Saturday, 6th June, started the activities towards Leg 8 , Lisbon to Lorient, France, with a Lisbon In-Port Race with the full number of Boat; Vestas Wind is ready after a repair and able to sail again. [Vesta wind, made a small navigational error and landed on some reefs just North of Mauritius, the boat damaged that much that a 6 month repair campaign was required].
The Lisbon In-Port race was held in reasonable winds, be it that there were some un-expected shifts that either helped some of the Boats or pulled them back in the ranking. Maphre made a good start and actually was not in danger anymore, be it that they had to make some crucial moves to stay ahead of AbuDhabi and Alvimedica; it is thought that the extensive training of Alvimedica in Lisbon waters will have helped them with some local knowledge on winds, wind-shift and the currents from tide and the river.
It was a very, lets say too close, finish between SCA and Vestas Wind. The later being in un-favorable position, tried to force themselves in between the buoy and SCA, which was not possible. Vestas Wind touched the buoy and came close to SCA, but got a penalty for unsafe sailing and had to to around; this lost them 2 places and on the last place.
Ranking Lisbon In-Port
1 Maphre
2 AbuDhabi
3 Alvimedica
4 SCA
5 Brunel
6 Dongfeng
7 Vesta Wind
On Sunday, Leg 8 started with a Lisbon parcours under the bridge. Again Maphre made a good start and was leading the fleet till the turning point, landinwards of the bridge.By this time the wind collapsed and the currents came in. Maphre was taken by the currents and at a time got further and further away from the mark. The fleet compressed to set sail to open waters. Midway a sudden windshift, forced all boats to make some heading changes.
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| Team Brunel, 1st Boat to leave Lisbon for Leg 8 to Lorient |
Brunel resolved this the best and they were the winners of the Leg 8 starting parcour race , setting sail as first into the open waters.
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