Spaniards Sparkle in Volvo Ocean Race
Spanish boat MAPFRE led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out of Newport, Rhode Island, and into the most challenging of the remaining three legs through the North Atlantic, reports AFP.
Newport was the only North American stopover on this year's race, which ends in June in Goteborg, Sweden.
The stopover has been so successful that race officials have changed their normal protocol and offered the Newport organizers an exclusive two-month window to seal a deal on the next race as the only North American stopover.
During the 12 day stopover, the race village at Fort Adams State Park saw 125,000 fans come through and participate in the various events taking place. That number is five times the population of Newport and five times the number of visitors that last U.S. Stopover had in Miami three years ago.
Light winds are likely to stall the six-strong fleet’s progress in the early hours of the 2,800-nautical mile Leg 7 to Lisbon, but after a day or so conditions are likely to roughen up while temperatures drop considerably.
After that, they face two more legs, to Lorient, France, and finally, Gothenburg, Sweden. After reaching Lisbon, the boats will have a short stopover before tackling the final two legs of the nine-month marathon which ends in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27 after 38,739 nautical miles (71,745km).
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, skippered by British double Olympic silver medalist Ian Walker, carried a six-point advantage over Chinese challengers Dongfeng Race Team into the final three stages of the 38,739nm event which started last October.
MAPFRE are no longer realistically in with a chance of taking the overall prize but they are now in some of their best form of the race, winning an in-port race in Newport on Saturday and then leading the fleet after a lap of the town’s Narragansett Bay on Sunday.
