Dutch boat Team Brunel edged to victory in an incident-packed second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday when they pipped China's Dongfeng Race Team by just 16 minutes after 23 days of sailing.
This was the first time the 41-year-old race's fleet had sailed all 5,200 nautical miles of the stage from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi – in 2011 the boats were shipped part of the way because of piracy fears.
This time, pirates did not threaten the boats but one entry, Denmark's Team Vestas Wind, still failed to reach the destination in the Emirates after sailing into a reef in the Indian Ocean on November 19 and grounding their boat.
Team Brunel, led by 51-year-old Bouwe Bekking, had no such problems but they still needed a masterly passing manoeuvre five hours before the finish to shake off Dongfeng. It was the second time that the Chinese team, led by 40-year-old French skipper Charles Caudrelier, had been edged out in the last few miles.
They lost out to Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in the first leg by just 12 minutes. The result, with Abu Dhabi finishing third, leaves three boats tied on four points at the top of the standings.
Team Brunel, however, are placed at the head of the table because of the most recent win, with Abu Dhabi ranked ahead of Dongfeng through their victory on leg one from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town last month.
Bekking, who is competing in a record-equalling seventh race after taking part in his first in 1985-86, could not wipe the smile off his face as he cruised from the finish line to the dock.
"It is a good feeling," he told reporters.
"I've always said, it's better to be lucky than good but we've been good this leg as well so it's so nice to win this one because it could have been an easy leg to finish last."
"It's just really nice to get the scores but the team did a fantastic job, we sailed the boat much better than in the first leg." With Team Vestas Wind's boat still stranded on the reef on St Brandon and out of the leg, the focus now switches to the remaining three boats still to complete the leg – MAPFRE (Spain), Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.) and Team SCA (Sweden).
They have between 150 and 274nm to go and are not expected to finish until Sunday.
The nine-month, 38,739nm mile race comprises nine legs in all, visiting 11 ports and every continent. It started on October 4 in Alicante and is scheduled to finish in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27, 2015.
Current Leg 2 placings: 1. Team Brunel (Netherlands), 2. Dongfeng Race Team (China), 3. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 4. MAPFRE (Spain), 5. Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.), 6. Team SCA (Sweden), 7. Team Vestas Wind (suspended racing)
