This is what makes live sailing fun: at the harbour race in Lisbon, the teams fought thrilling battles for position and served up the finest sailing sport to their enthusiastic spectators. On the short course in the Tejo estuary, rain showers and gusty winds provided the crews with a constant stream of new opportunities to attack. Many manoeuvres in quick succession challenged the sailors to the brink of exhaustion.
Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel mastered the challenges of the day best. His team countered the disappointing penultimate place of the first stage with a comeback and victory in the harbour race. "I think we managed it well. We made big steps forward as a team," said the record participant, who is taking part in the race of his life for the eighth time and wants to finally win it. Bekking continued: "It's always nice to win, but I think we sailed pretty nicely today. There was a big wind shift at the end, which always makes decisions difficult. But I think we made the right decisions. We sailed very conservatively, had our big sail up the whole time and favoured the simple solutions. That paid off for us today."
Team Brunel had the race firmly under control until the Spanish team Mapfre set off on an impressive final spurt and attacked the boat flying the Dutch flag fiercely. However, the Dutch were able to keep their stubborn pursuers at bay even in the tightest of spaces and eventually crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of the "red danger". An interesting comparison: Team Brunel "only" completed a total of 14 tacks and gybes in the hour-long battle, while the Spaniards completed 20!
Dee Caffari and her team experienced the opposite of the Dutch elation on "Turn the Tide on Plastic". The skipper herself summarised the course of the race succinctly and aptly: "Four laps, short course, really intense! The first lap was pure glamour for us. In the second, we were still in a podium position. The third lap was full of disaster, and the fourth could only be written off. When we finally reached the finish line, we had sailed ourselves from first to last place." And watch leader Liz Wardley was injured in the process (see clip), only escaping worse consequences with a stroke of luck and thanks to the quick intervention of team-mate Henry Bomby and onboard cameraman Sam Greenfield.
The crews had around 48 hours after the race on Friday afternoon to recover and make final preparations for the second leg of this 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts on Sunday. It will take the fleet down the Atlantic to Cape Town on the favourite leg of Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier, whose team is also in third place in the intermediate ranking of the harbour races after finishing third in Lisbon behind Mapfre and Brunel.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
