Prologue Leg to offer final tune-up ahead of race start<\/p>\n
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Martin Keruzore\/Volvo Ocean Race<\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon at 1400 local time in Lisbon (1300 UTC), the seven Volvo Ocean Race skippers will lead their teams off the start line of the Prologue Leg, a non-scoring race to the host city and start port of Alicante, Spain (see more below)<\/p>\n
On Sunday afternoon at 1400 local time in Lisbon (1300 UTC), the seven Volvo Ocean Race skippers will lead their teams off the start line of the Prologue Leg, a non-scoring race to the host city and start port of Alicante, Spain.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a final chance for teams to lock in crew configurations and get in some speed testing against the competition ahead of the start of Leg 1 on October 22 in Alicante.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the last opportunity for all of the boats to face each other before we start,\u201d says Mark Towill of Vestas 11th\u00a0Hour Racing. \u201cWe\u2019ll be lining up against the other teams to check the things we\u2019ve learned during testing compared to the rest of the fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Towill and his team have been training against team AkzoNobel. The Dutch team’s Luke Malloy spoke of the benefit from the sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe two boat training sessions we did with Vestas 11th Hour Racing were definitely very valuable and actually quite eye opening in a few areas,\u201d he confirms. \u201cJust to check on some of our sail crossovers and lock down what we think we know in some other performance areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turn the Tide on Plastic skipper Dee Caffari says she\u2019ll be giving some of her crew who have less offshore miles time on board during the Prologue, as her team makes the transition from training to competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to get back into race mode,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s almost a practice of Leg 1, because we\u2019re going from Lisbon to Alicante and that\u2019s going to be the reverse for Leg 1 so it\u2019s nice to suss it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Team Sun Hung Kai\/Scallywag, disappointed with its results this summer during Leg Zero, will be racing with some new crew members and navigator Steve Hayles says the team will be looking to bed in improvements made during practice over the past month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (on Leg Zero) everything was sub-par, so this is a good chance to put into effect everything we\u2019ve been doing since. We\u2019ve been sailing hard, we\u2019ve done at least as many miles as anyone else, and so this is a good opportunity to cement those changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is as good a measure of where you stand as going racing and hopefully we\u2019ve made a big step up in our team performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rob Greenhalgh, about to embark with the Spanish team MAPFRE on his fifth Volvo Ocean Race, is looking forward to this final look at the opposition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty important. Everyone\u2019s going to be keen to check in,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ll be keen to race properly\u2026 we won\u2019t be backed off. We\u2019ll be going for it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dongfeng Racing team director Bruno Dubois will see his team leave the dock in Lisbon satisfied they have done what they need to do to be ready to race by the start of Leg 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy objective was to make sure we put everything in place and didn\u2019t leave anything to chance,\u201d Dubois explains. \u201cWe made a plan and we\u2019ve stayed to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe someone is going to head out in Leg 1 and be very fast, but we\u2019ve done what we needed to do to make our boat ready and fast for the start of the race. After that, well, it\u2019s a long race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The weather forecast offers a mixed bag that will get the wrinkles out of all the new sails the teams have installed in Lisbon. Crews will face a light wind start in the Tagus River before a gentle run down the coast to Cape Saint-Vincent, the South West corner of Portugal. The light wind sails will stay up for the reach towards the Gibraltar Strait where the real action starts.<\/p>\n
via Prologue Leg to offer final tune-up ahead of race start| Volvo Ocean Race<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Prologue Leg to offer final tune-up ahead of race start Download Martin Keruzore\/Volvo Ocean Race On Sunday afternoon at 1400 local time in Lisbon (1300 UTC), the seven Volvo Ocean Race skippers will lead their teams off the start line … Continue reading