Fleet has incentive to race hard
Sailing The Volvo Ocean Race’s in-port contest today might not count to the immediate standings, but don’t expect the fleet to be any less motivated.
Sailing fans will get the chance to watch the yachts in action on Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour as they look to get back into race mode ahead of the seventh leg.
While points gained the in-port series don’t make a difference to the overall standings, they come in to play if a tiebreaker is required.
It may seem like little to provide motivation, but Vestas 11th Hour Racing’s Tony Mutter explained just how vital it can be.
“I was a bit that way,” the Kiwi sailor said of not being motivated by the series. “But after talking to the skipper, Charlie [Enright], they had a tiebreak on the final result last time and it came back to the in-port racing and they ended up dropping a place in the overall result.
“So it does have a bearing and all the boats have taken it seriously and we do push it a little bit — we’re quite happy to.”
It’ll be Vestas’ first race action since the vessel was repaired after sustaining damage in a collision in Hong Kong. The yacht was transported to Auckland where it was brought back to race shape.
The fleet had a practice race yesterday around a shortened version of today’s
It does have a bearing and all the boats have taken it seriously.
Tony Mutter
course, with AkzoNobel, MAPFRE and DongFeng beating Vestas and Turn the Tide on Plastic over the line. Team Brunel followed, ahead of Scallywag, whose high-risk starting manoeuvre saw them run out of room and miss the starting line entirely.
Not that it mattered, with the crews looking ahead to what was expected to be a tough race. Competition aside, the conditions could have a part to play with light winds forecast. “It might be a light and drifty but fingers crossed, maybe we’ll get something,” Mutter said.
The race starts at 2pm and is due to finish an hour later. Spectators can watch from the race village on the Viaduct Harbour.