Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing led from start to finish to win the Volvo Ocean Race in-port race in Cape Town on Saturday and confirm their current position as the nine-month event?s dominant force.
British skipper Ian Walker led the crew from the Emirates to a narrow 12-minute victory in Leg 1 from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town last week (Nov. 5).
That victory was eked out over 25 days and some 6,487 nautical miles (nm) as against just eight miles in Saturday?s hour-long in-port sprint but Abu Dhabi still proved the best of a seven-strong fleet in mastering changeable winds and squalls.
?Cape Town can be like that when the wind comes round Table Mountain. We had really good crew work today, I was out of breath just watching them,? said Walker.
?We just tried to do the right thing and our navigator, Simon Fisher, did a good job controlling the race. Two down, plenty more to go.?
Abu Dhabi now lead the overall table for the in-port series by three points from Team Brunel (Netherlands), who chased them in just over a minute behind on Saturday. The all-women?s crew of Team SCA (Sweden) were third.
Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA), winners of the first in-port race in the series in Alicante, ripped one of their sails and now need to fix it quickly before the fleet departs for Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for the 6,125 nautical miles (nm) trip on Leg 2.
There are two separate competitions in the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 edition, one offshore which comprises nine legs, 38,487nm and 11 port stopovers. That concludes in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27, 2015.
The other is the in-port series that will be played out over 10 of the ports.
Results:
Volvo Ocean Race (after one leg)
1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 1pt
2. Dongfeng Race Team 2
3. Team Brunel 3
4. Team Vestas Wind 4
5. Team Alvimedica 5
6. Team SCA 6
7. MAPFRE 7
Cape Town in-port race:
1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – 15:06:57 -1pt
2. Team Brunel (Netherlands) 15:08:00 – 2pts
3. Team SCA (Sweden) 15:09:04 – 3pts
4. Dongfeng Race Team (China) 15:09:22 – 4pts
5. Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 15:11:25 – 5pts
6. Team Alvimedica (U.S/Turkey) 15:16:14 – 6pts
7. MAPFRE (Spain) 15:18:32 – 7pts
In-Port Race Series overall standing (after two races):
1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 3pts
2. Team Brunel 6
3. Team Alvimedica 7
4. Team SCA 9
5. Dongfeng Race Team 9
6. MAPFRE 10
7. Team Vestas Wind 12
