Volvo Ocean Race Fleet Shifts Focus To Today’s Newport Inshore Racing

19th May 2018

Home team Vestas 11th Hour Racing getting in some practice with In-Port Race Series leaders MAPFRE in Newport on Wednesday 16 May Credit: Jesus Renedo/Volvo Ocean Race

#VOR - After returning to the northern hemisphere with nearly 40,000 nautical miles in their wake, the sailors in the Volvo Ocean Race will shift gears to inshore racing with a focus on today’s Gurney’s Resorts In-Port Race Newport.

In contrast to the long offshore ocean legs, the In-Port Race Series features short course racing, close to shore, in full view of spectators on the water and in the race village.

For the home team, Vestas 11th Hour Racing, today provides a showcase in front of home fans. “We have an opportunity to go out there and get a good result in front of our home crowd. We have such a good group of supporters, and we’d like to put on a good show for them, so we’re looking forward to that,” skipper Charlie Enright said.

“The forecast is for some good wind on Saturday and it’s always nice to sail on home waters,” added Nick Dana, a native of Newport, Rhode Island.

The weather forecast is for 10-12 knot easterlies, providing good racing conditions for the Volvo Ocean 65s.

The Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series acts as a tie-breaking mechanism for the overall race leaderboard. And with just three points separating MAPFRE in first from second-placed Dongfeng Race Team after eight legs of racing, the results here could be crucial by the time the race finishes in The Hague at the end of June.

Racing starts at 7pm Irish time local time (2pm local/6pm UTC. From 6.45pm you can catch a live stream of the action at the Volvo Ocean Race website or on Facebook Live, and join the conversation on Twitter.

The VOR team will also be blogging all the moves, previews and news from the racetrack on the live blog, including the best of clips and social content, from 6.30pm Irish time. Find it at www.volvooceanrace.com under the ‘Racing’ section.

Current Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard:

MAPFRE – 44 points
Dongfeng Race Team – 39 points
Team AkzoNobel – 33 points
Team Brunel – 29 points
Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 18 points
Turn the Tide on Plastic – 15 points
Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag – 15 points

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MacDara Conroy

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MacDara Conroy is a contributor covering all things on the water, from boating and wildlife to science and business

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