© Ugo Fonolla/Volvo Ocean Race
Team SHK/Scallywag is back in the water and scheduled to take the start of Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race in Itajaí, Brazil on Sunday afternoon.
The team had been in a race against time to have its boat prepared for racing after it was delivered to Itajaí on Thursday.
But the Boatyard crew, along with team members, suppliers, and with assistance from the other teams in the race, have readied the boat for racing in near record time and early on Saturday afternoon it returned to the water.
“We’re grateful for the support we’ve had from the other competitors and everyone who has helped out,” said Scallywag skipper David Witt. “It’s a real testament to the character of the people who do this race.”
“It’s great to be able to get Scallywag back in the water in time for the start,” said Neil Cox, the head of the Boatyard. “We needed everyone to pull together to make it and as you would expect in these circumstances, that is exactly what happened.”
Both SHK/Scallywag and Vestas 11th Hour Racing retired from Leg 7 and had their boats sailed to Itajaí by delivery crews. After quick turnarounds, both are now ready to re-join the fleet for the 5,700 nautical mile race north to Newport, Rhode Island.
It promises to be a challenging leg, with light winds in the forecast for the first days, followed by tradewind sailing leading into the final doldrums crossing of the race before the final push north to the highly anticipated Newport stopover.
“Newport is a sailing mecca of the United States,” said Charlie Enright of Vestas 11th Hour Racing. “People are passionate about their sailing there and it will be an amazing experience. We want to get a great result sailing into Newport and I’m really looking forward to it. “
The leaderboard is tight, with a new team on top as Dongfeng Race Team take over pole position from MAPFRE by just a single point.
© Pedro Martinez/Volvo Ocean Race
“One point is nothing because as we have seen in the last legs, things can change very quickly and the race is far from finished,” said Dongfeng skipper Charles Caudrelier.
“But it’s very positive to be on top now because since the start I think it’s been a bit frustrating for us to always be just behind MAPFRE. It’s good for the team spirit and motivation. Nothing is better than a good result to give us extra energy to finish the race.”
Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18 --- Overall Leaderboard after Leg 7:
1. Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier), 46 points
2. MAPFRE (Xabi Fernández), 45 points
3. Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking), 36 points
4. Team AkzoNobel (Simeon Tienpont), 33 points
5. Sun Hung Kai Scallywag (David Witt), 26 points
6. Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright), 23 points
7. Turn The Tide on Plastic (Dee Caffari), 20 points
© Volvo Ocean Race
How to follow the start of Leg 8 from Itajaí, Brazil to Newport, Rhode Island
The Leg 8 start is at 14:00 local time (1700 UTC), with our broadcast beginning at 13:45 local time.
Watch it on the website:
Head to www.volvooceanrace.com to catch a live stream of the action from 1345 local time (1645 UTC).
Watch on Live Race Tracker:
The Race Tracker will be live for the first 24 hours of the leg. Follow your favourite team as they race up the coast of Brazil.
Check out Facebook Live:
We'll go live at 1345 local time (1645 UTC)– you can go to our page to schedule a reminder so you don't miss it.
Check out Twitter Live:
Join the conversation on Twitter with the live broadcast at 1345 local time (1645 UTC) by visiting live.twitter.com/volvooceanrace and tweeting us with #volvooceanrace. We'll be live-tweeting the action, as well as broadcasting the feed via Twitter. Check it out as we share the best content from the teams, stakeholders and fans on our feed
Join us on our live blog:
We'll be blogging all the moves, previews and news from the start of Leg 8 on our live blog, including the best of clips and social content, from 1345 local time (1645 UTC). You can find it at www.volvooceanrace.com under the 'Racing' section.
Download the app:
It's full of great content and fits on your mobile phone. Why wouldn't you want the official Volvo Ocean Race app? Head to the App Store or Google Play to download it. It's called Volvo Ocean Race.
Come down to the Race Village:
We have a fantastic Race Village in Itajaí including the Volvo Ocean Race Boatyard facility, the Volvo Pavilion and Volvo Ocean Race Globe as well as the team bases. The Village is jam-packed full of interactive elements, innovative structures and loads of exciting things to do.
