Paralympic athlete, Wojtek Czyz, and his fiancée, Elena Brambilla, are about to embark on a round-the-world trip with a difference.

They are planning to be married in May and will set off from Hamburg on a four-year honeymoon, sailing the seas helping those in need.

Wojtek started sailing on his birthday in 2009 when he was invited by a friend in the South of France to join him for a day trip.

He loved it so much that only a few months later he bought his own boat, a Bavaria 32. The Bavaria was sold in 2012 and the couple replaced it in 2013 with a Lagoon 410 named ‘Imagine’.

Last year they approached the French manufacturers of the catamaran to ask if it would be possible to make a few modifications to their boat in preparation for their unique trip.

After hearing their plans Lagoon kindly agreed to make the modifications for free and the couple’s Lagoon 410 has been transformed into a working clinic, complete with 3D printer to produce prosthetic limbs.

The project is one that is close to the couple’s hearts. In 2001, then 21-year-old Wojtek Czyz was an aspiring professional football player and had just signed with second division team, SC Fortuna Köln. In his last match for his old team, he was hit in the knee by the opposing team’s goalie, an accident that shattered the knee and ultimately resulted in him having his leg amputated.

While undergoing rehabilitation, he met German Paralympian, Roberto Simonazzi, and orthopaedic technician, Herbert Ganter, who encouraged him to get back into sports.

Obviously he is not the sort to sit around moping, and only 11 months after his amputation he entered the German Championships and broke the national record for F42 long jump and won the T42 100m event. Since then he has competed in three Paralympic games and won four gold one silver and two bronze medals.

His personal motto is, “don’t think of what you were, but of what you are and of what you aspire to be” (“denk nicht an das was du warst, sondern an das, was du bist und zu sein dich sehnst”).

Czyz wants to spread this message and take this positivity to places where being ‘disabled’ is still a stigma. He says in such places there is a lack of support, understanding and professionalism in dealing with disability. As a gold medal winner, he hopes to change that attitude and show that being disabled doesn’t have to stop you pursuing your dreams.

His soon-to-be wife, Elena Brambilla, as well as being a professional high jumper, has a degree in biotechnology from the University of Milan and is therefore the perfect partner to help with the second goal of their round the world honeymoon – the production of prosthetic limbs and the provision of medicine to those in need from their floating pharmacy.

With the 3D printer on Imagine, the couple can produce a prosthetic limb in two days at a cost of only 200 euros. They will ‘print’ these limbs for the amputees they meet on their journey who, in third world countries, will often not have access to the money or medical facilities needed to produce anything more than the most basic prosthesis.

So we wish this very special couple the best for their trip. May they have sun for the wedding and fair winds and following seas for their four-year honeymoon.

For more information: www.sailing4handicaps.de

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The Volvo Ocean Race fleet has taken some time out from the thrilling Leg 5 racing through the Southern Ocean to assist with an important environmental project (full story below).

– Fleet deploys ‘drifters’ in Southern Ocean

– Data will be assessed by scientists

– Stay up to date with the race action with our App

ALICANTE, Spain, March 23 – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet has taken some time out from the thrilling Leg 5 racing through the Southern Ocean to assist with an important environmental project.

As planned, all six boats dropped buoys laden with scientific equipment – or ‘drifters’ – to help collect oceanic data from one of the most remote areas of the world.

The U.S.-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects ocean and weather data to provide mariners with accurate forecasts of seas, as well as coastal forecasts and regional climate predictions.

It takes a lot of effort to maintain these observations in all of the ocean basins to support these forecasts, and NOAA can’t do it alone so they asked for the assistance of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet in dropping the drifters.

The study is particularly close to the heart of Will Oxley, the navigator on board Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), who is a marine biologist as well as being a top offshore sailor.

“It’s believed the Southern Ocean absorbs up to about 60 per cent of the heat and CO2 produced by we humans,” he explained.

“So the Southern Ocean is a very important ‘sink’ that is absorbing CO2 and slowing the pace of global warming.

“However, it is having an impact on the ocean and we need to better understand what that impact is.”

Partnerships are critical to maintaining a network of free-floating buoys, known as drifters, and NOAA asked the Volvo Ocean Race fleet to assist them on Leg 5.

The buoys will drift with ocean surface currents and transmit data on surface pressure and ocean currents through a global satellite network.

Martin Kramp serves as the ship coordinator at a support centre of the Joint Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology of World Meteorological Organisation, and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

“Organised ocean sailing events, such as races and rallies, are a new component of growing importance in volunteer ocean observation,” explained Kramp.

“We are very happy that the Volvo Ocean Race is collaborating with us as a part of the current race.”

Anyone can access the drifter data at http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/phod/dac

Meanwhile, Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) had opened up a 51.1-nautical mile (nm) lead on Monday (0940 UTC) with 4,750nm to go to the finish in Itajaí, Brazil, and Cape Horn still to negotiate on the toughest of all nine legs.

Overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) lead the chase with Team Alvimedica, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) bunched behind them (see panel above).

MAPFRE had a scare on Sunday when they heard a loud bang from their bow, but they could find no damage, although they reinforced the area with battens to be sure.

In the 2011-12 edition. skipper Iker Martínez’s boat Telefónica suffered delamination, forcing a pit-stop for repairs, and he is very wary of a repeat.

So far, however, the one-design Volvo Ocean 65s are withstanding the toughest conditions they have encountered in the race so far.

via Building the knowledge| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

2015 RYA Spring Series kicks off in Weymouth and Portland

Written by RYA | 10 March 2015

Weymouth and Portland welcomes first domestic Olympic Classes event of the season

Weymouth and Portland served up some superb early season sailing conditions for the first regatta in the three-event RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series this weekend (7-8 March).

Some 86 sailors across seven Olympic and three Paralympic Classes took to the water for the domestic season-opening regatta, with a combination of the British Sailing Team’s Podium Potential crews and up-and-coming talents sharing the weekend’s spoils.

Competitors were greeted by a sunny south-westerly 12 knots for Saturday’s first day, with similar wind conditions on Sunday before the rain clouds descended and hampered visibility across Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour.

But in spite of the early finish on Sunday, newly-qualified Race Officers Chris Lindsay and Shinichi Kagitomi (JPN), under the watchful eyes of Peter Saxton and Charli Hadden, oversaw a full schedule of weekend racing.

The RS:X 8.5 windsurfing fleet had the largest entry of 17 boards, and saw Christchurch’s Dan Wilson on dominant form to claim event honours with a 20 point margin and winning six of the eight races held.  Launceston’s Saskia Sills was second overall and the top female sailor, with Cameron Coghill, from Bleasby in Nottinghamshire, completing the podium line-up in third beating Saskia’s twin sister Imogen into fourth on countback.

Tom Squires took the weekend by storm in the RS:X 9.5 fleet, winning six of his eight races over Podium Potential Squad teammate Kieran Martin, with Robert York in third.

In the skiff fleets, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt claimed 49er victory, while Bryony Bennett-Lloyd-Ellie Aldridge took weekend honours in the Open 49erFX event.

With seven wins from nine races, Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter took the first weekend series victory in the 470 Women’s event, with Ben Hazeldine-Rhos Hawes claiming the 470 Men’s win over Tim Riley-James Taylor.  Peter McCoy also claimed seven race wins from nine races to seal the top spot on the Finn leaderboard.

In the Paralympic Classes, Podium squad sailor and recent Sailing World Cup Miami silver medallist Megan Pascoe made a cameo appearance on the Saturday, winning all four of her races in the 2.4mR fleet.  But it was David Hawkins who took overall event victory by the narrowest of margins, beating John Brooker on countback.

Hannah Stodel stepped from the front to the back of the boat to helm the Sonar in place of John Robertson for the weekend, with Steve Thomas and coach Simon Rosier completing the trio who took event victory by eight points over Andrew Cassell-Lucy Hodges-Tom Abery, while Alex Hovden-Carol Dugdale won the SKUD event.

“We had a great turnout for this first Spring Series weekend, and couldn’t have asked for better conditions to kick the event off with and provide an opportunity to support new Race Officers who coped admirably with the multi-class rapid-fire starting sequences, with nine races providing a test for both race management teams and sailors alike,” said RYA Podium Potential Squad Manager Barrie Edgington.

“It was great to see some new faces at the front of the fleets, challenging some of the more established campaigners and putting themselves in the running to qualify for grants for some of the summer internationals.  I’m looking forward to more of the same in a month’s time!”

The second regatta in the RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series takes place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy from 11-12 April, with the third and final event also at WPNSA from 16-17 May.

via 2015 RYA Spring Series kicks off in Weymouth and Portland | Home | News | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

Princess Sofia Trophy set to kick off the 2015 EUROSAF Champions Cup series.

Giles Scott and the 470 Men’s pairing of Luke Patience and Elliot Willis will be looking to continue their early season form when the Princess Sofia Trophy kick-starts the European sailing season later this month in Palma, Majorca (30 March-4 April).

The ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami gold medallists are among the 60 British Sailing Team athletes set to compete across the ten Olympic classes and the 2.4mR Paralympic class as this 45th edition of the annual spring regatta provides the opening event in the EUROSAF Champions Sailing Cup series for 2015.

Miami silver medallists Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark, Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves and Megan Pascoe will also be in action in their respective 470 Women’s, Nacra 17 and 2.4mR events, with former British Sailing Team RS:X windsurfer Connor Bainbridge flying the British flag in the invitational kiteboard racing event.

Stay with us at www.britishsailingteam.com or on Facebook or Twitter @BritishSailing for further build up to the Palma regatta, and the latest news and information when the event gets underway on 30 March.

British Sailing Team Line-Up For The Princess Sofia Trophy:

470 Men

Luke Patience-Elliot Willis

470 Women

Hannah Mills-Saskia Clark; Sophie Weguelin-Eilidh McIntyre Amy Seabright-Anna Carpenter; Jess Lavery-Megan Brickwood

Laser Radial

Alison Young; Chloe Martin; Hannah Snellgrove; Georgina Povall; Ellie Cumpsty

Laser

Lorenzo Chiavarini; Elliot Hanson; Alex Mills Barton; Martin Evans; Jack Wetherell; Henry Wetherell; Michael Beckett

49er

James Peters-Fynn Sterritt; Jack Hawkins-Christopher Thomas; Chris Taylor-Sam Batten; Rory Hunter-Neil Hunter

49erFX

Charlotte Dobson-Sophie Ainsworth; Kate Macgregor-Kirstie Urwin

Nacra 17

Ben Saxton-Nicola Groves; Lucy Macgregor-Andrew Walsh; John Gimson-Hannah Diamond; Tom Phipps-Nikki Boniface

Finn

Giles Scott; Ben Cornish; Peter McCoy; James Hadden; Hector Simpson

RS:X Men

Tom Squires; Joe Bennett; Sam Sills; Kieran Martin

RS:X Women

Izzy Hamilton; Noelle Finch; Saskia Sills; Imogen Sills

2.4mR

Helena Lucas; Megan Pascoe; Will Street; John Brooker; Jonathan Currell

via British crews gearing up for European season opener in Palma | The British Sailing Team | RYA.

A massive one kilometre-wide iceberg has forced the Volvo Ocean Race to change the positioning of their ice gates to keep the fleet clear of trouble in the Southern Ocean on Leg 5 (full story below).

– Huge 1km wide iceberg forces organisers to act

– Find out here why this leg is such a challenge

– Follow the fleet all the way on our App

ALICANTE, Spain, March 20 – A massive one kilometre-wide iceberg has forced the Volvo Ocean Race to change the positioning of their ice gates to keep the fleet clear of trouble in the Southern Ocean on Leg 5.

The berg was heading towards the path of the six-strong fleet, so organisers and their advisers, French company CLS and Dutch weather expert Marcel van Triest, opted late on Thursday night to move the current ice limit route further to the north.

The main iceberg is not the only concern. Growlers – pieces of ice that have broken away and float semi-submerged in the icy cold water – are also a major threat to the fleet.

A new higher resolution image for the relevant area will be delivered to Race HQ on Sunday, but this new information will not necessarily lead to further re-positioning of the ice limit in that area (from 150W to 115W).

The race has pre-set ice gates, or ice limits, on this leg to keep the fleet clear from icebergs. Race management can change them according to conditions as the leg unfolds.

Boats will be penalised if they sail over these boundaries towards hazardous areas.

Meanwhile, organisers have brought forward the most likely arrival time for Leg 5, destination Itajaí, from April 7 to April 4 after the fleet made surprisingly rapid progress through the first 1,000 nautical miles (nm) of the 6,776nm stage from Auckland to Brazil.

The boats have been flying through the South Pacific and out into the Southern Ocean at a consistent 20 knots thanks to the effect from the aftermath of Cyclone Pam, which caused such devastation the previous week and led to at least 13 deaths on the archipelago of Vanuatu.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) continued to lead the fleet early on Friday (1240 UTC), with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) closest on their tail, some 20nm behind (see panel).

It was very early days, however, in the longest and most treacherous leg of the race, and MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), and Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) were all still very much in the hunt.

Caudrelier, however, was on Friday predicting the most challenging of all legs for his inexperienced crew after surprising many by joining Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing at the top of the leaderboard on eight points after four legs.

“There is a long way to go and it looks complicated. Although the leaders will stretch away in the short term, in the mid-term it looks like those at the back will come back – so maybe not catastrophic,” he wrote from the boat in a message to his team.

“Regardless, this leg will be the hardest for us as we have less experience on board than any other boat in the fleet.”

Maybe, but he has recruited the hugely experienced helmsman Damian Foxall (IRL) for the leg – a crewmate of Caudrelier onboard 2011-12 winners Groupama. That could yet prove a very canny decision as the fleet navigates through such challenging waters.

via Dodging the giant iceberg| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Volvo Ocean Race’s six-strong fleet were stuck in Groundhog Day as they raced through the South Pacific – and they were not particularly enjoying the experience on Thursday (full story below).

– Time stands still for fleet as they pass international dateline

– Aftermath of Cyclone Pam leads to a very rocky ride

– Follow all the action every day on our App

ALICANTE, Spain, March 19 (AFP) – Volvo Ocean Race’s six-strong fleet were stuck in Groundhog Day as they raced through the South Pacific – and they were not particularly enjoying the experience on Thursday.

In the famous Hollywood film, the hero played by Bill Murray, finds himself trapped in time over the same 24 hours, and the crews now know exactly how he felt.

They found themselves crossing the international dateline, which meant that the clock, for a while, turned back to March 18.

The conditions after passing New Zealand’s East Cape, were hardly conducive to comfortable sailing – 30 knots of wind (56 kilometres per hour) and a much heightened sea state.

They have avoided by far the worst of Cyclone Pam, which wrought havoc in the South Pacific towards the end of last week, killing at least 11 on the archipelago of Vanuatu.

That weather system also led to a three-day delay in the departure of the Volvo Ocean Race fleet from Auckland on Wednesday before the 6,776-nautical mile (nm) Leg 5 to Itajaí in south-east Brazil.

Nevertheless, they could still feel its aftermath for a very rocky ride early on Thursday.

All on board are hardened professional offshore sailors, but many have been reporting severe bouts of seasickness as they speed through the South Pacific towards the Southern Ocean.

Amory Ross (USA), Onboard Reporter for second-placed Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA), gave a graphic description of life on the boat in his latest dispatch on Thursday.

“Even in her subdued state, ‘former’ Cyclone Pam is packing one heck of a punch,” he wrote. “I’d be lying if I said our enthusiasm for getting out here is unchanged.

“Now that we’re actually here, everyone’s either green or exhausted and often both. The sea state is really confused and it makes doing anything abnormally difficult.

“We talk a lot about racing these boats, the demands and skills it requires. But when the conditions are like they are now, simply living takes considerable effort too.”

Team SCA’s Abby Ehler (GBR) added: “It’s bumpy, it’s wet and it’s wild. It’s like being on a rodeo horse or a rollercoaster. It’s just intense and requires 100 per cent concentration, not only helming, but when you move around.”

Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED), third overall, were making the early pace in the toughest of the nine Volvo Ocean Race legs, with Ross’s Team Alvimedica just 2.9nm behind.

The rest of the fleet – race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR)), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), and MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) – were then spread within 17nm of the pace-setters (0940 GMT, Thursday).

The boats are expected to reach their Brazilian destination, in a stage in which they pass the key landmark of Cape Horn, around April 7.

via Uggh! It’s Groundhog Day!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

The America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth event in 2015 will deliver an incredible four days of world class sport and entertainment action, family friendly, fun filled and action packed. Portsmouth will offer spectacular views of AC45 (45 foot flying catamarans) racing from the shore and on water. Thrilling and exciting fleet racing with these impressive boats will be a spectacle not to be missed.

The America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth event in 2015 will deliver an incredible four days of world class sport and entertainment action, family friendly, fun filled and action packed. Portsmouth will offer spectacular views of AC45 (45 foot flying catamarans) racing from the shore and on water. Thrilling and exciting fleet racing with these impressive boats will be a spectacle not to be missed.

The entertainment will start on Thursday 23rd July with a presentation of skippers, the official press conference, a parade of sail and an official opening ceremony. A first glimpse of the competing teams and the boats out on the water followed by entertainment in the purposely built ‘Waterfront Festival’ and ‘Fanzone ‘Arenas.

via WHAT’S GOING ON – 35th America’s Cup.

Iker Martínez (ESP) returned to the helm of MAPFRE to take the first day lead as the closely packed fleet headed out of New Zealand on Wednesday, having been delayed three days by Cyclone Pam (full story below).

– Calm before the storms for Leg 5 fleet

– Spanish start where they left off

– Follow all the action every day on our App

ALICANTE, Spain, March 18 – Iker Martínez (ESP) returned to the helm of MAPFRE to take the first day lead as the closely packed fleet headed out of New Zealand on Wednesday, having been delayed three days by Cyclone Pam.

It is still very early days for the 6,776-nautical mile (nm) Leg 5, the toughest of the race, which is not expected to be concluded until around April 7 in Itajaí, south-east Brazil.

However, the Spanish crew continued where they left off after winning Leg 4 from Sanya, China, to Auckland, leading the six boats up the eastern coast of New Zealand’s north island towards East Cape.

Martínez missed legs 3 and 4 to concentrate on pre-Olympic training for Rio 2016, but his stand-in, Xabi Fernández (ESP), did a more than adequate job in his absence as skipper, finishing fourth and first in the red boat.

Winds are currently light – around 10-12 knots – nothing compared with the 35-40 knots the fleet is likely to encounter later in this, the most treacherous leg, which will take them through the Southern Ocean, round Cape Horn, and back into the Atlantic for the first time since November.

After waiting some 67 hours to set sail from Auckland to avoid the threat of Cyclone Pam, which killed at least 11 in the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific, it was seaweed rather than high winds that was the chief problem for two of the fleet.

Overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) started well, taking second place early on, before dropping to the back of the fleet.

“We have been fighting poor performance numbers all day. Initially we found weed on the prop leg, which we cleared,” wrote Walker, in a message to shore.

“Next we had to clear the rudders and finally we have had to do a full stop to clear weed off the keel. Finally, we seem to be sailing at our targets, but already have over a five-mile deficit to catch up. Far from ideal, but at least we know why.”

Similarly, Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR), who are still on a high after winning their second in-port race of the series in Auckland last Saturday, were also hampered by seaweed,

These are minor irritants, however, and the spread of the fleet at 1240 UTC on Wednesday after the 2000 UTC departure the previous day, was less than 4.5nm.

Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) were the closest challengers to MAPFRE, 1.3nm behind, with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA) also in hot pursuit (see panel for latest positions in detail).

The fleet is currently heading towards East Cape across the Bay of Plenty in less than 10 knots of breeze, as the boats sailed into their first night at sea.

“After passing East Cape, it will be full on,” says Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Onboard Reporter, Matt Knighton (USA).

via Spanish lead fleet out of New Zealand| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Volvo Ocean Race’s six-strong fleet finally headed out of Auckland on Wednesday morning after the Leg 5 departure was delayed 67 hours to avoid the worst of Cyclone Pam (full story below).

– Cape Horn and Southern Ocean test sailors to limit

– ‘Just keep in one piece’ – navigator Fisher

– Follow all the action on our App

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, March 17 – Volvo Ocean Race’s six-strong fleet finally headed out of Auckland on Wednesday morning after the Leg 5 departure was delayed 67 hours to avoid the worst of Cyclone Pam.

However, the crews, led out of the ‘City of Sails’ by Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier/FRA), knew they may have avoided the deadly weather system, but still face the toughest of all nine legs as they race through the notorious Southern Ocean.

“The conditions will be light early on, with coastal sailing up to East Cape (the tip of New Zealand), but after a few days it will be the full-on Southern Ocean regime,” said the race’s official meteorologist, Gonzalo Infante, shortly before departure at 0900 NZ time (2100 Tuesday CET).

“From then, the boats will be facing 25-35 knots of wind (46-65 kilometres per hour) for much of the time until they round Cape Horn.”

Cyclone Pam, which forced the postponement from Sunday until Wednesday having wrought havoc in the South Pacific and causing at least 11 deaths on Vanuatu, will no longer be a major factor for the fleet, added Infante.

Leg 5, the Southern Ocean leg, from Auckland to Itajaí in south eastern Brazil, is 6,776 nautical miles (nm) long, will take roughly three weeks to complete, and is one major reason why many of the sailors in the fleet are competing in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The route takes the boats close to Point Nemo, the remotest place from land, in the South Pacific where the nearest humanity can be found in the space stations patrolling the earth.

It will also take the fleet back into the Atlantic for the closing stages of the leg for the first time since November, but, memorably for most, they will pass Cape Horn in the Southern Ocean on the tip of South America.

Ever since the 17th century when it was first regularly navigated by trade shipping, Cape Horn has been an iconic landmark for all sailors although it has claimed many victims over the years.

More people have reached the summit of Everest than sailed around Cape Horn. Waves can reach up to 30 metres (100 feet), roughly the length of a Volvo Ocean 65 mast, and the only company the sailors have will be albatrosses.

Many see the leg as a key staging post in the overall race. Simon Fisher (GBR), navigator for current leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), summed up: “There’s nowhere else on earth where you can do so much fast downwind sailing for so long,” he said.

“It’s going to be the first time the whole fleet sees a lot of wind for an extended period and it might shuffle the pack. Keeping in one piece all the way to the Horn is important, because that’s where the race will be won and lost.”

The same leg caused havoc to the fleet in the last edition in 2011-12 with only winners Puma escaping serious damage and eventual event victors Groupama limping home with a jury rig.

Nevertheless, so many hardened Volvo Ocean Race sailors keep coming back for more with the massively experienced Stu Bannatyne (NZL) and Damian Foxall (IRE) being recruited for this leg by Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright/USA) and Dongfeng Race Team respectively.

Bannatyne, a six-time race veteran, did not need much persuading, it seems. “This,” he said, “is the best sailing in the world.”

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing started the stage level on eight points with Dongfeng Race Team, but are race leaders courtesy of their superior in-port series record.

They are trailed by Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking/NED) on 14 points, Team Alvimedica and Leg 4 victors MAPFRE (Iker Martínez/ESP) on 16, and New Zealand Herald Auckland In-Port Race winners Team SCA (Sam Davies/GBR) on 24.

The boats are expected to arrive in Itajaí around April 7.

via Toughest leg for Volvo Ocean Race is underway| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.

Following latest information on the development of Cyclone Pam, Race organisers have announced that Leg 5 from Auckland, New Zealand to Itajaí, Brazil, will now start on Wednesday, 18 March at 09:00 NZDT (Tuesday 17 March, 20:00 UTC, full story below).

– Leg 5 will start 09:00 NZDT Wednesday morning

– This decision has been made in collaboration with the fleet

– Check out our latest video news releases here

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, March 16 – “We see a significant change between leaving Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning in easier conditions, and this was also the preference of the majority of the teams,” commented Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad, coming straight out of a meeting with the six teams’ skippers, navigators and weather experts in Auckland.

The fleet is now leaving on Wednesday instead of last Sunday as initially planned.

“The cyclone is still a very severe system near New Zealand. Most of the routes on this leg take you very close to that cyclone for a substantially long period of time.

“Now that we have started delaying because of the cyclone, it’s always a matter of when do you leave, when do you feel that it’s far enough away? What we see is that the system is big, it’s not moved very far, and leaving on Tuesday they’d very quickly be into 40 knots and a very big sea state.”

“There’s probably not many people who have sailed very close to a cyclone,” commented Team SCA’s navigator Libby Greenhalgh. The winner of The New Zealand Herald In-Port Race Auckland on Saturday agrees with this decision.

“On Tuesday, we would be in 35 to 40 knots for between five and seven days, whereas Wednesday that’s not the case. We still end up catching it up but the storm has started to decay. It’s probably going to be significantly different even though that’s difficult to estimate and easy to underestimate as well.

“It’s not been easy for Volvo Ocean Race to decide but they’ve listened and everyone has had their opportunity to put forward what they feel, and I think they’ve taken a reasonable stab at it. For us we’re happy, we’re pleased.”

“We had a discussion about whether we should start on Tuesday or Wednesday morning,” said Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s skipper Ian Walker.

“Four of the six teams very strongly felt that we should leave on Wednesday, so the organisers decided that we should leave at 09:00 Wednesday morning.”

Now less than 48 hours to the start of this 6,776-nautical mile stage across the Southern Ocean and around Cape Horn, Frostad also put things into perspective, reminding the fleet of the actual impact of Tropical Cyclone Pam in the Pacific region.

“This is a cyclone which has killed many people, and created a total disaster in some amazing islands that we just raced through north of New Zealand.

“It’s not just a weather system, we’re talking about a natural disaster. For me, as a race organiser, I would never even consider starting in that cyclone.

“We know that the system is still out there. We have enough wind readings to know that it’s still strong. There are times when you just simply have to wave the safety flag.”

Estimated Time of Arrival in Brazil:

The initial range of ETAs in Itajaí was from April 1 – 5, 2015. However, this is now likely to be delayed and at this stage there are still too many uncertainties in the forecast to establish a clearer range. More information soon.

via The start is on!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015.