The interim result of the current prologue to the 13th Volvo Ocean Race from Lisbon to Alicante once again confirms the assessment of the Spanish team Mapfre as co-favourites in the battle for victory. The current second place of the Dutch team Brunel is also no surprise. The team led by record participant Bouwe Bekking, who is taking part in the race around the world for the eighth time, was around ten nautical miles behind the Spaniards on Tuesday morning on the way from Gibraltar to Alicante, who were heading for Alicante at 11.5 knots.
There was a large gap between Brunel and the rest of the fleet around a day and a half after the start on Sunday afternoon. "Best of the rest" was initially Dee Caffari's "Turn The Tide on Plastic", around 36 nautical miles behind the leaders. A further ten nautical miles behind them, Charles Caudrelier's Dongfeng Race Team, also one of the favourites, struggled to catch up with the leading group. AkzoNobel and the Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag team were almost on a par with the crew sailing under the Chinese flag. Bringing up the rear two nautical miles behind them was Vestas 11th Hour Racing.
The U-turn of David Witt
On Tuesday morning, Scallywag skipper David Witt sent a video from the sea in which he explains why he added a female sailor to his crew shortly before the start and against all previous statements. Witt explains: "Our plan from day one was that we wanted to be lighter than everyone else. So we sailed Leg zero with seven men. We didn't actually have any handling problems with the boat. We actually think we did quite well with seven people. But there are two reasons why there are now eight of us: Firstly, Steve wanted(Navigator Steve Hayles, editor's note) support me more intensively - in navigation and also tactically. But that's difficult with seven sailors because you don't have enough people on deck. And the second reason is that we found the right girl. Annemieke(Scallywags newcomer Annemieke Bekkering, editor's note) has sailed on 'Ragamuffin' before. It wasn't just about signing a girl, it was about finding the right person."
Until a few weeks ago, David Witt had always assured that his team would be the only one to start the Volvo Ocean Race without female reinforcements. This meant that the crew had initially foregone a bonus offered by the new rules: With seven male crew members, up to two additional female sailors are allowed.
Witt and his team, which competes under the Hong Kong flag, changed their minds after finishing seventh and last in the three-part Leg Zero and signed Olympic medallist Annemieke Bekkering from Holland. "She is the only Olympic medallist on board with us," said Witt, "you have to be pretty talented for that. We are very happy to have her on the team!" The prologue is expected to finish on Wednesday.
You can also read the extensive preliminary coverage of the Volvo Ocean Race in YACHT 22, including the route, rules, technology, a favourites check, a portrait of Peter Burling, an interview with Dee Caffari and an overview of the female sailors in the race.
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
