#vor – Overall Volvo Ocean Race leaders, Ian Walker (GBR) and his seven Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing crewmates, left Lisbon for Leg 8 to Lorient, France, on Sunday with their eyes glued on the weather forecast - and the progress of their two closest rivals.
The penultimate 647-nautical mile (nm) stage is the shortest of the nine-month race by some way, but no less challenging for that.
Walker summed up: "There are light winds chasing up the Portuguese coast, but by the time we get to Cape Finisterre, it should be a dead beat to Lorient (France), and probably quite windy, over 30 knots."
He is banking on plenty of upwind sailing. "It'll be interesting as we haven't had a lot of upwind in this race. We don't really know what the pecking order is in these conditions, so it could be a very different leg from the others."
The fleet, restored to seven boats again after the return of Team Vestas Wind (Chris Nicholson/AUS) in Lisbon, following the rebuild from the collision with a reef in Leg 2, should take three to four days to reach Lorient on the Brittany coast.
The Emirati boat, on paper, is able to clinch overall victory if results go their way when the boats arrive after around four days of sailing.
The fleet is expected to reach Lorient early on Thursday (June 11). They will have a short maintenance period there before setting off for the final leg to Gothenburg, via a pit-stop in The Hague, on Tuesday, June 16.
Current latest standings (low points wins, In-Port Race Series splits ties):
1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 16 points
2. Team Brunel (Netherlands), 22
3. Dongfeng Race Team (China), 22
4. Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.), 27
5. MAPFRE (Spain), 27
6. Team SCA (Sweden), 43
7. Team Vestas Wind (Denmark), 52
Position report at: 07 Jun 21:44 UTC
MAPFRE, 664 nm to leg finish
Team Alvimedica, 0.3 nm to leader
Team SCA, 0.6
Dongfeng Race Team, 1.6
Team Brunel, 1.6
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 1.7
Team Vestas Wind, 2.5
