Race Village opening: 24 November 2017 Average ETA: 27 November 2017 In-Port Race: 8 December 2017, 12:00 UTC (14:00 Cape Town) Leg Start: 10 December 2017, 12:00 UTC (14:00 Cape Town)
More information can be found on the Cape Town host city website: www.volvooceanracecapetown.com Find out all the cool things to see and do in our Race Village here.
Cape Town is crazy about football, cricket, rugby… and sailing. The V&A Waterfront will be the centre of attention in sports-mad Cape Town when the Volvo Ocean Race fleet arrives around the end of November after the 7,000 miles second leg from Lisbon.
Cape Town – a rainbow city in the rainbow nation – sits just north of the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of South Africa and the African continent. The city is home to almost four million people spread along hundreds of kilometers of stunning coastline. Booked your ticket yet?
Table Mountain coming into view is a familiar and welcoming sight for Volvo Ocean Race crews. Cape Town’s history with the race goes back all the way to the very first edition in 1973-74 and the city has only been absent from the route a couple of times.
Let’s talk weather… November is the start of the southern hemisphere summer. It only rains on one day in every six, with a tiny average of 14mm for the whole month. The daily average temperature is 24C, dropping to a cooler 13C at night. But be warned, the water is cold on the western coastal beaches. Something to do with the proximity of Antarctica...
How do I get there?
Race Village: V&A Waterfront Jetty 1, Jetty 2 and Quay 6 8001, Cape Town South Africa
Air: Cape Town International (CPT) Alternative: Arrive by helicopter… Cape Town offers a host of exclusive helicopter rides – who knows, if you can time it right you might see the arrival of the fleet!
The Volvo Ocean Race will be in Cape Town from 24 November - 10 December 2017 and the public of Cape Town has given a fantastic response to the call for volunteers. In fact, we now have so many volunteers that we are no longer accepting registrations for Cape Town. We greatly appreciate the support we have received from the home of Volvo Ocean Race HQ.
Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Dongfeng Race Team traded blows throughout the first half of the Cape Town In-Port Race course on Friday afternoon, before the Chinese-French team grabbed the lead midway through the race and stretched away for their first win in the series.
The victory vaults skipper Charles Caudrelier’s team to second place on the leaderboard for the In-Port Race Series, just behind MAPFRE who retained the overall lead with a fightback second place finish on Friday.
"The team did a fantastic job, very nice boat handling and good speed, so well done to the full team," Caudrelier said after the race.
"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."
Conditions were spectacular on the waters off Cape Town, with wind near 20 knots, under bright, sunny skies. Boat handling was at a premium in the fresh conditions and on the first two laps of the course, there were several very close crosses as the boats approached the turning gates.
Near the end of the second run, Vestas 11th Hour Racing were sailing on an awkward wind angle to the mark and had difficulty furling their big A3 downwind sail in preparation for the rounding.
It didn’t hurt them immediately but when they next tried to deploy the sail at the final top mark, it wouldn’t fully unfurl, and the team was very slow for most of the final run.
"We started well," said navigator Simon Fisher. "At the second top mark Dongfeng did a great job, pushing us to the less favoured 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."
The mistake cost the team two places, as both MAPFRE and team AkzoNobel raced past on the run to the finish.
The second place finish represented a tremendous comeback for MAPFRE who were forced into a penalty turn just before the start, leaving them them the last to get across the line.
But the Spanish team kept pushing its way up the fleet, finally forcing team AkzoNobel away with an aggressive luff near the final top mark, setting the table for the pass of Vestas 11th Hour Racing on the final run.
Further back, Brunel and Scallywag engaged in a luffing match early on the first run. The Umpires penalised Scallywag for an infraction and following the penalty turn, David Witt's team were trailing the fleet.
At the finish, a hard-charging Brunel nearly stole a place from Turn the Tide on Plastic. But Dee Caffari's team, who had a very strong start to the race, held on for fifth place.
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
