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.