Volvo Ocean Race: Duel specialist Nicolai Sehested steers AkzoNobel to victory

When he was still a young opti sailor, the Dane Nicolai Sehested once made a pact with his parents: In exchange for a new dinghy, he promised never to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race. The parents must have known their son well. The deal only lasted until 2014, when the now 27-year-old from Copenhagen started his first race around the world with Vestas and was also present when the unfortunate team led by skipper Chris Nicholson dramatically wrecked on a reef near the Cargados-Carajos Islands north-east of Mauritius. Nicolai Sehested is now taking part for the second time and sailing under the Dutch flag in the team led by skipper Simeon Tienpont - and says with a wink that his parents have long since forgiven him for breaking his word.

Skipper Simeon Tienpont, helmsman Nicolai Sehested and tactician Christ Nicholson report on winning the harbour race

The Dane does what he loves professionally and is very good at: Sailing. And he does it all around the world. Every now and then, however, the duelling sailor in him comes through. He also became known as a match racer to fans of the Match Race Germany on Lake Constance, where the Scandinavian took part in 2014, but didn't make it past twelfth and last place. By 2016, however, he had worked his way up to fifth place in the match racing world rankings with international successes. Sehested is considered to be extremely aggressive on the water, but a cheerful man on land, often with a broad smile on his face. His opponents in the Volvo Ocean Race experienced him in much the same way this weekend. In the harbour race in Hong Kong, Sehested and the AkzoNobel crew had to give way to Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team between the start and the first turning mark, but shortly after rounding the right of the two marks they managed to overtake thanks to a cleverly placed and perfectly executed gybe.

The new frontrunners never relinquished the lead until the finish, skilfully parrying and blocking every attack and winning the harbour race ahead of the Dongfeng Race Team. Sehested said afterwards: "It was a good race for us. We didn't make many mistakes, although it was a challenging course with quite a few minefields." Sehested praised watch leader Chris Nicholson in particular, who always put him in the right position as a tactician. "Then it's an easy job to steer the boat," said Sehested. Bouwe Bekking's Team Brunel, which had been ahead of the "red boat" for a while but then had to let Dongfeng pass them again in the duel for second place, secured third place on the podium with Peter Burling returning to the helm. Fourth place went to the Spanish team Mapfre ahead of stage winner Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag and Dee Caffari's team Turn the Tide on Plastic. Team Vestas 11th Hour Racing, which was involved in the collision with a Chinese fishing boat last week, did not take part in part one of the harbour classification, which was exceptionally combined from two races in Hong Kong, because the repairs to the damaged hull are still ongoing, as are the official investigations into the accident in which a Chinese fisherman died.