Team SCA became the only crew in the Volvo Ocean Race to claim two in-port victories on Saturday after a thrilling start-to-finish win in Auckland (full story below).- All women\u2019s crew dominate in \u2018City of Sails\u2019 – Runners-up Team Brunel move joint top in standingsAUCKLAND, New Zealand, March 14 \u2013 Team SCA became the only crew in the Volvo Ocean Race to claim two in-port victories on Saturday after a thrilling start-to-finish win in Auckland – \u201cby keeping it simple\u201d.It was a fight all the way, however, in surely the most exciting in-port race in the 2014-15 edition with Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking\/NED) narrowly beaten to the line by Sam Davies\u2019 (GBR) all-women crew.Afterwards, the women\u2019s boat\u2019s navigator Libby Greenhalgh (GBR) summed up their success in the New Zealand Herald In-Port Race: \u201cWe won it because we kept it simple, kept our manoeuvres to a minimum and that\u2019s what paid out for us.\u201dTeam Brunel skipper Bekking, however, had the consolation of moving joint top of the In-Port Race standings on 14 points with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker\/GBR) who lost out in their own enthralling tussle with Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright\/USA) for fifth place.The Turkish\/American boat ran down \u2018Azzam\u2019 with barely metres to spare at the finish line, cheered on by fans in an absolutely packed Auckland harbour.The Emirati boat retains the edge, however, thanks to the best individual results overall in the series (see panel above).Just as in their previous in-port success in Abu Dhabi in early January, Davies and her crew have shown in the short races they are more than a match for their male rivals and this success will be another confidence-booster ahead of the weather-delayed Leg 5 from Auckland to Itaja\u00ed.\u201cWe\u2019re really happy, the City of Sails made a fantastic arena for us to race in today,\u201d said a jubilant Davies.\u201cIt was really, really hard. We learned that in the practice races beforehand, we made all the mistakes then and today was just brilliant.\u201cWe had a really good teamwork, a great start, good tactics, everything worked perfectly onboard Team SCA today.\u201cI\u2019m really happy because it\u2019s going to boost our team\u2019s morale for the next two days while we wait for (Cyclone) Pam to leave us some space to go out in the Southern Ocean.\u201dGreenhalgh added: \u201cWe\u2019re stoked. It wasn\u2019t really secure until the last little bit when we\u2019d gone around the bottom mark.\u201dMAPFRE, who had led the chase to catch Team SCA after another runaway start, enjoyed the consolation of a third place podium finish on the return of skipper Iker Mart\u00ednez (ESP) after he missed the last two legs to concentrate on Olympic training for Rio 2016.The race, mercifully raced in variable but perfect conditions before Cyclone Pam hits the region, leaves the in-port race series perfectly poised with Team SCA just two points behind the leading pair.They in turn head Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier\/FRA) by two points following a fourth place finish in Auckland for the Chinese boat.The leg departure for the treacherous Southern Ocean\/Cape Horn leg to Brazil has been delayed until midday local time on Tuesday at the earliest because of the Category 5 Cyclone Pam, which has been blowing winds of around 250 kilometres an hour.Race management will make a decision in the next 24 hours to confirm that the fleet is safe to sail at that time having postponed the departure from Sunday at 1400 local time (0100 GMT).<\/p>\n
via Team SCA \u2018keep it simple\u2019 for a glorious double| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Team SCA became the only crew in the Volvo Ocean Race to claim two in-port victories on Saturday after a thrilling start-to-finish win in Auckland (full story below).- All women\u2019s crew dominate in \u2018City of Sails\u2019 – Runners-up Team Brunel … Continue reading