Tag: sport

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

Volvo Ocean Race HK Village Opens at Kai Tak

The first ever Volvo Ocean Race Hong Kong stopover is officially underway following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Runway Park. It’s the first time that the Volvo Ocean Race fleet have visited Hong Kong – and with local team Scallywag currently leading the Leg 4 fleet, there’s an extra frisson of excitement.

Hong Kong Stopover.Getting ready for the Opening of the Race Village. 16 January, 2018. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

The Race Village is open from 9am to 10pm from 17-31 January and entry is is free. The fleet is currently due to arrive on 19 January – and the stopover is packed with on and off-water action and activities.

Hong Kong Stopover.Getting ready for the Opening of the Race Village. 16 January, 2018. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

For more information, including daily schedules in the Race Village, visit www.volvooceanracehk.com

Hong Kong Stopover.Getting ready for the Opening of the Race Village. 16 January, 2018. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race

For details of how to visit the Race Village click here.

Images: Volvo Ocean Race, Konrad Frost, Ainhoa Sanchez

Scallywag Leading the Fleet Towards Home in Hong Kong

Following one of the longest and most painful doldrums crossings in memory, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is now in the northeast trade winds and speeding towards the finish line in Hong Kong, some 2,700 nautical miles to the northwest.

The fleet finds itself in three distinct groupings, with Dongfeng Race Team leading team AkzoNobel and Vestas 11th Hour Racing in the northernmost triumvirate. And it’s in the north where the stronger winds should be as the northeasterly trades winds get established.

“I think we are in a strong position,” said Dongfeng Race Team skipper Charles Caudrelier. “We have just left the doldrums and we should be the first ones to catch the trade winds… we hope. We are very close on the ranking with Scallywag but we prefer our position for the future.”

While that northern option may turn out to be the correct one, at the moment, it’s David Witt’s Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag who are stealing a march on the opposition.

Contrary to many weather routing predictions, Witt and his crew have managed to craftily cut the corner, turning west before the rest of the fleet and gaining valuable miles towards the finish.

“The weather has helped us for sure,” Witt said. “It’s a balance between making decisions based on what the weather files tell you and what you can see in front of you… Anything can happen, it’s a pretty volatile situation still, but I’m pretty sure this group of people can deal with whatever happens.”

The Scallywags make up the middle grouping on their own, with MAPFRE leading Turn the Tide on Plastic and Team Brunel in the final triad, some 150 nautical miles directly east (and further from the finish line) compared to Scallywag.

For the trailing group, it’s been 24 hours of immense frustration. One final cloud in the doldrums grabbed these three and wouldn’t let go, while the other four boats were speeding away.

“We thought we’d be fighting at the front and now we’re fighting at the back which is not where we wanted to be,” said Dee Caffari, the skipper of Turn the Tide on Plastic. “Really disappointed. But we have nearly 3000 miles left to make it up.”

Additional reporting and photos: Konrad Frost, Volvo Ocean Race, Brian Carlin

Hong Kong Win HK-Guangdong Cup 4-2 on Penalties

Tse Long-hin scored the crucial penalty as Hong Kong won the 40th Hong Kong-Guangdong Cup 4-2 on penalties. After winning the first leg 2-0 at the HK Stadium on the 4 January, Hong Kong lost the second leg away as Guangdong reversed the score at home as they triumphed 2-0 in Guangzhou.

https://www.facebook.com/hkleague/videos/1796631947013745/

With the match all square after normal time goalkeeper Douglas Yuen Ho-chun – who made several fine saves during the game – was the star in the penalty shoot-out saving twice as Hong Kong won 4-2 and regained the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup for the first time in five years.

“The boys performed really well under the circumstances,” said interim Hong Kong coach Kenneth Kwok Ka-lok. “We are a young side and some of the players were suffering from injuries and even illness so that made it more difficult. But we had fire in our bellies and we handled the pressure, even in the penalty shootout where we held our own. We rose to the occasion. It wasn’t an easy thing to do.”

Another Long Leg Ahead to Hong Kong

Unlike the traditional Southern Ocean route of Leg 3, the fourth stage of the Volvo Ocean Race from Melbourne to Hong Kong is a new addition for the 2017-18 edition – but some of the challenges it poses will be recognisable from the early north-south legs.

The Volvo Ocean Race leg four will start in Melbourne on the 2 January and the fleet are expected to arrive in Victoria Harbour around the 20 January with local boat Scallyway looking to lead them home.

Where Leg 3 was all about hooking onto the infamous depressions of the Westerly Storm Track that circle the bottom of the world west to east unrestricted by land mass, Leg 4 is all about navigating through climate zones.

Setting out across the Coral Sea, the sevens boat fleet must tackle the Subtropical High Pressure Zone, a stable, semi-static area of high pressure in the Pacific lying between 30 and 38 degrees south. Because of its proximity to the northern edge of the Westerly Storm Track there is a real chance of being propelled out of Melbourne by big winds. Equally, the anticyclone could prove dominant.

The normally-consistent trade winds will come into play as the fleet climbs further north, before the dreaded Doldrums come into play once more. Throw in numerous Pacific Islands dotted around the course and you’ve got a serious challenge in the shape of Leg 4.

Leg 3, Cape Town to Melbourne, day 3, on board Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. Photo by Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race. 12 December, 2017.

Additional reporting and images: Konrad Frost, Volvo Ocean Race

MAPFRE Wins Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 from Cape Town to Melbourne

The Spanish Volvo Ocean Race team MAPFRE wins Leg 3 from Cape Town to Melbourne, a 6,500 nautical mile dive into the fierce challenges posed by the Southern Ocean.

For the second consecutive leg, MAPFRE needed to come from behind to earn the victory. And for the second time in a row, it was Dongfeng Race Team they passed mid-stage, to snatch the win.

“We had to fight very hard for this victory,” skipper Xabi Fernández said moments after crossing the finish line. “There’s so much of the race to go. But for now it’s looking good and we’re very happy of course.”

The Southern Ocean pushed the teams to the limit. Extreme cold, storm force winds for days on end and towering seas posed massive seamanship challenges, let alone allowing for racing and tactics.

“The strongest point for this team is the group of people we have,” Fernandez acknowledged. “They are so good and give us so much and have been working so hard on this leg. It was so tough, but it’s all gone perfect. Now we have a few days for recovery and we can get ready for the next one.

Leg 3, Cape Town to Melbourne, Start. Photo by Ainhoa Sanchez/Volvo Ocean Race. 10 December, 2017.

Dongfeng Race Team, nursing home a boat with a damaged keel system was able to fend off a late charge by Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Team Brunel to secure second place finish. It’s the second consecutive second place finish for skipper Charles Caudrelier’s team and this one will be bittersweet. The team led for much of this hard Southern Ocean leg and were disappointed to see MAPFRE make a pass to take the win

“This was the toughest leg I’ve ever done,” Caudrelier said. “We had this big fight with MAPFRE for most of the race and then a big problem on board just before the finish. A crazy section of gybing around the ice limits, it was a very, very difficult leg. We’re a bit disappointed after leading 80 per-cent of the time to give first place up to MAPFRE, but there are more legs to come and we will do better.”

Vestas 11th Hour Racing grabbed the final spot on the podium. Just after crossing the finishing line, Mark Towill, team director and co-skipper acknowledged the scale of the achievement “It was a tough leg. We’re happy to be on the podium again. It’s great to be in on Christmas and I know we’re all looking forward to getting ashore. It was a difficult leg, hard on the bodies, but everyone has held up well.”

Leg 3, Cape Town to Melbourne, day 5, Morning watch on board Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag. Photo by Konrad Frost/Volvo Ocean Race. 14 December, 2017.

The Vestas 11th Hour Racing crew finished behind Dongfeng Race Team but ahead of Team Brunel. At one point, with about 36 hours to go, the race tracker showed nothing to choose between Vestas and Dongfeng in terms of distance to finish, but in reality, the tactical situation favoured the Chinese/French boat.

“It was looking pretty close for a little while, but they were always ahead,” Towill said. “They were always comfortable. Brunel sailed well too so credit to them. It was challenging conditions and we’re all happy to be here and in one piece.”

In fourth place was Team Brunel, skipper Bouwe Bekking knows it keeps his team in touch with leaders but wants to be challenging the leaders.  hoa

“It’s been a really hard leg. We always expected it would be tough and it lived up to that,” Bekking said. “Plenty of breeze and some awesome sailing as well.

Fifth place in Leg 3 went to Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag who managed to hold off Turn the Tide on Plastic, for the second consecutive leg. Skipper David Witt steered Scallywag across the Melbourne finish line on a sunny boxing day, just in time for lunch. Turn the Tide on Plastic was less than three hours behind, after over two weeks and 6,500 nautical miles of close, hard-fought racing.

“Aussies arriving home after a tough leg. 6th place – shame we couldn’t catch those Scally’s. We tried and it was close. Hopefully next time,” tweeted Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari as her boat approached the finish line.

Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race represented a return to the roots of the race – a dip down to the Roaring Forties of the Southern Ocean, where storm systems circle Antarctica, unimpeded by land. The result is day after day of cold, strong winds and fearsome seas.

“The Southern Ocean always turns it on,” said Scallywag’s Luke Parkinson as the boat pulled up to the dock. “There are big waves and a lot of wind. This time we probably spent more time further south with day after day of big wind. It certainly can wear you down. When we turned left and headed up to Australia it was pretty special – a very good feeling. We’ve got to rest up now and be ready to leave in a few days.”

It’s an abbreviated stopover in Melbourne, with restrictions on how much work the crews are allowed to do on the boats, ahead of the start of Leg 4, to Hong Kong, on January 2, 2018.

Leg 3, Cape Town to Melbourne, day 06, on board Dongfeng. Rough sailing condition close to the ice gate. Black at the pit. Photo by Martin Keruzore/Volvo Ocean Race. 15 December, 2017.
Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 – Provisional Results 
  1. MAPFRE – 14 days, 04h:07m:21s
  2. Dongfeng Race Team – 14 days, 08h:10m:16s
  3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 14 days, 09h:52m:11s
  4. Team Brunel – 14 days, 11h:36m:27s
  5. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag -15 days, 13h:06m:31s
  6. Turn the Tide on Plastic -15 days, 15h:52m:50s
  7. team AkzoNobel – still racing
Volvo Ocean Race Leaderboard
  1. MAPFRE – 29 points
  2. Dongfeng Race Team – 23 points
  3. Vestas 11th Hour Racing – 23 points
  4. Team Brunel – 14 points
  5. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag – 11 points
  6. AkzoNobel – 7 points
  7. Turn the Tide on Plastic – 6 points

Additional reporting, images: Volvo Ocean Race, Martin Keruzore, Jeremie Lecaudey, Konrad Frost, Ainhoa Sanchez

HK4in4 Challenge

Run all four Hong Kong long-distance trails (Lantau, Wilson, Hong Kong, Maclehose) in four consecutive days (four stage challenge).

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 – 5am Lantau Trail, 70km
Sun, 24 Dec 2017 – 5am Wilson Trail, 78km
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 – 5am Hong Kong Trail, 50km
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 – 5am Maclehose Trail, 100km

Total: 298km in 4 stages (one trail per day)

HK4in4 Challenge
 Date: 23-26 December, 2017
Venue: Hong Kong
Tickets: Free
More info: www.facebook.com/HK4in4