#VOR - It was a familiar sight on Sunday afternoon (22 April) in Itajaí, Brazil, where the two red boats at the top of the Volvo Ocean Race leaderboard set the pace at the start of Leg 8 to Newport, Rhode Island, on the east coast of the United States.
MAPFRE, in second place overall and coming off a win in Friday’s In-Port Race, led throughout the inshore portion of the leg start, with overall race leader Dongfeng Race Team giving chase just boat lengths behind.
Team Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic — the latter with Annalise Murphy back on deck after her decision to bow out of the World Sailing Championships this August — were up among the leaders as well, pushing the frontrunners as they headed out to sea for the 5,700-nautical-mile leg north.
'WE'VE GOT BETTER AND BETTER AS THE RACE HAS GONE ON'@turntideplastic's @annalise_murphy previews #Leg8 from Itajaí to @VOR_Newport – and admits that the #volvooceanrace is so tough she almost quit, but is delighted she didn't give up on a dream pic.twitter.com/NKdIHBmBDF
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) April 22, 2018
Team AkzoNobel held down fifth place out of Itajaí while Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and Vestas 11th Hour Racing were close to three minutes behind the leader at the final inshore gate.
The Scallywag team was sporting a new logo on both boat and uniform honouring their lost teammate John Fisher.
The forecast is for generally light winds, making for tricky conditions to start Leg 8. The fleet is likely to push out to the east to get further offshore before making a turn to the north.
After falling behind Dongfeng Race Team by one point on the leaderboard, MAPFRE skipper Xabi Fernández says his team needs to battle hard to regain the lead: “We need to step up again and use all our strength to try to win this leg.”
His counterpart on Dongfeng Race Team, Charles Caudrelier explains that the leg is complicated with trade wind sailing as well as a fourth and final doldrums crossing for the race.
“It’s a nice leg. We have to cross the doldrums again, but it should be in the easy part, further to the west, which is good,” Caudrelier said.
Then, it’s the Newport stopover — which is popular with the sailors, as the town is renowned as a sailing mecca.
“I love Newport,” said Team Brunel’s Bouwe Bekking. “It’s a sailing destination, with so much heritage with the America’s Cup there for so many years and of course all the locals know what our race is about. It’s one of the best stopovers.”
As the teams left Itajaí, they were seen off by a large, enthusiastic crowd dockside as well as a generous spectator fleet on the water for the leg start.
Over the course of the Itajaí stopover, nearly 450,000 fans visited the Race Village. They will now be following the progress of the seven-strong fleet on the Volvo Ocean Race website, where the race tracker will feature live position updates for the first 48 hours in the Atlantic.
Leg 8 Position Report, Sunday 22 April (Day 1) at 8.50pm Irish time/7.50pm UTC:
- MAPFRE - DTF 5,012 nautical miles
- Dongfeng Race Team +0.2 nautical miles
- Turn The Tide on Plastic +0.5
- Team Brunel +0.5
- Team AkzoNobel +0.7
- Sun Hung Kai Scallywag +0.8
- Vestas 11th Hour Racing +1.0
Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 Overall Leaderboard After Leg 7:
- Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier), 46 points
- MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández), 45 points
- Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking), 36 points
- Team AkzoNobel (Simeon Tienpont), 33 points
- Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (David Witt), 26 points
- Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright), 23 points
- Turn The Tide on Plastic (Dee Caffari), 20 points
