Before even leaving the dock,
"We will encounter a lot of fishing boats against us. Everywhere along the coast of
A Volvo navigator is like a grumbling gremlin lashed to a cramped nav station below deck under the eerie glow of a red light, trying to plot a course through a minefield of sketchy conditions that can leave a boat dead in the water or careening out of control. When they get it right, the skipper gets all of the credit, and when they get it wrong, they often find themselves replaced at the next stop.
Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi
Check out the press release from the boat that ran aground in Leg 2. “Skipper Chris Nicholson has completed his review, together with the lead sponsor Vestas and sub-sponsor Powerhouse, and the decision has been made that Wouter Verbraak will no longer continue as navigator of the Vestas Wind.”
The previous VOR stopped in
The race began in light winds as the Volvos navigated the straits of Hormuz and it’s smorgasbord of super tankers, fishing boats, sharp rocks lurking just below the water line, and the Iranian Exclusion zone where communications were constantly jammed by the military.
The navigators had to eat the elephant one bite at a time, dividing the race into manageable bits, each with its own weird and unpredictable winds and weather.
Dongfeng’s skipper
Once free of the Persian Gulf, the navigators faced some tricky choices in figuring out the fastest way to catch the windy monsoons moving across the
Armory Ross-Team Alvimedica
And even when the navigators made the right call, there was the endless game of dodging trash and sea creatures.
Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng
And even when the navigators made the right call, there was the endless game of dodging trash and sea creatures.
When Brunel slowed to a crawl off the coast of
Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng
Luis came back up, yelling, "A snake! There is a big dark snake wrapped around the sail drive. Give me a knife!"
Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi
After rounding Cape Comorin at the southern tip of India, the breezes came barreling down the Gulf of Manmar wind tunnel between the Indian continent and the island of Sri Lanka, leaving each navigator to then figure out the best course around the wind shadow of 9,000-feet Mt. Pedro before crossing the infamous Bay of Bengal where all of the navigation lessons went right out the window.
Francisco Vignale-MAPFRE
The
SiFi,
The navigators now faced the most daunting task of all, plotting the best route through the island-packed
"I've seen floating refrigerators," tells Brunel’s Jens Dolmer. “It is the rainy season so everything washes into the sea. Those wooden houses on stilts, you know them? You will see them drifting alongside our boat."
We hear a lot about the pollution of our oceans these days, but to read veteran Volvo skipper Bouwe Bekking description of the sailing conditions is an ugly glimpse into Dante’s Inferno.
“I was feeling really sad about the amount of rubbish off the Indian coast, but now that we are sailing in the
Steffan Cooppers- Brunel
And
the navigational nightmare just got crazier as the boats were squeezed into the
ten-mile-wide Singapore Channel, a maze of islands and moving obstacles, before
getting spit out into the South China Sea .
Matt Knighton-Abu Dhabi
The entire fleet opted for the 1,000-mile upwind beat along the coast of Vietnam where thousands of tea cup fishing vessels and their mother ships came out to play each night like a moving city of lights surrounded by nets, forcing each Volvo to play dodge-boat, snap-tacking for five days, in a tortuous match race with Dongfeng never surrendering her tenuous lead.
Sam Greenfield-Dongfeng
Xaume Olleros-Power Sport Images-VOR
After
23 maddening days, Dongfeng became the first Chinese boat in the 41-year
history of the VOR to win a leg. And it
was only fitting that her French skipper 
Xaume Olleros-Power Sport Images-VOR
VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEADER BOARD
Leg1
|
Leg2
|
Leg3
|
Overall
|
|
Abu Dahabi
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
Alvimedica
|
5
|
4
|
3
|
12
|
Brunel
|
3
|
1
|
5
|
9
|
Dongfeng
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
5
|
MAPFRE
|
7
|
4
|
4
|
15
|
SCA
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
Vestas Winf
|
4
|
DNF-8
|
DNS-8
|
20
|
*Low score in the overall category determines position, so Dongfeng is now in first place, one point ahead of Abu Dhabi, with Brunel in third.
Nest stop: Auckland, New Zealand
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