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January 6, 2015
Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015 - Start of Leg 3 - Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China
Photo: “By the time the sun rose, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had lost her lead, ducking behind our stern as we sailed to the Northern tip of Oman during Leg 3 between Abu Dhabi, UAE and Sanya, China.” - Dongfeng Race Team. (Photo by Sam Greenfield/Dongfeng Race Team/Volvo Ocean Race via Getty Images). © 2014 Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo: Team Alvimedica arrive in Abu Dhabi during the finish of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi on December 14, 2014 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Francois Nel/Volvo Ocean Race via Getty Images). © 2014 Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo: The crew of Team Vestas Wind head back to the boat to retrieve everything they can; including ropes, diesel, Inmarsat dome and sails, following the grounding of the boat on a reef on December 03, 2014 in Mauritius. The Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 is the 12th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain on October 04, 2014, the route, spanning some 39,379 nautical miles, visits 11 ports in eleven countries (Spain, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, China, New Zealand, Brazil, United States, Portugal, France, The Netherlands and Sweden) over nine months. The Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier ocean yacht race for professional racing crews. (Photo by Brian Carlin/Team Vestas Wind/Volvo Ocean Race via Getty Images). © 2014 Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo: Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race 2014. Team SCA finishes at dawn off Cowes to beat the all female round Britain record. Photo Credit: Rick Tomlinson/Team SCA.
Photo: January 3 2015. Team SCA, Foggy conditions at the start of Leg 3, Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China. Photo Credit: Rick Tomlinson/Team SCA.
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) bade farewell to their home port for the hazardous Leg 3 on Saturday by leading the fleet out towards their eventual destination of China from under a blanket of fog.
Light winds are forecast for the first few days of a stage which is expected to take about three weeks before the six boats arrive in Sanya, China.
Few had reckoned on a thick fog for the leg departure from Abu Dhabi (1000 UTC) where the boats had spent Christmas and New Year.
The third leg promises to be intriguing all the way but particularly during the Malacca Strait which separates the Indonesian island of Sumatra and Malaysia.
At some stages, it narrows to 1.5nm and is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
“It’s the most challenging part of the whole race,” Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) navigator Will Oxley (AUS) said on the eve of the leg.
“I’m pretty happy dealing with big waves and strong winds, but the complexity of dealing with a narrow channel, and a very large amount of shipping is what causes the problems.
“Some 300ft of steel coming at you at 20 knots is always concerning, particularly if you haven’t got much control over your speed if there’s not much wind.
“Then you have squalls, very violent squalls in the night, and there’s lots of fishermen who are not showing navigation lights and have long nets. You can get tangled in the nets, or worse still, run someone over. So it’s very stressful.”
Here are the Latest Overall standings in the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Series:
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
- Team Brunel
- Team SCA
- Team Alvimedica
- Dongfeng Race Team
- MAPFRE
- Team Vestas Wind
|GlobalGiants.Com|
Edited & Posted by the Editor | 9:03 AM | Link to this Post
