Second In Port race victory for Team SCA

Sam Davies' crew leads from start to finish in Auckland

Team SCA’s all-female crew today led the Volvo Ocean Race's New Zealand Herald In Port race on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour today from start to finish becoming the only team to date to win two In Port race, following their victory in Abu Dhabi in January.

Despite the approach of Cyclone Pam, the weather conditions were remarkably calm, no more than 8 knots at the start.

With Olympian Carolijn Brouwer on the helm and Sally Barkow calling tactics, Team SCA found good breeze in the pre-start and crossed the line with pace, holding her lead on the upwind leg. After starting in fourth place just behind Dongfeng Race Team, Team Brunel benefitted on the left side of the race course to move up to third place. After the downwind leg, the boat returned upwind towards the Auckland Harbour Bridge. On this leg Team Brunel succeeded in overtaking MAPFRE to move into second, but the Team SCA crew managed to fend off the advancing Dutch, ultimately finishing 20 seconds ahead of them at the second downwind gate where the race committee finished the race.

Barkow commented: “I told the girls that if we held the lead ¾ of the way up the first beat then we would probably be able to hold onto it and we were pretty happy when that turned out right.”

Skipper Sam Davies commented: “The City of Sails gave us a good arena to race in today and it was really hard work. Maybe we made it look easy but all the girls put in a massive effort. I’m personally happy because there is no better place to have to wait a couple more days before the restart – especially now with an In Port win in our pocket and a smile on our faces to head into the Southern Ocean.”

The result puts Team SCA third on the leaderboard for the In Port Race series.

Dee Caffari added: “I think it has really lifted morale, got the team together, in a good headspace and has reminded us that we can do this. We can race these boats well and so what a way to go into Leg Five – I think it is the best thing that could have happened to us!”

Team Brunel's second place enabled the Dutch team to move into joint top of the In-Port Race standings on 14 points alongside Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing which lost out in the tussle with Team Alvimedica, the Turkish/American claiming fifth place with barely metres to spare to the finish line.

Team Brunel new recruit Dirk de Ridder commented: "These boats are not made for short track racing. But because of the One-Design boats it's extremely exciting. We had a good start but we were unfortunate not to be able to catch up with the girls. Because we changed our Code Zero on time with the J1 we were able to hoist our gennaker quicker compared to the other teams after rounding the downwind gate. This made it possible that we could overtake the Spanish boat MAPFRE."

MAPFRE, which had led the chase to catch Team SCA after another runaway start, enjoyed the consolation of a third place podium finish with skipper Iker Martínez back on board after missing the last two legs to concentrate on his Olympic training for Rio 2016.

Joining Team Alvimedica on board today was veteran offshore racer Roy P. Disney, a longtime friend and mentor to Team Alvimedica co-founders Charlie Enright and Mark Towill.

Roy and his father, the late Roy E. Disney, ran the Morning Light sailing program, where 525 young sailors tried out for an offshore racing team to compete in the 2007 Transpacific Yacht Race from California to Hawaii. Their endeavours were made into a feature length film titled Morning Light and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2008.

Disney has encouraged Enright and Towill in pursuing their ambitions and is proud to see their performance to date in the Volvo Ocean Race. “It is amazing the distance they have come,” Disney said. “The goal of every sailor is to sail around Cape Horn and they are going.”

Disney, an accomplished and passionate racing sailor, has competed in the Transpac Race 22 times and in the 1995 America’s Cup. He will be racing in the Transpac later this year with the 100-footer Wild Oats. Disney is the grand nephew of Walt Disney and the grandson of Roy O. Disney, the founders of the Walt Disney Co.

Due to the onset of Cyclone Pam which overnight has been reaping havoc on the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, the start of Leg 5 has been delayed until midday local time on Tuesday at the earliest. Race management will make a final decision on the exact start time in the next 24 hours.

New Zealand Herald In-Port Race Auckland results

1. Team SCA 14:54:55 - 1pt
2. Team Brunel 14:55:15 - 2pts
3. MAPFRE 14:56:22 - 3pts
4. Dongfeng Race Team 14:57:01 - 4pts
5. Team Alvimedica 14:57:25 - 5pts
6. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 14:57:26 - 6pts
7. Team Vestas Wind DNS - 8pts

Overall Standing for the In-Port series

1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - 14pts
2. Team Brunel - 14pts
3. Team SCA - 16pts
4. Dongfeng Race Team - 18pts
5. Team Alvimedica - 20pts
6. MAPFRE - 25pts
7. Team Vestas Wind - 36pts