Volvo Ocean Race: All teams started with mourning flags: "Forever Fish!"

The atmosphere in Itajaí, where a total of almost 400,000 people had visited the regatta city during the race break, was already in goose bumps at the dock-out parade. All 63 sailors from the seven teams wore a mourning armband at the start on Sunday in memory of John Fisher, who died in an accident on 26 March in the Southern Ocean in the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team. The mourning armbands and the crew shirts of the "Scallywags" read: "Forever Fish".

Before setting off on the 5700 nautical mile course from Itajaí to the American sailing capital of Newport, the sailors said "Adeus" to Itajaí in moving scenes. The spectators celebrated the teams, especially their Brazilian sailing superstar Martine Grael. "She's a rock star," said her skipper and AkzoNobel driver Simeon Tienpont about the 49erFX Olympic champion. With a wink, he added: "Martine will probably sleep through the first three days of the leg because she had so much to do in Brazil. But she is the one who makes our sport popular here." Tienpont's team started the eighth of eleven stages unchanged.

All the other teams made changes. Stu Bannatyne returned for Jérémie Beyou at the front of the Dongfeng Race Team. Mapfre skipper Xabí Fernandez has to do without his power woman Sophie Ciszek on this eighth stage, who is finally recovering from an elbow injury sustained on the second stage. The team in second place in the overall standings, one point behind Dongfeng, was the only team to start with just eight crew members.

The Olympic 49erFX bronze medallist Jena Mai Hansen from Denmark replaced her British crewmate Hannah Diamond in the setback-hit Vestas 11th Hour Racing team. Tom Braidwood left the "Scallywags". Luke Parkinson is back in the game. And the likeable Brit Peter Cumming is brand new in the difficult role of successor to the late John Fisher. Turn-the-Tide-on-Plastic skipper Dee Caffari has replaced three crew members for the tactical leg from South to North America: Elodie-Jane Mattraux (Switzerland), Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team-mate Bleddyn Moon and navigator Brian Thompson are taking a break, while Olympic Laser Radial bronze medallist Annaliese Murphy (Ireland), watch leader Martin Strömberg (Sweden) and navigator Nicolas Lunven (France) are returning. In Team Brunel, Louis Balcaen replaces Thomas Rouxel, who is out of action.

The start of the stage itself was quite exciting off Itajaí in winds of around 12 knots. Once again, Mapfre dominated the action, but behind them the competition gave nothing away. Three hours after the start, Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team, Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel and Turn the Tide on Plastic were still hot on Mapfre's heels. Charles Caudrelier had said shortly before the start: "We are certainly in a good position as overall leaders. But it's not comfortable." Only one point separated the two long-term rivals in the battle for victory in this 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race after the first seven of the eleven legs. Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel has also recently gained immense self-confidence with the victory on the queen's stage around Cape Horn: "Our performance curve is rising, we are orientating ourselves upwards." Just like co-favourite Mapfre, whose spipper Xabí Fernandez said: "The morale in the team is excellent. We're in a great fighting mood. And we will fight hard." Like the competition, Fernandez is also aware of the challenges on this stage along the South and North American east coast, which leads its participants back north across the equator: "You have to be very careful not to get stuck in the doldrums."

What the skippers expect from the 5700 nautical mile course from Itajaí across the equator to Newport

Turn-the-Tide-on-Plastic skipper Dee Caffari, whose young mixed team made a strong showing in the start phase of the eighth leg, reminded everyone before setting off that the start day (22 April) is also "Earth Day" and was delighted that her team's environmental message is bearing fruit: "If each of us limits our personal consumption of plastic items, that would be a great gift for the Earth!"

Click here for the tracker of the eighth stage.