Bangkok--22 Jan--Sail-World Asia
1100 miles to go and a 71 nm lead, will Volvo Ocean Race Leg three leader Dongfeng have the Sanya China win they have dreamt about?
Will the Chinese boat, down the Malacca Strait now round the corner at Singapore and heading east extend into an unassailable lead or crack under the enormous weight of Chinese expectations?
The Sail-World team will be at Volvo Ocean Race headquarters in 12 hours to interview CEO Knut Frostad just a few hours before he jumps on plane to China. One thing we know for sure is he will be beaming with the thought of the first Chinese leg win and the first time a Chinese boat has ever led the VOR.
But then he will be cautious and probably invoke the very popular Norwegian phrase, ‘It aint over until the fat lady sings'
But right now Charles Caudrelier and his Dongfeng race team have sailed smart and any of the other five skippers would happily swap positons.
The next four boats Abu Dhabi, Alvimedica, Brunel and MAPFRE are within an incredible seven miles of each other as they approach the bottom of the Malacca Straits, so it will be a whole new race for these boats. Interesting indeed.
The Sail-World European team is currently at Boot Düsseldorf, we believe it's the world largest boat show. The first weekend an amazing 80,000 people visited the boat show, populated with some 1700 boats across the 17 exhibition halls, 1741 exhibitors from 57 countries. Impressive indeed and good vibes too.
The 2015 Extreme Sailing Series™ Line-Up (from left to right) Stevie Morrison, Skipper, Oman Air; Ian Williams, Co-Skipper, GAC Pindar; Edhem Dirvana, Skipper TeamTurx; Alberto Barovier, Team Manager, Gazprom Team Russia; Sarah Ayton, Tactician, The Wave, Muscat, Roman Hagara, Skipper, Red Bull Sailing Team; Rasmus Kostner, Co-Skipper, SAP Extreme Sailing Team; Giorgio Martin, Team Manager, Lino Sonego Team Italia. Jaguar Land Rover Limited
Mark Turner's OC Sport started the Extreme 40 series eight years ago and the Extreme 40 skippers and sailors presented today to the media and public at Düsseldorf today.
He is a proud event founder and organiser ‘'The Series is now firmly established in the arena of world class professional sailing, and we have built that reputation by continually attracting some of the very best sailors in the world, supported by global brands, in iconic and attractive venues – competing annually and on a global scale.'
The Rich are getting Richer in the Barcelona World Race. Leaders Chemineés Poujoulat are in solid breeze, blasting east at speeds of up to 20kts, while the chasing pack are still stalled in the Saint Helena high pressure system.
Bernard Stamm and Jean Le Cam are rapidly extended away from the fleet. In a beautifully windy part of the southern ocean, in the 2010-11 race Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron on Virbac-Paprec 3. sailed 506 miles on this day four years ago, Stamm and Le Cam made 436 miles in the 24 hours to 1400hrs UTC this afternoon.
ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami – Rio 2016 is rushing up fast and for Olympic class sailors with Rio qualification regattas, national trials and a tough ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit ahead the throughout the year the heat is on.
At 10:00 local time on Monday 26 January, 2015's ‘game time' begins with the sounding of the starter's gun on Biscayne Bay.
More than 800 sailors from 63 nations racing across ten Olympic and three Paralympic events, numbers that are approaching the top European regattas like Palma, Heyres and likely Weymouth this year. These are way more than have been seen in Qingdao and Mellbourne sothe pressure will be for all concerned..
With ISAF Sailing World Cup Final Abu Dhabi qualification spots and valuable ranking points available the game will heat up in Miami and we will report in detail.
Lots more new from round the world today - enjoy!!