Volvo Ocean Race: Tough penalties for Dongfeng & Co

It is a bitter setback for two of the three penalised teams: following the protests of the race committee and the corresponding negotiations, the International Jury imposed severe point penalties on the Chinese Dongfeng Race Team, the Spanish Team Mapfre and the SCA women's team in Lisbon on Wednesday.

The measure hits Dongfeng Race Team particularly hard, as the crew led by skipper Charles Caudrelier was only five points behind leader Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing after the seventh of nine legs. Following the jury's penalty, the team is now six points behind Ian Walker's leading team ahead of the final two legs.

At the same time, Dongfeng slipping back by one point means that it is tied with the Dutch team Brunel, which had won the seventh stage. Officially, the Dutch are even ahead of Dongfeng, as they lead in the Inport classification, which is used as a "tiebreaker" in the event of a tie at the end of the twelfth edition of the Sea Marathon.

SCA skipper Sam Davies, whose team was even given two penalty points for two different rule violations, admitted to "honest mistakes with no advantage to her team". The witnesses from the other two teams also admitted that they had indeed travelled in the wrong direction through the traffic separation zones off Newport. However, they pointed out that there had been some confusion on board about how these areas had been marked and at what angle the boats had been allowed to pass through them. The race organisers had received information from the teams themselves during the stage about the wrong way round the areas.

Race director Jack Lloyd had previously explained that there had been rule violations on the leg from Newport (USA) to Lisbon. The Volvo Ocean Race remains exciting despite, or perhaps because of, the decisions in its final phase. Following the penalty, Mapfre slipped back behind the US team Alvimedica with 27 points, because the Americans' better position in the Inport ranking tips the scales in their favour.

With the comeback of the Danish team Vestas, the fleet is complete again for stage eight. Abu Dhabi's chasers can still reduce their gap to the top favourites on the penultimate section to Lorient in Brittany to such an extent that they still have a chance of victory in the final sprint to Gothenburg. It has already been tight so far, but now the tension and pressure on the teams is increasing even more - especially on Ian Walker's crew, who cannot afford to slip up despite their points cushion. The eighth stage kicks off on 7 June.