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).
