An incident-packed Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race comes to a climax on Saturday morning in Abu Dhabi with three teams still in with a strong chance of winning it.
The 5,200-nautical mile (nm) stage from Cape Town to the Emirates has taken the boats through new waters for the 41-year-old contest.
In 2011, the fleet was shipped for part of the route because of fears of piracy attack, a threat that has reduced enough for organisers to give the go-ahead for the crews to sail all the way with the assistance of an exclusion zone.
–INTERVIEW: Adil Khalid – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
Only six of the seven Volvo Ocean 65 vessels that left South Africa on November 11 are likely to make it into Abu Dhabi, however. On November 29, the Danish entry Team Vestas Wind ran aground on a reef in the middle of the Indian Ocean and was forced to abandon the leg.
The team is now attempting to retrieve their boat and see if it can be repaired. This is extremely unlikely as much of the stern was destroyed in the collision so the team is now investigating the possibility of building a new boat. That too has its challenges since normally it takes more than nine months to construct a Volvo Ocean 65 class boat – and the race finishes on June 27.
Meanwhile, the rest of the fleet has sailed on without major issues and the leaders are now some 185nm from their destination.
Team Brunel, skippered by 51-year-old six-time race veteran Bouwe Bekking (Netherlands), are just 2nm ahead of Dongfeng Race Team (China) with first leg winners Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, some 18nm further adrift. If they stay in their current formation, all three will be locked at the top of the standings on four points after two legs.
The boats have avoided the threats of icebergs early in the stage, a mid-leg tropical storm, and piracy attack so far. However, they cannot relax yet. They still need to negotiate the Strait of Hormuz in the final 24 hours, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world with warships and huge tankers regularly tracking back and forth.
Latest placings: 1) Team Brunel (Netherlands), 2 Dongfeng Race Team (China), 3 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 4 Team Alvimedica (Turkey/U.S.), 5 MAPFRE (Spain), 6 Team SCA (Sweden)