Abu Dhabi: Volvo Ocean Race (VOC) team Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) surged back to the top of the In-Port Race Series (IPRS) standings after battling from the back of the field to finish third in the American leg of the sprint competition on Saturday.
The result in Newport, Rhode Island, was the team’s 12th podium from 13 starts in this season and means they now top the IPRS standings as well as top spot on the leaderboard for the main race — an eight month, nine-leg, 62,764km round the world yacht race.
Abu Dhabi’s Emirati sailor Adil Khalid said the crew were jubilant after their latest in-port podium finish.
“There are few places in the world more closely associated with yacht racing than Newport — it’s in people’s blood here, so we wanted to put on a good show for the fans,” he said.
The course saw the fleet sail in straight lines between the turning markers with few overtaking opportunities. On the first leg, disturbed wind flow from nearby yachts slowed the Abu Dhabi yacht Azzam significantly and she rounded the first marker in last place.
However, ADOR skipper Ian Walker and his crew held their nerve and soon after overtook Dutch crew Team Brunel on the second leg before splitting with the pack on the penultimate leg to leapfrog both Dongfeng Race Team and Team SCA into third position.
Double Olympic silver medallist Walker said he was pleased with his team’s fighting spirit. And with the in-port race standings used to split any tie in the overall race, he added regaining the IPRS lead was important for morale.
“In-port racing is always tight,” he said. “But the natural topography in Newport means the racecourse is long and narrow and that forced the yachts even closer together and that made it harder to find passing lanes.”
Navigator Simon Fisher agreed: “The tactical options were few and far between. We had to stay calm and take our chances when they came. In the end, third is a good result and it puts us back on top in the series by a point.”
Sailing on board Azzam as celebrity guest was six foot nine inch professional ice hockey player Zdeno Chára — captain of the local Boston Bruins who is famous for having the hardest slapshot in the game.
“It was thrilling, all action from start to finish,” he said. “Ian and Adil showed me how Azzam worked before the race — but when the start gun went the guys were working flat out the whole time.
“This is a great crew who really work well together so I’m not surprised they are leading the race. I’ll be rooting for them now for the rest of the race.”
As ever, the ADOR crew had to quickly reset their minds from inshore to offshore racing as they packed their bags for the start of the race’s seventh leg across the Atlantic Ocean to Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday afternoon. Fans can watch all the action live online at volvooceanrace.com/live.
