New victory for Martin Baerveldt on Leg 7
Martin Baerveldt – better known as Tessa94 – has become the second Volvo Ocean Race virtual skipper to notch up two leg wins in this edition of the official game after claiming the Leg 7 spoilsBaerveldt, a 23-year-old student from Gothenburg, Sweden, snatched victory by just 19 seconds in the closest finish seen so far in the game. The win cements Baerveldt’s standing as one of the favourites to win the game, following on from his dominance in Leg 4 from Melbourne to Hong Kong.
His virtual Volvo Ocean 65 crossed the finish line in Itajai, Brazil, after 16 days, three hours and seven seconds at sea, beating second-placed Belgian Marcusbelgicus by 19 seconds and Swiss player Rostef in third by 32 seconds.
Incredibly, after 7,600 miles of virtual racing, the top 50 boats came home within seven minutes of one another.
This leg was very tough. The Southern Ocean part was not too challenging tactically but you had to stay on your game, and then after the Horn there was a restart and you really had to pick the right way up the coast. I chose to sail inside of the Falklands and I think it was that that was the winning move.
Baerveldt said.
Baerveldt now moves into second place on the overall scoreboard, just behind France’s tamebird who finished Leg 7 in 25th.
British player Sideshow – aka Mark Campbell-James, the winner of Legs 1 and 6 – is in third overall.
Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race game from Itajai to Newport begins on April 22.