beating Dongfeng Mapfre got so many points that they took Victory inthe In-Port race series. 

Dongfeng ,, with a poor start, made an error by cutting in front of Turn the Tide of Plastic and got a deserved penalty turn,making them to end last. 

Next event is the Start of the Last Leg Gothenburg to The Hague , on Thursday 21 June at 1200 UTC,1400 local.

Short time till In-Port Race in Gothenburg

Tomorrow , Saturday 17 June, already is the Gothenburg In-Port Race, so little rest for the crews; it was also a short Leg 10. 

A parcours is set in the bay of Gothenburg as seen below. I am told that these waters do hold some rocks that could be dangerous if not located good. Remember the stranding of Telefonica Blue on Marstrand some versions of the VOR ago, with Bouwe Bekking indeed skippering that Boat.

Gothenburg In-Port parcours

With 3 Boats in the lead with exactly the same points for the Overall ranking, the results in the In-Port race ranking will be more important then ever. 
Mapfre has a healthy lead with 7 points over Dongfeng and Brunel is again 8 points behind. So I do actually not expect too many changes in the leaderboards for In-Port races

Scoreboard In-Port races

As normal, the race will be broadcasted live, via the VolvolOceanRace website, via Facebook and Twitter. 

Next event will be the start of the last Leg 11, on Thursday 21  June , 1200 UTC.

Brunel glorious Winner of VolvoOceanRace Leg 10

Brunel is the glorious Winner in the penultimate Leg in the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018, with a small margin over Mapfre.

Brunel Winner of Leg 10

Leg 10 started in Cardiff and sailed around Ireland and the UK, to finish in Gothenburg , Sweden. 
This Leg had it all, no winds, stormy winds, no waves , large wave, no currents, anti-currents and helping currents. 
Many Boats in one time at this Leg were in the lead, or close to the lead  and many position changes occured. 

Brunel did not had such a good start and half way, they were about 6th in the 7 boat VOR fleet. Thereafter , however, it seems that Brunel woke up and got chasing the Boats in front of them and one after the other was passed. Till yesterday, in a straight line battle with Mapfre , Brunel passed the red boat with spendid sailing and kept the lead till the Finish.

Now the last Leg 11, Gothenburg to The Hague, will bring the decision on podium places. The 3 top boats, Brunel, Mapfre and Dongfeng all have 65 points; including the bonus point for Dongfeng for the shortest sailing time overall, which is as good as sure.
So the ranking in the end of Leg 11, will directly translate in the ranking in the Overall VOR 2017-2018 . 

Leg 11 will start on 21 June, but first there will be the Gothenburg In-Port races on 17th June. 

Dongfeng winner in Cardiff In-Port Race

The Cardiff In-Port race was sailed in proper winds of about 10 kts. AkzoNobel and Dongfeng made both a good start, with Brunel in between them was pushed back by the foul winds. 
I was lucky to see Mapfre and Dongfeng sailing their own race, rather than match-racing each other and forgetting that other Boats are also participating. 

AkzoNobel sailed in the lead for 2 out of 3 rounds, but lost in the penultimate leg, out to Dongfeng but also Mapfre benefited from it so passed AkzoNobel into 2nd place. Brunel in the last leg, sailed a better strategy and could also pass AkzoNobel.

Dongfeng already leader in front of Mapfre

Vestas made a Start too sharp to be correct and had to make a penalty restart. She never recovered really , though could pass TurntheTideonPlastic and SunHungKai into a 5 th place.

Next event is the Start of Leg 10 Cardiff to Gothenburg on Sunday 10 June at 1500 UTC.

Cardiff In-Port Race as appetizer for the VolvoOceanRace last 2 Legs.

Enjoying an easy weekend in Cardiff with a cool Beer, that is good. Just one week to go till the Cardiff In-Port Race sets off the last 2 Legs in the VolvoOceanRace 2017-2018.

The parcours is shown below and the length is about 1 hour of sailing. 

Cardiff In=Port Race parcours

The Cardiff In-Port Race starts Friday 8th June at 1300 UTC, 1400 Local.

As normal , the race will be live broadcasted via the VolvoOceanRace website and Twitter. 



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Brunel wins a nail biting Leg 9 in Cardiff VolvoOceanRace

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Brunel wins the TransAtlantic, Leg 9 in the VolvoOceanRace from Newport to Cardiff, UK. 

Brunel winners of Leg 9

And what a Leg it was. 
Brunel made a fantastic start by winning the starters parcours in Newport and leading the fleet into the Atlantic in between the different exclusion zones.
Normally the fastest route is going North as much as possible, as the winds are stronger there and the distance is the smallest. But when the crucial point came to turn North, Brunel did not, contrary to Maphfre and Dongfeng.
Brunel stayed in the storm that had good speed pushing them to the East, and later that breeze was even better than expected. Once that was over and the fleet converged, Brunel with AkzoNobel and Vestas cut in front of the northern boats and with the next westerly depression could only extend their lead. 
The High pressure ridge, that stalled all Boats was rather fair and released the Boats in order of arriving. The strong tide towards Cardiff was friendly as well, as it truned inwards the moment the leaders approached. 

AkzoNobel, was constantly close to Brunel and took sometimes the lead. In the end however Brunel won with about 4 minutes. AkzoNobel however sailed the longest distance in the Atlantic in a 24 hrs period, 602.5 Nm; breaking the old record of Torben Grael on , Ericsson 4 at 596.6 Nm. 

Fast Sailing

Now the ranking at the top of the Overall scoreboard has become very tight, promissing a hard fought victory in the last 2 legs.

Next event will be the Cardiff In-Port Race on  Friday 8 June at 1300 UTC. 
Next Leg 10 to start Sunday 10 June 1500 UTC from Cardiff to Gothenburg. 

Brunel makes a perfect Start on Leg 9 towards Cardiff, back to Europe.

Repeating their fantastic performance in the Newport In-Port Race, Brunel sailed to the leaders position to leave Newport setting sail into the Open Water to the Finish of VolvoOceanRace Leg 9 in Cardiff, UK.
  

Brunel leading the VOR fleet out of Newport

 It is an important Leg, as it has double points , so you can make big gains (or losses) depending on your performance in this Leg. Brunel, has to score good points over their revals, in order to still have any change on the Overall Victory. With their improving results in the last events, they for sure are sharp to get at Winner in Cardiff. 


This leg, will have first some influence of the Cold Stream along the East coast of the States but then will get the warmer Golf Stream that will help them sailing East. With the east wards moving Depressions these will be the main strategic elements to beat the competition. 





Fair winds. 

VolvoOceanRace continues with the Newport In-Port Race.

The rest is over, the VolvoOceanRace continues with an In-Port race in the waters of Newport. 
The Start will be on Saturday 19 May at 1800 UTC (      local).

The parcours is shown below  and it is aimed at a sailing time of about 1 Hour. 

 
 Lets hope that there is some proper  winds, such that sailing if possible and not like the Finish of Leg 8 where boats were floating on a lucky puff of wind. Add to this the current in the river and a low wind event will have the sailing strategies overruled by the luck to dice.

Normally this event can be watched live on the internet via the VOR website.


The next event will be the Start of Leg 9 Newport to Cardiff on Sunday 20 May at 1800 UTC.

Russian Roulette at terrifying Leg 8 Newport Finish.

Leg 8 in the VolvoOceanRace, Itajai to Newport, was a very interesting, fast and challenging Leg , till about 2 Nm before the Finish. A narrow approach inside a river, failing winds and a counter current, made it a lottery who would win. That had nothing to do with the skills of skippers and navigators, that had brought the best boats ahead at the coast of Newport.

A real drama for VOR to make sailing an interesting event, as this was the worst advert it could make for itself. I propose to locate future finishes in open waters just outside the river mouth.

That said, Congrats to Mapfre, who accepted the gift of this lottery to extend their points for the Overall Win. 

The scorecard after the Finish in Newport looks like this:

The next event, and I hope it is a lot better and allows the skills of skippers and navigators have some impact on the results, is the Newport In-Port race on Saturday 19 May at 18:00 UTC (14:00 Local time).

VolvoOceanRace Leg 8 Starts

On Sunday 22 April, Leg 8 in the VolvoOceanRace will start from Itajai to Newport. There will be 7 Boats on the start, while only 5 could normally finish Leg 7 into Itajai. 
Two boats had aborted the Leg 7 , came in late but were overhauled in time to participate in the next exciting Leg 8. 

As normal a starters parcours will have to be sailed , before heading into the Atlantic.  see parcours. The starting time is 17:00 UTC. I  expect it to be broadcast live, via the VOR website or Twitter. 

Parcour for Leg 8 Start

Straight away, the skippers have to make a strategical decision, whether to sail close to the Brazilian coast or further East on the Atlantic, where normally stronger winds exist. 

A Doldrums , the last one for this edition of VOR, is also part of the headache for the skippers. The region of the Finish could have some surprises with a strong depression, or not. 

Fair winds 

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Mapfre glorious winner in Itajai In-Port race.

Mapfre strenghtened its scorecard for In-Port race by winning the Itajai In-Port race. 

Mapfre was sharp at the start and first over the line.  

Mapfre took the lead during the first downwind leg and only continued to increase their advance till the Finish.

AkzoNobel, looks to improve their performance race by race and is now a very regular Podium finisher. 

Dongfeng, made a terrible start (again), and at one point they were the closing boat on the course. But somewhere they recovered and managed half way to get to the last spot on the Podium, but were never to challenge AkzoNobel seriously for the runner-up place.

Turn the Tide of Plastic sailed a strong race, just behind the Podium in the middle of the fleet to gain a 4th place.

Brunel, had also a good start and first Leg, rounding the first Mark in 3rd position very close behind Mapfre and AkzoNobel. But an error with the hoisting of the sails, throw them back to the fight for the last place with Vestas. I am a little surprised by a simple error like this, that should not occur at a Boat with a veteran skipper of 8 VOR races and more professonal sailors. For me, I doubt that Brunel is fit to win this years VOR.

SunHungKai/Scallywag did not participate as she is still under repair after a late arrival. 

The next event in the VOR is the start of Leg 8 , Itajai to Newport, on Sunday 22 April 17:00 UTC.










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VolvoOceanRace continues with Itajai In-Port race

In 2 days, the Itajai In-Port race, will be the start of a new series of hopefully exciting sailing races. The Itajai In_port race will start Friday 20th April at 17:00 UTC (1400 Local time). The parcours for this race is given below.

Lets hope that there will be stronger winds than during the arrival of Leg7, in order for the Boats to make some speed and close passing maneuvers. 

As normal, the In-Port race will be live broadcasted via the VolvoOceanRace website.

From the fleet of 7 VO65 Boats, there were 5 already inspected and ready to sail. Vestas is under repair as we speak and SunHungKai/Scallywag is close before arriving. Trust that all Boats will be ready in time such that 7 participate in the In-Port race.

Vestas arrived in Itajai under jury rig.

Vestas 11 sail a good Leg 7, till they passed Cape Horn. Once thought the worst weather and sea-state was over, just 100 Nm South of the Falkland island, Vestas lost there mast. It broke, fell overboard and to prevent damage to the hull, the crew has to cut away to broken part. 

They stopped the race and motored to the Falklands. There they got excellent support of local sailing enthusiasts. With a throw away streetlamp post, they managed to set up a jury rig,with some the left over sails and with this, a 5 men crew motor-sailed her back to Itajai, some 5 days before the start of Leg 8.

The Boat will be fully inspected and the expectations is that she will be ready with a new rig to start in time.

Only one Boat , SunHungKai/Scallywag is expected in next days in Itajai and hopefully , she will be ready in time for the Start of Leg 8 to Newport..

Brunel wins horrific Leg 7 in VolvoOceanRace

 Brunel has won the historical difficult Leg 7 Auckland to Itajai, passing Cape Horn , over 7000 Nm with a small advantage of 1Nm, about 15 minutes.

The saddest event on this Leg 7, will always be remembered as the loss at sea of sailor John Fisher form SunHungKai/ Scallywag. He was thrown overboard, in the middle of the Southern Ocean, in high waves, fierce winds and a low sea water temperature. Search efforts could not find him and the Boat had to leave the area and also Search and Resque teams could not find him.

This Leg has offered more than was feared for. Constantly big storms, one after the other, drifting from West passing the fleet  , waiting for the next one. 

Several Boats suffered damages, Mapfre has a loose rail on the mast but could manage with a temperary repair till close at Cape Horn also the Main Sail teared. A pit-stop of 13 hours, made a repair possible, so they could continue, though at some reduced speed. Vestas  demasted just after passing Cape Horn and try to find the logistics to bring them in time to Itajia for the start of the next Leg. 
Turn the Tide on Plastic, had some dislodged spreader on the mast, but managed to correct it. 
Brunel touched some ufo and got a linkage broken on their rudder. A spare could repair that.

Brunel took the lead about halfway with a clever strategical maneuver and never gave the lead out of their hands, though Dongfeng with an earlier engaging on a western wind after the Falkland, could close the distance. Never enough though to pass Brunel. It is a good gain for Brunel who took 16 points, 1 for CapeHorn, 14 for the double scoring winners place and 1 for winning the leg.    

Southern Ocean a cruel passing for the VolvoOceanRace.

This  version of the VolvoOceanRace, have seen a cruel passage through the Southern Ocean. 
This part of the VOR, is mostly the feared Leg, for boat breakages and losses in the classification if you don't sail without damage to Cape Horn. This year the double counting of points will double the losses when no escaping unscaved.

The worst this year is the lost of a sailor at sea,  John Fisher from SunHungKai/ Scallywag. During a broach, he was swept overboard in big winds , high waves and icy water temperatures. The crew did all possible to search for him and find him, but had in the end to conclude that he was lost and sail on to safe the boat and crew from an approaching Low storm. Scallywag is now going to a port on the Chilean coast.

Mapfre, damage a rail on their mast that holds the Main Sail already early in the  Leg. With some reefs set and ratchet bands they could hold all together and continue more or less, till just before Cape Horn their Main Sail teared completely horizontally. They had to stop for a repair pitstop and could resume sailing after some 13 hours.

Vestas, have lost their mast, just some 100 Nm south of the Falklands. The boat and crew is safe and they are motoring to the Falklands.

Brunel, some 50Nm ahead of the Cape, had a collision and the tiller link to the lee rudder broke, the had a broach but could recover and with some spares on board make a repair. I believe their boat is sound again.

Turn the Tide on Plastic,mentioned a slow down, to make a inspection of a spreader on their mast. They found something suspicious. Have not heard from them, till now, but on the tracker I see they are sailing some 12 hrs later, a normal speed and course, so I expect that there are no further problems.

Fair winds and safe sailing till Itajai.

Mapfre shows their intentions for VolvoOceanRace Leg 7.

Leg 7 , Auckland to Itajai, Brazil, has started and to no surprise Mapfre made a very sharp Start. 

Mapfre starts very sharp Leg 7

Saillng conditions in Auckland were perfect, winds  speeds upto 20kts, made a fierce battle between most boats possible. Mapfre, though, was most of the time in the lead, shortly followed by Dongfeng, and occasionally by Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastics.
The winds brought high boat speeds and with the tacks, some close passages occured but all without protests and accidents.

It was ultimatel Mapfre that left the starting parcour in the Lead, followed by Dongfeng and Brunel just ahead of Turn the Tide on Plastics. So the 2 main contenders for the Victory already in the lead and no doubt they will battle it out the whole route to Itajai.

This Leg 7 is important as it offers double points, on top of that an extra point for the first Boat passing Cape Horn and an extra point for the Winner. 

The Ice exclusion zone is far south, such the Boats can try to get a ride on the normal Westerly lows through the roaring fifties, the region around the latitude 50 degree. 

VolvoOceanRace continues with Leg 7 to Itajai, Brazil.

Sunday 18 March, the next Leg 7 Auckland to Itajai will start. Many call this Leg the real VolvoOceanRace Sailing. This leg will be hard, but than there also extra points up for grab, double point as one of the 3 heavy legs, a piont for passage of Cape Horn as well. So expect a fierce battle for the scorecard. 

This leg will start with a start circuit in the waters of Auckland to allow the winner of this short race to sail as first into the Open Water of the Southern Ocean. 
Start is Sunday 18 March, at 01:00 UTC; normally there is a live broadcast via the VolvoOceanRace website.

This leg will bring, low Temperatures, as Boats would like to sail as close as possible to the Antarctic, to reduce the miles and get (normally)the strongest winds. The Lows, with harsh winds and huge waves will make this also a adventures leg, where Boats might have to avoid the worst of the winds to protect boat and crew. 
However, the first around Cape Horn, has a good change to win in Itajia, though there might be some surprises waiting in the Southern Atlantic.

Dongfeng wins Gamble In-Port race in Auckland

The New Zealand Herald In-Port race was sailed in tricky wind conditions that made a big impact on the results.

situation just after the first Mark.

 

 

The race started with a "flying" start for Mapfre and SunHungKai and to some extend Vestas, and a hold up for the other 4 Boats. 
Brunel, on port tack but leeward and overlapping on 4 boats, blocked the start line for Donfeng, Turn the Tide on Plastic and AkzoNobel. Brunel had a slow start herself, and had to let SunHungKai slip pass from their intended blockage. The other 3 blocked Boats had to turn around and pass the start line a lot later. 

Mapfre and SunHungKai, sailed far ahead towards to top mark, but landed in a wind-hole, allowing some  Boats to pass. Dongfeng and AkzoNobel will be thankful to Brunel for the hold-up at the start, as this allowed them to sail on the outer northern and southern side of the course passed all but Vestas. This ultimately brought Dongfeng the Victory and AkzoNobel the runner up place. 
Mapfre, ultimately could take the last Podium place. 

Vestas, repaired in time from the damage suffered from a collision with a fishing boat on the approach to HongKong, sailed nicely to a 4 th place.

SunHungKai had a good end sprint and almost passed Brunel, who sailed again a disappointing race finishing 4th. 
Turn the Tide on Plastic, also got caught in the windhole in 1e leg, could catch up later, but not far enough preventing a last place.  

Next event is the Start of Leg 7 to Itajai on Sunday 18 March , 01:00UTC.

VolvoOceanRace activities restart with Auckland In-Port race

After a couple of weeks rest for the VolvoOceanRace crews , this Saturday the activities are re-starting with a historic In-Port race in the narrow waters of Auckland. 

Auckland In-Port race waters

The New-Zealand Herald In-Port race will be sailed in Auckland waters under the famous bridge, that could add to the challenge. 

As normal, I expect the In-Port race to be broadcasted on Internet via the VOR website

The New-Zealand Herald In-Port race will start Saturday 10 March at 0100 UTC, or 1400 local time.

The next event will be the Leg 7 Start Sunday a week later 18th March.

First Win in Auckland for AkzoNobel in VolvoOceanRace

AkzoNobel has won the Leg 6 VolvoOceanRace from HongKong to Auckland in an epic close battle in the last day along the NewZealand NE coast. The difference with the runner up Sun Hung Kai /Scallywag, was only some minutes. It is remarkable that the win in Leg 6, like the win in Leg 4 was earned by a Boat that made a bald separate strategy from the main fleet. 

AkzoNobel and SunHungKai, both made a diversion straight after passing Taiwan, one that many said was a bad move. Ultimately, be it by consistent navigation of pure luck the winds were favourable for the two and around the dolldrums these boats were in the lead. In a close battle, with several lead changes it was ultimately AkzoNobel that took the Victory in Auckland. 

The two red boats, Mapfre and Dongfeng, were seemingly battling each other rather than the Leg 6 fleet. They got lost in the Doldrums and were at the far end of the fleet. However they made a remarkable come back and managed to pass Turn the Tide on Plastic to a 3rd and 4th place respectively. 

Turn the Tide on Plastic, sailed a very good race, and were some days in the lead and with the leaders in the last part of the Leg 6. It is a pity that the red boats could pass them in the last 20Nm of this Leg.  

Brunel finished as last way back on the fleet. They made during a stealth mode a bold move , that brought them in the wrong winds. This navigation fault brought them in the end of the fleet with no way to recover the big loss.  

The Overall scoreboard looks as follows

 Next event will be the Auckland In-Port race on 10 March at 01:00 UTC

The VOR will continue with Leg 7 , Auckland to Itajai, starting on 18 March 01:00 UTC.

VolvoOceanRace brings surprises in un-expected winds

Leg 6 brings all except what could be expected and just this makes up for an interesting race classification day-by-day.

I have seen every Boat, except Dongfeng, in the lead at one day or more in Leg 6. Skippers must feel the joy one day and the frustration the other day, especially if their detailed prepared navigation plan does not brings the expected gain, because the wind has shifted and thrown all sailing theories overboard.

Whereas at one time the 2nd Doldrums looked to be an easy passage, once sailing into it, suddenly it was tremendous large and brought un-expected transfer of the lead in this Leg.

tracks 21 Feb

at this moment, 21 February 600 GMT, Turn the Tide on  Plastic is in the lead, followed by Brunel. The long time front runners, HunSungKai and AkzoNobel, demoted to 3rd and 4th at some 30Nm; While Dongfeng and Mapfre seems forgotten for this leg at the back end at 100 Nm. They looks to sailing against each other rather than participating in 6 Boat Leg 6 sailing race to Auckland.

The recent cycolone Gita, has shaken the windsystems and nothing is like expected. The navigators will have a hard job to find the fastest route to Auckland.

Fair winds to All.

AkzoNobel winner for the Leg 6 start circuit.

Leg 6 in the VolvoOceanRace , Hong Kong to Auckland, has started and AkzoNobel was the big winner. 
Their lead out of the HK region, looked a lot similar to the lead Mapfre had in the Hong Kong Round the Island race. However outside in the Open water, the lead was still with AkzoNobel, drastically reduced though. 

Start Leg 6 to leave Hong Kong

Leg 6 is long and with a unknown phenomena as the Doldrums, the Victory in Auckland is still up for grab, as there will come many surprises on  the route.
A good start however is always a good motivation, to do well.

Fair winds .

Leg 6 Starts earlier because of strong winds later on.

The Leg 6 in VolvoOceanRace, from Hong Kong to Auckland, is starting now at 300 UTC, 2 hours earlier. Main reason is the expected stronger winds some hours later, and by that time the Boats are out of HK and in the open waters.

Leg 6 is for a long stretch the reverse of Leg 4, but in the End will turn east to New Zealand for a traditional finish in Auckland. 

There will be 6 boats only in this Leg , as Vestas due to damage after a collision is shipped for repairs to Auckland.  
The parcour for the start is here Hong Kong Start parcours and as normal there will be live broadcasts on the volvo website.

Vestas shipped out of Hong Kong

Vestas was involved in a collision with a fishing boat, just before finishing Leg 4 into HongKong. One crew member of the fishing Boat, was seriously injured and later died.

Very little information has been published neither by Vestas nor by VolvoOceanRace. In an era of openness and involvement, this is a little odd. So there might be a fierce juridical battle being fought out, in the backrooms.

Also the situation of the collision, the weather /sea conditions at that moment, it is all left for guessing.

What I do recall, is that there was a proper NE wind and proper sight, it was dark though. The Vestas boat however is full of radar and other observation equipment and it seems strange that they did not see the fishing boat; even if the last boat would not have had navigation lights.

Vestas shipped out of Hong Kong

Anyway Vestas suffered heavy damage to the bow , while the other is said to have sunken, giving the facts that it was a very large collision.

Consequence for Vestas, is reported today,. The repairs are large , and can not be completed in HongKong. So Vestas boat is shipped out to Auckland, and they all hope that repairs can be made there ahead of the start of Leg 7, Auckland to Itajai - Brasil. A new bow section is being build at the Italian boatyard that made these VO65 boats, as strictest rules apply for the OneDesign boats. 

Lets hope that Vestas can join VOR again in Leg 7. 

Mapfre convincing Winner in Guangzhou In-Port race.

Saturday's Guangzhou's In-Port race brought Victory for Mapfre in a convincing manner.  They crossed the Start among the first correct starting boats, build an advantage on the first leg and never looked back, sailing a perfect race.

Two teams, too eager to have a flashing start, were called back, Dongfeng and SunHungKai. Dongfeng, in stead making a good restart, got herself entangled in the mooring line of the startline marker and lost too much time to be any better than last. 
SunHungKai, however managed to sail a proper race and ended fourth.

fierce battle in midfield Guangzhou In-Port race

The show was stolen however by Brunel and AkzoNobel, the 2 Dutch teams. They sailed close together on 2 and 3rd place for most of the race. Changing positions several times, by sailing a little different from each other. In the end however, it was Brunel that made the decisive move and got the runner-up place with AkzoNobel the last Podium  place.

Now the Boats will sail on their own back to Hong Kong for the Start of Leg 6 on Wednesday 7 February at 500 UTC.

Guangzhou In-Port Race for VolvoOceanRace.

Well, a surprise as Leg 5 was not a sailing race. Each boat had to move itself up-river to be in time in Guangzhou for the In-Port Race that will be sailed on Saturday 3 February 700 UTC (1500 local time)

Guangzhou In-Port parcour

Above an image with the parcour to sail. 

As normal I expect a live coverage on the internet site of VOR 

The boats will be allowed to float back without any racing towards HongKong.

After this race the first official event will be the Leg 6 start in HongKong on 
Wednesday 7 February 2018 at 500 UTC.

VolvoOceanRace Leg 5 Start on Thursday.

The VOR continues with Leg 5 after an intensive HongKong Sailing weekend. The next Leg is none counting for the Overall score but is sailed, I think, to honor China .

It is a short Leg, up the Pearl river, so it will be a complete different style of sailing for these VO65 Boats. Hopefully the traffic on the river will be friendly and overcoming for the sailing boats, that might have some difficulties in maneuvering in lower wind strengths; as we do not want to see another collision. 

The Start for Leg 5 is Thursday 1 February but so far there is not mentioned any starting time, it might be 500 UTC, same as for the Leg 6 start ?

In Guangzhou, there will be an officially counting In-Port race held on 3 February at 700UTC (15:00 local)

Hong Kong brought an intense Sailing weekend for the VOR.

The VolvoOceanRace fleet had an buzy and interesting weekend in Hong Kong, sailing Saturday the In-Port Race followed on Sunday by a Round the Island race. The classification of both events were combined into a final HK In-Port scoring.

The In-Port race offered fair winds and an interesting race. Dongfeng typically blocked Mapfre at the start to get a benefit that resulted in them beating Mapfre but was not enough for the Victory as AkzoNobel sailed a sublime race and took the winners honors. There were many close moments around the marks and many protest request, but none were awarded.  
In-Port Race order:

1. AkzoNobel
2. Dongfeng Race Team
3. Brunel
4. Mapfre
5. SunHungKai
6. CleanSeas 

Mapfre creeping away in wind calm on the Round the Island race

The Round the Island race has fair winds at the start, where 3 Boats had to restart because early starts, Brunel recovered fastest, CleanSeas made up a good deal in the next half hour of wind calm, while SunHungKai passed the start line as last Boat.
Mapfre had a tiny lead and took meter by meter till they as first boat fetched the better winds that brought in no time a 2 km advantage. This was big enough to take it to the Victory. Dongfeng was the 2nd boat to pick up the better breeze. 
Brunel in the back and SunHungKai just ahead , took a better route on the East side of the Island and passes both AkzoNobel and CleanSeas to take 4th and 3rd repectively. AkzoNobel got the 5th place and Clean Seas finished just within the limit for duration of the race.
Vestas did not participate as their boat is under repair after the collision with a fishing boat on the approach to Hong Kong Finihs in leg 4. 

Results for the Hong Kong weekend sailing and overall scorecard In-Port races

Scorecard HongKong In-Port race