#VOR - The seven teams competing in the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race will test their offshore Volvo Ocean 65s on a close-quarters race course later today (Friday 8 December) during the Cape Town In-Port Race, under the shadow of the majestic Table Mountain.
Racing off Cape Town is notoriously challenging with strong, gusty, shifting winds and tricky currents commonplace.
And after racing 7,000 nautical miles from Lisbon to Cape Town last month, the sailors will need to switch gears for short-course, inshore racing.
The leaderboard of the In-Port Race Series is used as the tie-breaking mechanism for the overall Volvo Ocean Race standings, so the stakes are high.
MAPFRE leads the In-Port Race series by two points over Team Brunel, who won the last race in Lisbon, and Dongfeng Race Team.
The race is scheduled to start at 2pm local time (12 noon Irish time). Catch the live stream of the event from 11.50am Irish time at the Volvo Ocean Race website or on Facebook Live.
What should the fleet be doing to prepare for crossing the Southern Ocean on Leg 3 from Sunday? Keep warm and hold on tight, writes Jonno Turner on the VOR site, as speed is of the essence — something the Clipper Race fleet that only recently crossed that stretch of ocean knows only too well.
