Dongfeng Race Team stretch Volvo Ocean Race lead

Sport360 staff 21:33 19/01/2015
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  • Taking the lead: Dongfeng Race Team's Jack Bouttell trims the sails.

    Dongfeng Race Team's grip on leg three of the Volvo Ocean Race tightened further on Monday while their closest rivals in the overall standings slipped back.

    – Dongfeng absorb pressure and maintain VOR Leg 3 lead

    The Chinese team's lead over second-placed Spanish boat, MAPFRE, had stretched to 106.3 nautical miles (nm) by 0955 GMT with Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.) exactly 3nm further adrift in third.

    Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel, who were joint top with Dongfeng on four points apiece in the overall race standings at the start of the third leg, were fourth and fifth respectively.

    Victory in the 4,670nm leg from Abu Dhabi to Dongfeng's home port of Sanya in the southernmost point of China is not in the bag yet, however.

    The six-strong fleet is now negotiating the hazard-strewn Malacca Strait, which separates the Indonesian island of Sumatra and Malaysia.

    The 500nm long stretch of water is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world where huge tankers and dozens of fishing vessels compete for manoeuvring room.

    To add to the challenges for the race navigators, the stretch is strewn with man-made debris and it is not unusual for boats to find discarded fridges and old washing machines blocking their path.

    Additionally, the winds there are notoriously fickle and Dongfeng could yet be parked in zero wind while the rest of the chasing pack catch up in stronger breezes.

    Caudrelier is certainly taking nothing for granted as he chases a race first for Dongfeng – no Chinese team has ever won a leg in the 41-year-old event, which began life as the Whitbread Round the World Race.

    "We are happy, of course, to have led for nearly 13 days, but we are also very tense," he said. "We dream – without thinking too much about it – of being first to arrive 'home' but these Straits really concern us.

    All smiles from the Dongfeng Race Team.

    "The leg is, without doubt, going to be decided there."

    The nine-month, 38,739nm Volvo Ocean Race is held once every three years and visits 11 ports and every continent. It is generally accepted in sailing to be offshore sailing's most prestigious prize – and toughest to win.

    The fleet is expected to finish the third leg around January 27-28. The event itself will conclude in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 27.

    Latest standings after Leg 2: 1 Team Brunel (Netherlands) 4 pts, 2 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 4, 3 Dongfeng Race Team (China) 4, 4 Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.) 9, 5 MAPFRE (Spain) 11, 6 Team Vestas Wind (Denmark) 12, 7 Team SCA (Sweden) 12.

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