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Volvo Ocean Race 2014/15 - Leg 9
Lorient- Gotenburg, 20.06.2015
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Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
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19th June 2015
COULD BE WORSE, COULD BE BETTER
A SOLID RESULT INTO DUTCH PITSTOP FOR DONGFENG
Time of Dongfeng arrival: Friday 01:20:30 UTC / Friday 03:20:30 local?
Time of restart: Saturday 11:46:29 UTC / Saturday 13:46:29 local, 1:46 after Alvimedica
“We were really scared to see such a big split in the fleet, and honestly we still thought we’d made the wrong choice until just a few hours ago,” Caudrelier on arrival.
Image
Image cr?edit: Vi?ctor Fra?ile / Vo?lvo Ocea?n Race
Key pitstop gap facts!
1. Alvimedica will leave The Hague nearly 2 hours ahead of Dongfeng, one of the biggest leads yet in the race (and for such a short leg), a pretty unassailable leg lead with only 500 miles to sail. Alvimedica need 3 boats to overtake Dongfeng, to steal 3rd spot overall.
2. Dongfeng ahead but by minutes (34) not hours of their key rival Mapfre, in terms of being on podium – who have to overtake Dongfeng and have Brunel or another boat come between us and them to take 3rd overall from us.
3. For Brunel to lose their second place overall, there needs to be an extra boat between Dongfeng and them.
Still plenty to fight and play for in this final 500 miles of the 9 month long 2014-5 Volvo Ocean Race epic!
For the first time since this race began it rained for an arrival, but luckily no one cared. The shore crew standing in the freezing cold didn’t care, the spectators standing above the pontoon at 0300 in the morning didn’t care and the sailors onboard – well, there would be a problem if they were bothered about a little rain!
No one was bothered about the rain because Dongfeng Race Team arrived second into the pit stop The Hague having chosen a northern ‘English coast’ route with closest rivals Mapfre and Brunel. They arrived almost two hours behind an outstanding Team Alvimedica, who chose a southerly route along the French coast. Much to Charles and Pascal’s relief though, this northern route panned out ok against the rest of the fleet, and no boats came in between Alvimedica and Dongfeng, which at one stage looked possible. With closest rivals, close, but still behind Dongfeng, the Franco-Chinese team (with the one Swedish sailor in the entire race onboard) will set off on Saturday afternoon towards the final finish line with a good, but certainly not certain, advantage over the Spanish and Dutch teams behind them.
On the one hand they need to keep ahead of Mapfre (or at least not let someone get between them), on the other whilst Alvimedica winning is ok, they have to remember mathematically they can still steal Dongfeng’s spot too. That risk has been reduced by the final 3 boats being hours not minutes behind though. And of course in the back of the mind is that if Abu Dhabi were indeed able to pull back a big hour and quarter gap on Brunel, with Dongfeng holding 2nd, Dongfeng would retake that 2nd place overall that we held for much of this Volvo Ocean Race.
“We were really scared to see such a big split in the fleet, and honestly we thought we’d made the wrong option just a few hours ago,” Charles explains, as calm and discreet as ever. Pascal on the other hand was obviously very happy that his decision worked out ok as he displayed his joy by dancing both on deck as the boat came in and on the pontoon afterwards.
It was the wrong decision in some ways – Alvimedica, still a rival to steal Dongfeng’s spot on the podium, by taking the southerly route along the French coast have taken one of the largest leads relatively in the entire race. But all things are relative in yacht racing, and with in the end no boats between Dongfeng and Alvimedica, the risk is limited but certainly not removed, that the Americans could threaten Dongfeng. But it does exist!
It was almost like any other arrival. Camera crew on the pontoon, shore team ready to throw the lines, journalists and crowds ready with the questions. But the thing is this was not an arrival, The Hague is only a halfway point between Lorient and Gothenburg and there are no points to be collected. The shore team are not allowed to touch the boat as it is still in race mode and the sailors cannot take anything on or off the boat until Gothenburg, only the clothes on their backs.
The only advantage coming second holds (besides a physiological one) is that it gives Dongfeng a slight head start for the restart on Saturday.
After the 30-hour or so pit-stop in The Hague comes the North Sea with its oil rigs and wind farms. The very variable weather can lead to aggressive strategies – the wind is forecast to be light and downwind to begin with, followed by strengthening westerly winds that will allow a straight line towards Gothenburg with not many passing lanes for anyone. Then comes the Skagerrak and the approach to Gothenburg, on the western coast of Sweden, for the grand finale of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15.
Image cr?edit: Ri?cardo Pi?nto / Vo?lvo Ocea?n Race
Image cr?edit: Vi?ctor Fra?ile / Vo?lvo Ocea?n Race
Resuming Racing – The Hague
Team Arrival Resume
ALVI 23.34.01 12.00.00
DFRT 01.20.30 13.46.29
MAPF 01.54.18 14.20.17
TBRU 02.11.47 14.37.46
ADOR 03.27.44 15.53.43
VEST 03.38.18 16.04.17
SCA 04.06.37 16.32.36
You can follow our story and interact with the team on all social media channels and our official website:
Facebook: Click here ?
Twitter: Click here
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Weibo: Click here
WeChat: Click here
Youtube: Click here
YouKu: Click here
Official website: Click here
For media information on Dongfeng Race Team contact:
Amy Monkman (English language)
amy.monkman@ocsport.com
LEG 9, PART 1 - THE HAGUE
Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
© Ricardo Pinto / Volvo Ocean Race
LEG 9, PART 1 - THE HAGUE
Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
© Ricardo Pinto / Volvo Ocean Race
LEG 9, PART 1 - THE HAGUE
Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
© Ricardo Pinto / Volvo Ocean Race
LEG 9, PART 1 - THE HAGUE
Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
© Ricardo Pinto / Volvo Ocean Race
LEG 9, PART 1 - THE HAGUE
Dongfeng Race Team crossed the time gate in The Hague in 2nd position, official time: 01:20:30 UTC.
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