Volvo Ocean Race Abu Dhabi In-Port Race
by Volvo Ocean Race media 2 Jan 2015 15:13 GMT
2 January 2015
Team SCA breeze to win
Team SCA led virtually from start to finish to romp to a convincing victory in the Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race in Abu Dhabi on Friday after a lack of wind nearly forced a postponement.
The third race in the series began 1hr 40mins behind schedule – another 20 minutes and the action would have been scrapped for the day – because of the missing breeze.
Finally, at 1540 local time/1140 UTC, race officials judged that the breeze had picked up enough for a viable race and the women of Team SCA never looked back.
They took a starboard course early on and by the first mark in the 3.2-nautical mile (nm), two-lap race, had established a 50-metre lead and they continued to build on it from then on with a display of consummate in-port sailing.
In the end, it almost looked easy as the Swedish-backed boat crossed the line, 1min 28secs ahead of second-placed Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED).
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, who won the corresponding race here three years ago, again finished on the podium in third, 43 seconds further behind.
Ian Walker's crew lead the overall standings by two points from Team Brunel with Team SCA now in third.
The win is doubly sweet for the first women's crew to contest the Volvo Ocean Race in 12 years.
Skipper Sam Davies (GBR) and her crew had shown with their third place in the Cape Town In-Port Race that they have the pace to compete with their male rivals, but two sixth places in the opening two offshore legs had raised questions in some quarters about their competitiveness.
They certainly answered those in the best possible way with Davies making way for Carolijn Brouwer (NED) on the helm to steer them to this triumph in the trickiest of conditions.
"There's no 'woman of the match', it's the 'women'!" smiled Davies, back on the dock. "We're a team, and we did it together.
"We're really happy, and it's a great way to boost the whole crew's morale before we leave tomorrow for Sanya."
Indeed, this was certainly no one-woman victory, and all 11 crew proved what great strength-in-depth the team has even with their powerful bowman Sophie Ciszek (AUS) missing through a back injury, which needed surgery over Christmas.
As her crew-mates crossed the line, nobody was more excited than the temporarily sidelined Australian.
Ciszek, who watched the race from the deck of the SCA pavilion in the race village, said: "Yeah, it was frustrating because I wasn't out on the boat but, wow, it was the best thing ever because they won the race!
"It can only get better, and we're one step closer. They did really well.
"There's been some big changes. We had a big debrief (after finishing sixth in Leg 2) but it's really good to turn it around and win the in-port."
Abu Dhabi In-Port Race result:
1 Team SCA (Sweden) 1 pt
2 Team Brunel (Netherlands) 2 pts
3 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 3 pts
4 Dongfeng Race Team (China) 4 pts
5 Team Alvimedica (Turkey/USA) 5 pts
6 MAPFRE (Spain) 6 pts
Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Series Standings:
1 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 6 pts
2 Team Brunel 8 pts
3 Team SCA 10 pts
4 Team Alvimedica 12 pts
5 Dongfeng Race Team 13 pts
6 MAPFRE 16 pts
7 Team Vestas Wind 20pts
Tactical Triumph: SCA win Abu Dhabi InPort Race (from Team SCA)
SCA, with their all-female crew, dominated the InPort race in Abu Dhabi and took their first victory in Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.
With Olympians Carolijn Brouwer (NED) on the helm and Sally Barkow (USA) calling tactics, the team led the fleet from the start line.
In the searing heat of the afternoon, Team SCA led the five other Volvo Ocean Race teams over the start line and shortly after tacked to the starboard side of the course. This was the call that proved to be the key to their success.
The Swedish-flagged boat found a good breeze in the light and fickle winds and left the rest of the fleet behind. At the first mark they already had a lead of some 100 meters ahead of Team Brunel, while at the second, with the wind staying stable between 5-8 knots, they had doubled this to 200 meters.
"It's an awesome feeling," comments Carolijn Brouwer, "we had the practice race a couple of days ago and won that but it was great to go out and do it all again exactly the same, with the same result.
"Everyone onboard did such a great job, we didn’t come off the start line too well but we made up for it. Our coach said to us this morning “just do the same as you did in the practice race” and we literally did - we tacked in the same spot, we jibed in the same spot, and we finished in the same spot.
"We have always been moving around a little bit and figuring out the best positions onboard and I think that has worked well for us but its just everyone having their input and gelling together which makes a difference."
Fellow crew member Annie Lush agrees: "It is great to get a race win, get that winning flag and to prove that winning the practice race was not a fluke and we can do this – now we just have to embrace this feeling of leading the fleet and try to sustain it for the next 24 days!"
This win in Abu Dhabi, puts the all-female team third on the leaderboard for the InPort Race series and the result is a huge morale booster for tomorrow's start of the 4600-mile Leg 3 from Abu Dhabi to Sanya, China.