Leg 7 will start at 14:00 local time in Auckland, 01:00 UTC on Sunday, 18 March.
Seven Volvo Ocean Race teams will embark on one of the most classic legs in offshore racing on Sunday afternoon from Auckland, New Zealand.
Leg 7 of the Volvo Ocean Race is an iconic Southern Ocean challenge; a 7,600 nautical mile race through “Furious Fifties”, the inhospitable, remote waters south of 50-degrees latitude that circle Antarctica, around Cape Horn and up to Itajaí, Brazil.
“It’s going to be bloody cold,” said Bouwe Bekking, the skipper of Team Brunel, who is on his eighth lap of the planet. “It’s probably the best sailing you can get. We know the boats so well at this point in the race, we will be pushing 100 per cent.
“And going around Cape Horn is a big psychological boost as you know the Southern Ocean is behind you, every mile you go north it gets warmer. So it’s a funny thing, there will be moments when you hate it, but you know better times are ahead and when you arrive in Brazil, you forget the bad parts and the good parts stay with you.”
Leg 7 is a double-point scoring leg, with an additional bonus point awarded to the first boat to pass Cape Horn. With so many points on offer, this classic Southern Ocean leg, a return to the roots of the race, has the potential to be decisive on the leaderboard.
MAPFRE is the overall leader following six legs, but after a fourth place finish and late charge to get on the podium on the leg into Auckland, the team’s position at the top doesn’t appear as secure as it was early on.
