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Dongfeng crossed the finish line under the shadow of Table Mountain at dusk after a voyage lasting 19 days, four hours, two minutes and 39 seconds. With an average speed of 17.2 knots, she reached the end of the 7,000-nautical mile leg from the Portuguese capital Lisbon two hours and 52 minutes behind leg winner and new race leader MAPFRE, skippered by Xabi Fernandez. Frenchman Charles Caudrelier, who is leading Dongfeng Race Team for the second successive Volvo Ocean Race, …

The Spanish MAPFRE team has won Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, a 7,000 nautical mile marathon from Lisbon, Portugal to Cape Town, South Africa. “It’s amazing, we’re super-happy. We came here in one piece and in front of the others, we can’t ask for more,” skipper Xabi Fernández said moments after finishing. “This is what we will see all the way around the world. Super-tight racing, everyone has good speed and small mistakes are very expensive. This time …

Ingenious Plan to Minimise Impact on City of Cape Town’s Water Supply With the holiday season fast approaching, and dam levels at their lowest in 100 years, organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town Stopover have come up with plans to save as much water as possible to not affect the water crisis. Says Bruce Parker-Forsyth, CEO of the Cape Town Stopover delivery partner WorldSport, “Together with the V & A Waterfront, we have adopted an innovative water management …

by Richard Crockett MAPFRE looks good to take line honours into Cape Town. At the last position report she had 200nm to go to finish, and was 39nm ahead of Dongfeng. While that 39nm looks almost unbeatable, those who follow ocean racing closely know that it is anything but ‘safe’, although the MAPFRE team would need to make some seriously poor decisions from here not to win. The breeze is up, and in the last 24 hours MAPFRE had a …

“Cold, wet, and no escape…” is an apt description of conditions in the South Atlantic as the competition heats up, even as temperatures plummet… MAPFRE continue to lead the fleet, but their lead has been whittled down to just 26 miles as the chasing pack close in. “We’ve managed to get ourselves into the lead, but it’s a pretty tight battle with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, Dongfeng Race Team and Brunel Racing,” said Blair Tuke from on board the leading …

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by Richard Crockett Team Brunel went into stealth mode yesterday so her actual position will only be known at the next ‘sched’ later this afternoon. It is going to be interesting to see what her tactics were during her stealth period, and whether she has made a radical move that will catch the fleet unawares. Or was it a move simply to unnerve her closest competition? As everything in this race, only time will tell. Abby Ehler gave an update …

An exciting new era in America’s Cup racing has been unveiled as the concept for the AC75, the class of boat to be sailed in the 36th America’s Cup is released illustrating a bold and modern vision for high performance fully foiling monohull racing yachts. The Emirates Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa design teams have spent the last four months evaluating a wide range of monohull concepts. Their goals have been to design a class that will be challenging …

NASA has successfully launched for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) the first in a series of four highly advanced polar-orbiting satellites, equipped with next-generation technology and designed to improve the accuracy of U.S. weather forecasts out to seven days. The Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) lifted off on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 1:47 a.m. PST Saturday. Approximately 63 minutes after launch the solar arrays on JPSS-1 deployed and …

By Richard Crockett It’s been a fascinating weekend watching the tactics of the boats as they literally jockeyed for position in an attempt to position themselves in the perfect spot for the ‘slingshot’ which will take them to the finish at great speed. There was quite a lot of gybing, with Brunel even pointing away from the finish as she tried to position herself. For me though, I think MAPFRE have played their tactics the best, and as this is …

by Richard Crockett This race has been marred by tragedy before, and regrettably again on Saturday when crew member, Simon Speirs, was swept overboard from the Great Britain Clipper. He was recovered, but was pronounced dead after all efforts by crew and an onboard GP were in vein. Tragedies at sea do happen, as they do on dry land, but for some reason sea-going tragedies tend to whip up a media frenzy and a need to apportion blame. I am …

by Richard Crockett Yesterday afternoon the first boat to make a move eastwards was AkzoNobel. Their move immediately had them hit the top of the leaderboard. For the big question is whether this was a ‘media move’ to get attention for a campaign which has received media coverage for the wrong reasons, or a genuine attempt at breaking from the fleet to get a jump on them and win the leg into Cape Town. Time will tell. While they are …

The winner of the Garmin Quatix 5 watch for the October competition is Becky Daniel (pictured). Becky is the mother of the 29er World Champion helmsman – Benji Daniel. Congratulations Becky – and thanks to everyone who entered.   TO SEE THE FULL GARMIN RANGE CLICK HERE  

The Dell Latitude Rugged Race has seen mixed conditions for the Clipper Race fleet with fast downwind conditions being replaced by shifting winds and lighter airs for many teams. Sanya Serenity Coast remains in the lead with less than 2,000 nautical miles to go to Fremantle and Skipper, Wendy Tuck, reports: “Yes, we got a kite up, but it was only for a few hours as the wind increased and it was getting to be a bit much. We still …

World Sailing, the world governing body, has moved into the world of eSports with the launch of the first virtual World Sailing Championships. In partnership with the leading digital sailing platform, Virtual Regatta, the eSailing World Championships will be held every year starting from 2018. The Virtual Regatta platform provides the perfect vehicle for the eSWC, with their established Inshore Regatta games. A new set of World Sailing regulations will be used to allow the sports Racing Rules of Sailing …