Team SCA became the only crew in the Volvo Ocean Race to claim two in-port victories on Saturday after a thrilling start-to-finish win in Auckland.
The victory moved them up to third in the overall in-port series, just two points off joint leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel.
The all-female team are struggling in the main race, finishing last in three of the four legs so far, but Sam Davies and her crew have shown in the shorter races they are more than a match for their male rivals. They have finished sixth, fifth and third and backed up a brilliant win in Abu Dhabi with yesterday’s triumph at a packed Auckland harbour.
SCA navigator Libby Greenhalgh said: “We won it because we kept it simple, kept our manoeuvres to a minimum and that’s what paid out for us.”
They were pursued all the way by Bouwe Bekking’s Brunel in arguably the most exciting in-port race so far, but held on for a thrilling win.
And they have done it again! First place in the @nzherald InPort Race 49m in front of @brunelsailing Congratulations @team_sca #winners
— Team SCA (@team_sca) March 14, 2015
“We’re really happy, the City of Sails made a fantastic arena for us to race in today,” said a jubilant Davies. “It was really, really hard. We had really good teamwork, a great start, good tactics, everything worked perfectly onboard today. I’m really happy because it’s going to boost our team’s morale.”
Mapfre followed up their leg four win with third place in the in-port race, in addition to welcoming back skipper Iker Martinez after he missed the last two legs to concentrate on Olympic training for Rio 2016. Dongfeng Race Team were fourth.
Brunel and skipper Bekking, who have endured a miserable last two legs of the race, following their win in Abu Dhabi with two fifth places, had the consolation of moving joint top of the in-port standings on 14 points alongside ADOR.
Ian Walker’s men finished last in Auckland, the first time in either the in-port or overall race that Azzam has not finished on the podium.
Walker and Co lost out in their own enthralling tussle with Team Alvimedica for fifth place, finishing a second behind Charlie Enright’s men who overtook ADOR one boat length from the finish line.
The podium of the @nzherald In-Port race today! 1. @team_sca, 2. @brunelsailing & 3. @desafioMAPFRE. Congrats! pic.twitter.com/Y61mLTUJwX
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) March 14, 2015
The 45-year-old Briton cited a decision to tack early in the race as big mistake they were unable to recover from. “We’re really disappointed because we’ve been so consistent until now,” said Walker from Auckland.
“We made one big choice at the start, we tacked to go to the left hand breeze, and as soon as we did it switched back to the right.
Although he was upset, Walker has bigger concerns, with Tropical Cyclone Pam already delaying the start of the fifth leg until Tuesday.
“I think organisers are aiming for a Tuesday afternoon start now, it’s going to be very blustery,” said Walker. “We’ll be in 20 or 30 knots of wind within 12 hours, so it’s a pretty brutal start. We’re far more concerned with the start of the leg than the in-port race.”
