Pipped at the post!

Team SCA steals sixth place off MAPFRE within 10 miles of the Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town finish

After 26 days 23 hours, 37 minutes and 49 seconds, Team SCA crossed the line to complete leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race into Cape Town.

The all-female team fought right to the finish and managed to sneaked past MAPFRE, passing them in the final 10 miles of the 7,000 mile leg, to finish 1 hour 10 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Iker Martinez' Spanish team.

Skipper Sam Davies commented: "We are really, really happy to be here. We knew it was possible and we did not stop fighting - that's something that our coach Magnus Olsson taught us and we keep that spirit with us all the time." Olsson died of a stroke in 2013 while on a training camp with Team SCA in Lanzarote.

“If we have learnt any lessons it is to never give up. We need to keep it with us for the next eight legs and we are honored to take in these lessons and learn from them.”

For Sara Hastreiter, who only started sailing four years ago, the finish into Cape Town rates as one of the best moments of her entire life: “No matter what else I do in the future, this will be up there."

Some clever tactics by navigator Libby Greenhalgh who chose a route further offshore in the approach to Cape Town, reaped rewards for the team in a leg that saw its share of ups and downs. She said: “We are pretty pleased to come in on such a high note as it’s been a tough last 10-15 days. I was pretty sure we’d get close to them but I wasn’t sure we could pass them. I think there was a little roll of the lucky dice and it clearly worked.

“We could not be happier to have come from where we were and, in the last few days, to start eating up the miles. To see them [MAPFRE] and then be going past them is brilliant. It is a long game because 10 days ago we were all probably thinking how are we going to come back from this. I do believe we are the ‘comeback kids’ in the races we’ve been doing, but hopefully soon we won’t have to be the comeback kids, we’ll just be in it.”

For Martínez the result is a desperately disappointing reverse on his Leg 1 performance in 2011-12 when he led the fleet to the finish first on board Telefónica. There is some speculation now over the crew line-up for the Spanish team going forwards.