What can you do in one minute? Water those plants you’ve been noticing for the last few days? Empty those old receipts out of your wallet? Make some toast?
How about win the Rolex Fastnet Race? That’s just what Dongfeng Race Team did earlier today, following a long night of intense Leg Zero battling with Spanish team MAPFRE which saw the pair racing within just a few boat lengths of each other.
Charles Caudrelier’s crew stole a lead over their pre-race rivals to bag themselves the victory in the first offshore test of the 2017-18 edition, but their advantage was slim – around the time it’s taken you to read this far, in fact – and that’s set up what looks like it could be an incredibly close edition of the round-the-world race.
Here are the exhausted sailors’ dock reactions to that 605nm relentless #LegZero slog…
“We need to get our heads around just how close this Volvo racing is – it’s a 45,000 mile match race” – David Witt, SHK Scallywag
“IT’S A 45,000 MILE MATCH RACE”#SHKScallywag haven’t had the start they wanted to #VOR life – but skipper David Witt sees the positives pic.twitter.com/p4LEQx4HHa
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“I was literally grinding as hard as I could… that was really full on” – Sophie Ciszek, MAPFRE
“I WAS GRINDING LITERALLY AS HARD AS I COULD”@desafioMAPFRE @CiszekSophie is exhausted after an intense & all-night #LegZero battle pic.twitter.com/OK2t64GMZC
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“Insane is a good word for it – it was so intense” – Carolijn Brouwer, Dongfeng Race Team
“THERE WERE ONLY 4 OR 5 BOAT LENGTHS BETWEEN US”@DongfengRacing @CarolijnBrouwer reveals just how close the #Fastnet finish was #LegZero pic.twitter.com/ObqMUYCvtA
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“It’s going to be a long nine months if it’s this close all the way around the world” – Blair Tuke, MAPFRE
“IT’LL BE A LONG 9 MONTHS IF IT’S THIS CLOSE AROUND THE WORLD”@BlairTuke reacts to #LegZero leaders @desafioMAPFRE‘s 2nd place in #Fastnet pic.twitter.com/aH22NcbqDw
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“We had a nice fight with MAPFRE” – Charles Caudrelier, Dongfeng Race Team
“WE HAD A NICE FIGHT WITH @desafioMAPFRE“
Here’s @DongfengRacing skipper @CCaudrelier on taking victory in the second stage of #LegZero pic.twitter.com/zU0RFsThlc
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“Even the Americas Cup has more distance between the boats” – Simeon Tienpont, team AkzoNobel
“EVEN IN THE AMERICA’S CUP YOU GET MORE DISTANCE BETWEEN BOATS”@teamAkzoNobel‘s @stienpont saw his team finish fourth – & he’s happy pic.twitter.com/UqKxn2oKB6
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
“The bungee effect was happening a lot – it was fun” – Bouwe Bekking, Team Brunel
“I’M CONTENT WITH THE WAY WE’RE PROGRESSING”@brunelsailing‘s Bouwe Bekking won the Dutch duel v @teamAkzoNobel for a 2nd time in a week pic.twitter.com/Ij7mXXcFjY
— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) August 9, 2017
