Volvo Ocean Race: Iker and Xabi work their magic again

28 hours after the successful start, the Volvo Ocean Race world was initially turned upside down for skipper Bouwe Bekking and his team Brunel on Sunday evening: the initial front runners had been passed to the back of the fleet of seven VO 65 yachts in the doldrums. With a speed of just two knots, there were hardly any options for catching up at that point.

At the head of the field, the Spanish "Mapfre" was travelling at four knots, twice as "fast" towards the Strait of Gibraltar and the North Atlantic beyond. Five nautical miles separated "Mapfre" and Team Brunel at this point - not really a problem in the Volvo Ocean Race, but in view of the light winds, a moderate annoyance for the Dutch, who had started the race so strongly.

At the start of the second night at sea, second and third place went to the Chinese Dongfeng Race Team and the Danish team Vestas Wind, each two nautical miles behind the Spaniards. The midfield was occupied by the US team Alvimedica and Ian Walker's co-favoured team Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing ahead of the women's team SCA. This means that Ian Walker has already made more progress on the first leg than he did in the last Volvo Ocean Race. In 2011, the mast of the "Azzam" had broken after a few hours about 30 nautical miles south of Cartagena in stormy winds and Walker later joked: "We almost made it in time for the farewell party in Alicante." Even back then, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing was counted among the favourites, but the mast breakage put the brakes on Walker's team early on. Now the Brit wants to give it another go.

The Spanish 49er Olympic champions Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez are also back to try and reclaim the chance of victory they missed in the last race. For the eighth time since the premiere in 1973/1974, a Spanish team will be fighting for the crown in this team race around the world. Once again orchestrated behind the scenes by Pedro Campos, the team dominated the first stages of the eleventh edition in 2011/2012 before being stopped by a broken oar. As a result, the "Telefónica" crew had to concede victory in the Volvo Ocean Race to the French "Groupama". Martinez, Fernandez and their crew don't want that to happen again. Iker Martinez said before the start of the race: "I feel more relaxed than ever." On Sunday evening, at least, he could actually be.

Click here for the interim results, which are updated every three hours:

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/dashboard.html

Here are the highlights of the start off Alicante:

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/video/28108_Leg-1-start-highlights.html