Skipper Charles Caudrelier and his Dongfeng Race Team have made an impressive comeback. After a cancellation on the fifth leg due to a broken mast, they immediately sailed back to the top on the leg from Itajai to Newport. This also reduced the gap to the overall leader, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, from seven to six points. With three legs remaining, victory is still up for grabs, and even a cancellation by Abu Dhabi would mean a change in the lead.
Caudrelier thanked his technicians on land in particular at the finish. They had set up a new rig in Itajai in less than a week: "a fantastic job," said Caudrelier.
It was an extremely close decision in Newport. With 30 nautical miles to go, just off Block Island, Dongfeng was only around four boat lengths ahead of Abu Dhabi. "We were close to overtaking them, but they held on. A very well-deserved victory," said skipper Ian Walker, who steered his team across the line just three and a half minutes after Dongfeng.
The race started with problems for Dongfeng. On the second day, the watermaker broke down - if it had not been repaired with on-board equipment, this would have meant a stop of twelve hours to repair it. In view of the time differences at the finish, this meant another last place. Team Brunel crossed the finish line just 53 minutes behind Dongfeng, who took 17 days, 9 hours and 3 minutes. Mapfre was one and a half hours behind, Team Alvimedica just over five hours. Team SCA sailed just before the finish.
Although this puts Team Brunel in third place in the overall standings, skipper Bouwe Bekking has already given up hope of overall victory. "The race is lost for us," says the Dutchman, "we have to make that clear to the public. Abu Dhabi has an unassailable lead over us. Dongfeng still has a good chance. Our goal now is second place."
Interesting: How Eric Peyron from Team Dongfeng imagines the USA
Impressive: A gust of wind out of nowhere knocks Mapfre flat on its side, three days ago
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
