Volvo Ocean Race: The final quarter is underway and the Dutch are on the attack

Three quarters of the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race have been completed. The final quarter begins on 22 April with the start of the eighth leg from Itajaí to Newport, a distance of around 5700 nautical miles. After the dramatic seventh leg, the stragglers also have until then to bring their boats into the Brazilian stage harbour of Itajaí. The yacht of the Danish-American team Vestas 11th Hour Racing is on its way to Itajaí with a transfer crew after the mast broke near the Falkland Islands. The team expects its blue boat to arrive just a few days before the start of the leg. At the same time, the VO65 yacht "Scallywags" is also on its way to Itajaí with a transfer crew, where the team around skipper David Witt wants to meet up, refocus and get back into the race after the tragic death of John Fisher.

After the eventful Queen's stage from Auckland to Itajaí, the field has come together in sporting terms. Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team has taken the lead with a total of 46 points, pushing the previous leader Mapfre (45 points) into second place after seven of eleven stages; but the two "Reds" are still in front. The team of the moment, however, is Bouwe Bekking's Dutch team Brunel (36 points), which has catapulted itself from 5th to 3rd place with the bonus points for 1st place in the Cape Horn Passage and the stage win as well as double points in this difficult section. Simeon Tienpont's Team AkzoNobel (33 points) follows in 4th place ahead of David Witt's Team Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag (26 points). Charlie Enright's team Vestas 11th Hour Racing is still just ahead of Dee Caffari's young team Turn the Tide on Plastic (20 points) with 23 points despite four (!) non-started or unfinished stages. And this despite the fact that Caffari and her 50:50 mixed team achieved their best result to date with fourth place on the most difficult stage and received a lot of praise for it.

Brunel's stage win and the ideal haul of 16 points have done the sporting tension in the race a world of good. With four stages still to go - after around 34,350 nautical miles, some 11,000 nautical miles have still to be completed - other teams in addition to the two top favourites, Dongfeng and Mapfre, have the opportunity to intervene in the battle for overall victory. This is due to the recent strong results of Brunel and AkzoNobel, but also Mapfre's mast problems and the 13-hour repair off Cape Horn. Skipper Xabí Fernandez's crew then lagged behind the field and had no chance of improving on fifth place due to the very light winds along the east coast of South America. In the end, Team Mapfre even had to ration the catering. The seven men and two women arrived in Itajaí on Sunday hungry in every respect.

Click here for the interim results in the Volvo Ocean Race 2017/2018