RI's Vestas 11th Hour Racing Edged by Dongfeng at Cape Town In-Port Race

RI's Vestas 11th Hour Racing Edged by Dongfeng at Cape Town In-Port Race

Dongfeng Race Team edged out Rhode Island’s Vestas 11th Hour Racing during the Cape Town In-Port Race on Friday.

The victory puts Dongfeng in second place on the leaderboard for the in-Port Race Series, just behind MAPFRE who kept the overall lead in the Volvo Ocean Race.

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"The team did a fantastic job, very nice boat handling and good speed, so well done to the full team. Our start was not fantastic, but after that, we made a good call to tack a bit earlier and put pressure on Vestas and then we found some good speed. That was a key factor,” said skipper Charles Caudrelier.

Vestas was hurt near the end of the second run while sailing into an awkward wind and had difficulty adjusting their downwind sail.

"We started well. At the second top mark, Dongfeng did a great job, pushing us to the less favored side, which pushed us back into the fleet, which put pressure on the downwind drop, which meant we didn't have a great furl, and that hurt us on the last run. It's just a great example of how things can snowball,” said navigator Simon Fisher.

Vistas dropped two places in the overall standings.

See The Standings Below

Cape Town In-Port Race Results

1. Dongfeng Race Team
2. MAPFRE
3. team AkzoNobel
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing
5. Turn the Tide on Plastic
6. Team Brunel
7. Sun Hung Kai / Scallywag

Volvo Ocean Race In-Port Race Series Leaderboard

1. MAPFRE -- 19 points
2. Dongfeng Race Team -- 18 points
3. Team Brunel -- 13 points
4. Vestas 11th Hour Racing -- 12 points
5. team AkzoNobel -- 11 points
6. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag -- 6 points
7. Turn the Tide on Plastic -- 5 points