bc magazine

AkzoNobel Win Hong Kong In-Port Race

Team AkzoNobel took the win in the Hong Kong In-Port Race on a dull grey afternoon on the waters of Victoria Harbour.

It was a typical harbour race. The wind was a 6 to 10 knot Easterly, quite shifty and puffy, and with a strong tide running crews needed to keep concentration levels high.

For spectators while the grey backdrop was dull, the puffy nature of the breeze allowed all those watching to fully appreciate what a beautiful boat the Volvo 65 is. Graceful on the water, picks up speed on the slightest puff and nimble on the tack. A much stronger breeze and the fleet would have had to be more circumspect on their tacks and crossings, as it was boats were tight to the transom – just as you would race in a dinghy.

“We had a fantastic race, pretty exciting. We planned to sail our own race today. It was tricky enough with the tide and the windshifts,” said team AkzoNobel skipper Simeon Tienpont. “The team sailed an unbelievable race and the guys in the back of the boat played the tactics very well… It’s good when things come together. It’s a nice reward for all the effort the team has put in.”

Dongfeng Race Team finished in second place, with Team Brunel third. The two swapped places on the third lap of the course after a solid upwind leg by Brunel gave them the lead, but the Dongfeng crew fought back on the run to secure second place.

A fourth place finish on Saturday by the series leader MAPFRE means Dongfeng vaults to the top of the table. But it’s a tight leaderboard and it could compress further following Sunday’s Around Hong Kong Island Race, when results of the weekend of racing will be combined to assign the points from this stopover.

Hong Kong’s hometown heroes Scallywag had a fantastic start, but fell back and battled to a fifth place finish over Turn the Tide on Plastic on Saturday. Both teams will be determined to move up with a better result on Sunday.

Watch a full reply of the Hong Kong In-Port race here

The Around Hong Kong Island Race is scheduled to start at 11:30am on 28 January. There will be live coverage of the start and finish of Sunday’s race on www.volvooceanrace.com

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Leaderboard

Dongfeng Race Team – 24 points
MAPFRE – 23 points
team AkzoNobel – 18 points
Team Brunel – 18 points
Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
Scallywag – 9 points
Turn the Tide on Plastic – 7 points

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Ainhoa Sanchez, Pedro Martinez

Victoria Harbour Race

Six Volvo Ocean Race teams will be on the start line for the In-Port Race in Victoria Harbour this afternoon.

MAPFRE, the overall race leader, is also at the top of the In-Port Race Series leaderboard, with Dongfeng Race Team just one point behind, and Team Brunel completing the current podium.

The In-Port Race is one of two events scheduled for the Hong Kong Stopover this weekend. On Sunday, the teams will compete in the Around Hong Kong Island Race, a near-shore race around the island of Hong Kong.

Results from the two races will be combined and scored as one event for the purposes of the In-Port Race leaderboard.

Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag will be a team to watch over the weekend. The hometown favourite won Leg 4 from Melbourne into Hong Kong and will be keen to continue its winning ways in front of its enthusiastic home supporters.

Meanwhile, Vestas 11th Hour Racing has announced it will not be participating in the inshore racing in Hong Kong this weekend nor in Leg 5 from Hong Kong to Guangzhou as the team arranging repairs to the boat caused by the collision with a fishing boat and the death of a Chinese man on Saturday 20th January.

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard

1. MAPFRE – 19 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team – 18 points
3. Team Brunel – 13 points
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 12 points
5. team AkzoNobel – 11 points
6. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag – 6 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 5 points

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Rich Edwards, Pedro Martinez

Dongfeng Grabs Second Place Into Hong Kong

Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, arrivals. 19 January, 2018.

Dongfeng was the second Volvo boat to arrive in Hong Kong to a pontoon full of the crew’s young children and the ‘Horace’ fan club down from Shenzhen for the evening.
bc was there to see all the joy, click on any photo to see the full gallery.

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Home Town Heroes – Historic Win For Scallywag

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Scallywag-Wins-Volvo-Ocean-Race-Leg-to-Hong-Kong/i-XvJ99P3

An historic first race win for Scallywag and Hong Kong in the Volvo Ocean Race. bc was the there to capture the action, click on any photo to see more images of the victory celebrations.
Click on any photo for more images of the celebration.

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Volvo Ocean Race, Scallywag Wins Hong Kong Leg

Scallywag sails up Victoria Harbour to win Leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, and lead the fleet into their home port. It’s an historic win for team that grabbed the lead with a bold tactical call out of the Doldrums last weekend.

“We had a bit of a plan and we stuck to it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and this time it worked for us.”

In an extended Doldrums crossing Scallywag came from behind to what appeared to be a strong position, only to fall behind the fleet again late in the crossing. Witt and navigator Libby Greenhalgh made the decision to cut the corner, and turn to the west earlier than the rest of the fleet who kept pressing north in search of stronger winds.

The move paid dividends nearly immediately on the leaderboard as Scallywag had less miles to sail to the finish line, but the armchair pundits cautioned that the teams in the north would almost certainly overhaul them as the tradewinds filled in from the northeast…

It never happened.

Even when the team dropped miles recovering a man overboard after Alex Gough was swept off the boat by a wave, after executing a flawless recovery, Scallywag returned to racing and extended to nearly a 100-mile lead.

But then, the chasing boats began chipping away at the lead. Two days out from the finish, the margin had been cut significantly and the pressure mounted.

“I was really impressed by the way we operated over the past couple of days,” Witt said. “We had a pretty big lead and then through no fault of our own, about two-thirds of it got taken away. But we stuck to our guns, did what we thought was right and it’s worked out.”

With the Leg 4 win, Scallywag picks up 8 points (7 points for first place plus a one point win bonus). It will vault the team up to mid-fleet on the overall leaderboard, in a very respectable fourth place.

“It was always going to take us longer than the others to get up to speed as we were the last to enter,” Witt said. “All teams need a bit of confidence and I think one thing that is underrated in sport is momentum and this will certainly give the Scallywags plenty of that… We’re all still learning and we’re going to keep getting better as we go on.”

Witt has acknowledged the significance of the win as the local team leading the fleet into the first ever Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Hong Kong. For the team owner, Seng Huang Lee, who has supported Scallywag sailing over the years, it’s a big moment.

“We’re a privately owned team and our owner Mr. Lee has poured his passion and enthusiasm and vision into this project and this win will be very special for him… Winning this leg will be a massive platform for Scallywag going forward.”

https://bcmagazine.smugmug.com/Bcene-photos/2018/Scallywag-Wins-Volvo-Ocean-Race-Leg-to-Hong-Kong/i-KnNcbRD

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, bc magazine

Late Night Wait, Nerves A Jangle…

Family, friends, support crew and sailing fans are gathered at the Kai Tak Race Village waiting hopefully, expectantly for the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet for their first ever visit to Hong Kong. Amazingly Hong Kong’s debutante Scallywag is leading the way home.

Glances at phones and the large digital tracker screen show the hometown boat’s lead is shrinking. Unlike a watched pot the tracker also shows the distance to the finish dropping rapidly as the 65 foot boat powers home at over 20 knots (23mp/h or 37km/h). There’s a steady breeze to the finish in Victoria Harbour and the tension ebbs as the excitement rises.
Click on any photo for the full gallery of images.

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Volvo Ocean Race Hong Kong

After a tense 24 hours Scallywag looks set to lead the Volvo Ocean Race fleet home as Hong Kong’s entry is estimated to sail up Victoria Harbour to the finish line off Kai Tak around midnight today as the Volvo Ocean Race makes it’s first ever stopover in Hong Kong.

The fleet is sailing in from the East, so the breakwater at Chai Wan typhoon shelter or any of the headland vantage points will provide a superb viewing spot to watch the boats arrival. The leading three boats will arrive in the early hours of the 20th Jan, the rest throughout the day.

Leg 4, Melbourne to Hong Kong, day 17 Annemieke Bes on board Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. Photo by Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race. 16 January, 2018.

The ‘Race Village’ is situated at Kai Tak and there’s a wide range of activities going on during the two week stopover. Entry is Free!

17 Jan – Race Village opens (opens daily 0900-2200)
25 Jan – Practice Race – 14:00-15:00
26 Jan – Concert – 20:00
27 Jan – In-Port Race Victoria Harbour – 14:00-15:00
27 Jan – Music showcase – 17:00
28 Jan – Around Hong Kong Island Race – 11:30
28 Jan – E-sports – 18:00
29 Jan – Pro-Am Races x 4 / start times 14:00, 1455, 1550, 1645
31 Jan – Leg 5 start Hong Kong to Guangzhou (tbc pm)
31 Jan – Race Village closes to public
31 Jan – Guangzhou Race Village opens
3 Feb – Guangzhou In-Port race
5 Feb – Leg 5: Guangzhou to Hong Kong start
7 Feb – Leg 6: Hong Kong to Auckland start Victoria Harbour – 14:00

For more details of the Hong Kong stopover click here

Scallywag Strikes For Home

Scallywag, continues its charge towards the finishing line as skipper Dave Witt says the next 24 hours are the most vital of Leg 4 as they close in on an historic home leg victory.

Witt’s crew were sitting on a lead of almost 100 nautical miles to their closest rivals Vestas 11th Hour Racing with around 800 miles to the finish line.

Despite the healthy buffer, Hong Kong is still a day and half away, and to get to the finish they must first thread their way between Taiwan and the Philippines and avoid any patches of light wind in the area.

“For me the biggest concern is from here to the top of the Philippines,” he Witt. “Once we get around the corner of the Philippines to Hong Kong it’s pretty easy, I don’t think we can get passed there. The most danger lies between here and there so the next 24 hours are the most important.”

“If we can get through the next three scheds without a loss there won’t be enough runway for anyone to catch us. We’re going to push really hard for the next 24 hours, and hopefully ‘sign the deal’. Basically the only way we are going to lose it is if we park up and stop, and I’ll make sure we won’t do that.”

A moment of panic set in when Scallywag hit a patch of light airs, halting progress. But thankfully for them the breeze that was forecast to fill in ahead of them materialised, and by 1300 UTC they were back up to speed.

“I don’t think anyone really understands the magnitude of this if we manage to pull it off,” Witt added. “There are so many firsts: first Hong Kong team ever, first time to Hong Kong… hopefully we will have plenty of time in Hong Kong over beers to let it sink in – but we have to get there first.”

Second-placed Vestas 11th Hour Racing were seemingly sitting pretty thanks to a 70-mile gap between them and team AkzoNobel in third on the leaderboard.

However Dongfeng Race Team had been in third place some 50 miles behind Vestas before opting to go in to stealth mode, hiding their position from the fleet for 24 hours.

Charles Caudrelier’s crew will reappear on the tracker at 1900 UTC – and only then will anyone know what strategy they’ve been employing and whether they’ve closed the gap at all.

Sixty miles behind AkzoNobel were overall race leaders MAPFRE, with Team Brunel in fifth and Turn the Tide on Plastic in sixth.

Brunel skipper Bouwe Bekking, the most experienced Volvo Ocean Race sailor in the fleet, admitted his team have struggled for speed.

“Everybody is giving a 100 per cent, there is no doubt about that, but at the moment that’s just not enough,” he said. “We’ve made a mistake twice, once at the beginning of the leg and once in the Doldrums.

“With lower wind speeds and when we’re sailing closer angles to the wind we do alright, but when it’s like this, with more wind and coming more from the back, we barely manage to keep up with the rest of the fleet. It’s frustrating, but the only thing we can do on board is remain positive and trim and steer the boat as well as possible.”

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Konrad Frost, Yann Riou