I saw mention of it in a thread yesterday, so there’s at least one doper that may be interested.
The teams are in Abu Dhabi, getting ready for the In-Port race on Friday, then the start of Leg 2 on Saturday, 4,670 miles to Sanya through some of the busiest and most polluted water in the world. As the VOR website puts it; “There are lots of things for the boats to hit on the way. Rocks. Countries. Unlit fishing boats. More countries. Discarded nets. Half-sunk shipping containers. Even more countries. There could be tears.”
Who ya for? Do you think Vestas Wind will be back?
I find myself rooting for the “home team,” if there is one for that particular leg. That is, I was/am for Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in Abu Dhabi, I was for MAPFRE in the In-Port race in Alicante, and I hope to see Dongfeng first into Sanya, etc. Overall, I like Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing because of the experience they have on the boat. I counted and between the crew that was aboard the last leg, they had something like 22 VORs under their belt.
I think Vestas Wind will be back, it will be a huge public relations coup for the sponsors to bounce back, versus showing up in each port for the next six months, smiling weakly and saying “hey, wish we were still in the race…”
Team Alvimedica won their redress today for stopping for 12 hours to assist Vestas Wind. They were awarded points for 4th place, although their rank on this leg will officially remain 5th and MAPFRE will remain the official 4th place for this leg. That seems pretty fair.