Volvo Ocean Race: A trio sets the tone at the start of the Southern Ocean course

The favoured teams Dongfeng and Mapfre started the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race almost bow to bow. Hot on their heels after the first six hours was Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel. The trio and their pursuers are chasing towards the Southern Ocean. This leg is of particular importance for the participants, as the first Southern Ocean leg is about scoring double points. This is intended to honour the toughness of these sections of the course.

How the teams said goodbye to South Africa and who was in front at the start: great sailing scenes from the start of leg 3

For the eleventh time in the history of the most famous ocean marathon around the world, the fleet left Cape Town, the southernmost point of Africa, heading south. The destination harbour is the Australian port city of Melbourne, around 6500 nautical miles away. According to preliminary calculations, the fleet is expected to arrive there between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. Many of the sailors are therefore also fighting to be able to spend Christmas with their families. Or not.

The fleet left Cape Town in crisp sailing conditions with winds of between 20 and 25 knots. After completing a small triangular course directly off Cape Town's harbour, the seven crews initially set off on the challenging course down under at speeds of 10 to 12 knots. The Dongfeng Race Team had previously had to replace Daryl Wislang with Fabien Delahaye in a last-minute action. Wislang had suffered a back injury in the morning and skipper Charles Caudrelier did not want to take the risk of taking an injured sailor on this difficult leg.

According to weather forecasts, the fleet will sail into a first low with gale force winds this evening and on Monday night. The weather system should accelerate the teams extremely. "It's the worst, but at the same time the most beautiful sailing you can experience," said Dongfeng's experienced watch leader Stu Bannatyne, who has won the Volvo Ocean Race three times, on the challenges ahead. "Fortunately," said Bannatyne, "the human brain seems to forget the bad times and only memorise the good ones. That's why we keep coming back." Underway in the endurance test before Christmas are 63 sailors and seven onboard reporters.

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