Guangzhou Welcomes the Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet was treated to a warm welcome in Guangzhou, China on Thursday afternoon, after arriving 70 miles up the Pearl River Delta from Hong Kong.

The Chinese Dongfeng Race Team was in the spotlight for the festivities upon arrival. Sitting in second place on the overall leader board, behind race leaders MAPFRE, Dongfeng was feted by the local fans.

After proceeding with the public arrival festivities, the skippers then met the local media. Her are some views on the race by the skippers:

Charles Caudrelier, skipper, Dongfeng Race Team, speaking about the challenge of the Volvo Ocean Race: “It’s long, very long sometimes, but this is part of the race. The goal is to last. It is difficult. That’s what is very interesting, to manage to keep the team together, to perform, to improve, even when you are exhausted, each leg you have to improve and that is what I like in this race. That’s why it is so tough and what makes it different from all the other races in the world.”

David Witt, skipper, Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, on raising the profile of sailing in the region: “Let’s not forget we had two Asian teams running first and second in Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race and I think that’s a great indication of the interest and the growth of the sport here in Asia and I think you’ll see more of that in the future.”

Dee Caffari, skipper, Turn the Tide on Plastic, on building skills with her young crew: “Every day is a school day for us. We learn every day… Everybody is continuing to develop and improve. Now we have to make sure our rate of improvement is a little bit better than these other guys and I’m sure our results will come.”

Bouwe Bekking, skipper Team Brunel, on how the Volvo Ocean Race gets under your skin: “You do this race because you love the sport… Is it an obsession? I don’t think so. I just love my sport. I always dreamed about doing this race and I’ve fulfilled my dream.

Simeon Tienpont, skipper, team AkzoNobel, on getting hooked on the race at a young age: “It’s important to grow up with the sport. In Netherlands we have a big history with the Volvo Ocean Race, there have been many Dutch teams. So when I grew up I sailed my Optimist, but on Sundays I’d go to my dad’s office and we’d plot out these routes and during the week at school I’d figure out which boat was which. That got me inspired by the race and got me hooked. I feel very lucky to be one of the few guys in this world to be able to race with my own team.”

Xabi Fernandez, skipper, MAPFRE, on whether the other teams are catching up and narrowing the advantage to his team: “Last edition we were on the other side, we started bad and kept coming up throughout the race. We knew it would not be easy. This time and all the teams are going to keep improving. You only need to see the crew list on each team to see the experience and quality of people. For the moment, our preparation is giving us a slight advantage, but it’s going to be harder and harder. Hopefully we can keep it going our way.”

How to follow the Dongfeng In Port Race in Guangzhou
All you need to know about our ‘live’ and ‘as live’ coverage of Saturday’s In Port Race in China.

The Dongfeng In Port Race is scheduled to start at 1500 local time, with racing to take place on a tight race course in the shadow of the Humen Bridge.

Dongfeng Race Team and MAPFRE enter the race tied on 25 points at the top of the Series leader board, with Team Brunel fending off team AkzoNobel for third place.

Racing starts at 1500 local time (0700 UTC), but due to technical limitations, video coverage will be available “as live” at 2300 local time (1500 UTC).

On the website:
Head to www.volvooceanrace.com to catch a live blog of the action from 1450 local time (0650 UTC). The usual post race story will be posted shortly after racing has finished.

Check out Facebook:
We’ll post the “as live” video at 2300 local time (1500 UTC) -– you can go to our page to schedule a reminder so you don’t miss it.

Check out Twitter:
We’ll be tweeting live updates from the race course beginning at 1450 local time (0650 GMT). Join the conversation on Twitter with the “as live” broadcast at 2300 local time (1500 UTC) by visiting live.twitter.com/volvooceanrace and tweeting us with #volvooceanrace. Check it out as we share the best content from the teams, stakeholders and fans on our feed

Join us on our live blog:
We’ll be blogging all the moves, previews and news from the racetrack on our live blog, including the best of clips and social content, from 1450 local time (0650 UTC). You can find it at www.volvooceanrace.com under the ‘Racing’ section.

Download the app:
It’s full of great content and fits on your mobile phone. Why wouldn’t you want the official Volvo Ocean Race app? Head to the App Store or Google Play to download it. It’s called Volvo Ocean Race.