Volvo Ocean Race: Late triumph for the SCA women

At dawn, the triumph was perfect: British skipper Samantha Davies and her Swedish women's team SCA won the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The crew completed the shortest leg of the most famous sailing regatta around the world from Lisbon to Lorient in Brittany in three days, 13 hours, eleven minutes and eleven seconds. The commanding start-to-finish victory was even clear, as the women finished 48 minutes and 22 seconds ahead of the second-placed comeback team Vestas Wind.

"We'll probably only realise it when we get into the harbour and there are no other boats around," said British skipper Sam Davies with a beaming smile, "we've had a mountain to climb to get here. It's the reward for all the hard work we've put in. And a huge boost for our self-confidence." Up until their triumphant stage win, the SCA women had, with one exception, only finished in last place on the stage and had been harshly criticised for this in part because they had the longest preparation time of all the teams and had the biggest budget.

In addition to the experience they have now gained and the corresponding increase in performance, the women are likely to have benefited from two other factors on the leg they have now won: Because upwind sailing is physically tough even in strong winds, but far less brutal than power reaching conditions, the physical disadvantage for the women was less of a factor than on previous legs. In addition, the women were sailing with three more crew members, who, together with the appropriate equipment, were able to put more weight on the edge when sailing upwind. Nevertheless, their performance must be rated very highly, as the "mother of all speed races" pushed all the teams to the limit, especially in the last few days in the windy Bay of Biscay, which was churned up by metre-high wave crests. Around half of all the professionals suffered from seasickness on the boats. The onboard reporters repeatedly reported fatigue and total exhaustion.

Third place in stage eight was claimed by the leaders in the overall standings: Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing secured a podium finish to secure victory in the twelfth edition of the ocean marathon, which is now only very theoretically contestable. With an eight-point lead in the overall classification, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing would not only have to finish last on the final leg (if their Dutch rivals from Team Brunel were to win at the same time), but would also have to be penalised with at least two penalty points in order to lose the overall victory. And even that would only be possible if Team Brunel also won the in-port classification in order to have the lead in the very theoretical case of a points tie.

Three teams celebrated in Lorient in the early hours of the morning, as the Danish Vestas team celebrated their successful comeback after many months of repairs. The team had spectacularly run aground on a reef during the second leg of the twelfth round-the-world race and initially had to abandon sail. The badly damaged boat was subsequently repaired in record time, meaning that skipper Chris Nicholson and his crew were able to rejoin the race on the eighth leg without their departed navigator Wouter Verbraack - without a chance in terms of the overall standings, but happy to be able to help shape the final. Nicholson said: "I had thought that we might be able to finish fourth or fifth. But second? I'm just over the moon." The fact that the Danes were repeatedly able to shine with good speeds on this leg can probably also be attributed to the condition of their sails. In contrast to the worn-out inventory of the competition - as experienced by Brunel with the torn J2 - who have sailed around the world with their sails in the meantime, the cloths from Vestas Wind are less worn and therefore more effective.

Before the penultimate harbour race on Sunday and the start of the final leg to Gothenburg with a pit stop in The Hague, the cards are clearly distributed: Ian Walker's Team Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing will be sailing towards overall victory. Behind them, four teams - Team Brunel (27 points), Dongfeng Race Team (29 points), Spanish Team Mapfre (31 points) and US Team Alvimedica (33 points) - are still fighting for the two remaining podium places in this twelfth edition of the most famous team race around the world. So it remains exciting right to the end.