#VOR - Yesterday’s snug racing out of the gate in Alicante made for the most exciting Volvo Ocean Race start in recent memory.

But the near-misses weren’t only between the fleet as the jockeyed for position out of port, as they faced a slalom of spectator boats offshore.

In particular, Turn The Tide on Plastic — with Annalise Murphy on deck — narrowly avoided disaster just minutes into their race as some onlookers got a little too close for comfort.

THAT WAS CLOSE! ?@turntideplastic and @scallywaghk take on the spectator boat slalom! ⛷ #LEG1 pic.twitter.com/XetiRVAN6l

— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) October 22, 2017

Seen from on board the Dee Caffari-skippered boat, the squeeze looked even tighter — potentially a more dangerous situation than what they’re bound to face on the open ocean over the next few months.

If you thought that @turntideplastic's near-collision looked close from the air, here's the view from onboard ? pic.twitter.com/gBYPSpzuov

— Volvo Ocean Race (@volvooceanrace) October 22, 2017

As reported earlier this afternoon, the lead in Leg 1 is still held by Vestas 11th Hour Racing, which features Ireland’s Damian Foxall in a senior crew role.

#VOR - It’s been a dramatic first 22-plus hours at sea for the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, both on and off the water.

Hotly tipped contenders MAPFRE, who were the first to score points in last week’s in-port race, and Dongfeng Race Team, who powered to an early lead right out of the gate in Alicante, both slipped back overnight as they missed favourable conditions closer to the Spanish coast en route to Gibraltar.

“Last night we lost a lot,” said Jin Hao Chen (Horace) on Dongfeng Race Team, currently languishing in seventh and last position close to fifth-placed MAPFRE off the north coast of Morocco.

“Pascal [Bidegorry, navigator] and Charles [Caudrelier, skipper] were working all night so we can be faster. It was a bad night, but sailing is sailing. We can come back!”

The big winners overnight were Vestas 11th Hour Racing, with Irish offshore veteran Damian Foxall aboard, and Team AkzoNobel — the latter especially after the last-minute reinstatement of skipper Simeon Tienpont saw a significant shake-up of its crew.

Both teams gybed inshore to the north to make gains in stronger pressure after passing Cabo de Gata.

"We’re pretty happy with how we’ve been going, can’t complain right now," said Hannah Diamond on the Vestas boat.

“We’ve got most of the boats a couple of miles behind us, as we went well overnight. But we know it's going to be tricky coming up to Gibraltar, and the 24 hours after that, so we’re just trying to get as far ahead as possible now.”

Currently (as of noon Irish time) in third is Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag, with Team Brunel in sixth after being leapfrogged by now fourth-placed Turn The Tide on Plastic, with Annalise Murphy on deck.

As of earlier this morning, fewer than five miles separated third place from last, meaning there’s plenty of time for more surprises on the approach to Gibraltar this afternoon (Monday 23 October).

Team Brunel will be hoping those surprises don’t include any close calls like their near collision with MAPFRE and Dongfeng after yesterday’s race start, which treated spectator boats to some of the most intense racing ever seen in the opening minutes of a Volvo Ocean Race.

As for surprises on shore, Simeon Tienpont was announced as skipper for Team AkzoNobel with just minutes to spare before the boat left the dock in Alicante.

The move came after the Dutch sailor won an arbitration judgement on Friday (20 October) allowing him to return to the team days after his dismissal over an alleged “breach of contract” on the part of his management company.

VOR veteran Brad Jackson had been announced last weekend as the replacement skipper. But with Tienpont’s reinstated to the squad, Jackson has elected not to sail this first leg, along with Jules Salter and Joca Signorini. All three are now said by the team to be “considering their future plans”.

“This has obviously been an incredibly difficult time for everyone involved since we arrived here in Alicante just 10 days ago,” said Tienpont before the race start. “I have now reached an agreement with AkzoNobel and all parties now want to put this behind us and focus on our campaign for the Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18.

“I would like to thank Brad Jackson for stepping up at such a challenging time to keep Team AkzoNobel moving forward with our preparations for the race.”

#VOR - It’s less than 90 minutes till the start of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race with a week-long sprint (of sorts) from Alicante to Lisbon for Leg 1.

It’s going to be 1,450nm of flat-out action around the Iberian Peninsula from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, with the fleet fighting for every inch as they aim to get some points on the board early on.

“After all the build-up, at last we are ready to race,” said Xabi Fernández, veteran skipper of the home favourite MAPFRE team who were the first to draw blood in the in-port race last week. “We are looking forward to getting into the rhythm of the race."

At the other end of the spectrum is Marie Riou, with Dongfeng Race Team, who is taking part in the Volvo Ocean Race for the first time.

“I have two different feelings,” she said. “The first one is excitement. I can’t wait to start the leg and to leave the pontoon … The other part of me is scared because … in a few days, I will start to discover what the world of offshore racing is really about.”

Conditions at start time in Alicante (1pm Irish time) are forecast to be moderate, with weather models suggesting Easterly winds of seven7 to 15 knots. This is somewhat lighter than forecast earlier in the week. Nonetheless, the favourable direction means the fleet will make good progress off the starting line.

After 12 hours of racing, the fleet – including a number of Ireland’s finest sailors – will be fully downwind and should be gybing in towards Cabo de Gata, to benefit from an acceleration and bend in the wind at the headland.

Twenty-four hours into the race and teams will be lining up for the Gibraltar Strait, the Rock of Gibraltar looming on the western horizon. As teams file into the narrow strait, wind strength could double from 14 to up to 30 knots, leading to frantic sail changes as teams negotiate accelerating wind, choppy waters and one of the world's busiest shipping channels all at the same time.

On Tuesday, 48 hours after the start, the sleigh ride comes to a close at the end of the acceleration zone, and the fleet will be required to negotiate a ridge of high pressure — and its associated light winds — continuing onwards.

Where to from there? Race director Phil Lawrence has reserved the right to lengthen the route with additional waypoints, if necessary, in order to secure an on-time arrival into Lisbon for next weekend.

Follow all the action live on the Volvo Ocean Race website or on Facebook Live, which is already streaming from Alicante ahead of the start.

#VOR - Three-time Volvo Ocean Race winner Brad Jackson has been announced as skipper of Team AkzoNobel after the surprise dismissal of Simeon Tienpont at the weekend.

Jackson, who coached the Swedish all-women entry Team SCA in the 2014-15 edition, was promoted from within the crew with just days to spare before the fleet departs Alicante on the first leg this coming Sunday (22 October).

The 49-year-old New Zealander will take on the skipper role as well as his watch captain commitments shared with three-time Volvo Ocean Race veteran and 2008-09 edition winner Joca Signorini (BRA). This will be Jackson’s seventh Volvo Ocean Race.

“It’s a privilege to lead a team of people as talented and committed as this one – both on the water and on shore,” said Jackson yesterday (Monday 16 October). “The credit for the quality of team AkzoNobel should go to Simeon Tienpont.

“We have been through a difficult time since Simeon’s departure, but I’m proud of the way everyone at team AkzoNobel has responded and now it’s time for us to focus on the race.”

Jackson added: “I’m grateful for the support I have received from within the team. It’s not the ideal preparation for the race that we had hoped for, but I know we can move forward quickly and be racing hard on start day.”

Meanwhile, Simeon Tienpont has issued his own statement after Team AkzoNobel announced the termination of their relationship with his management team over “breach of contract”.

“They talk about a contract break, which is absolutely unfounded and is very damaging to my reputation, especially in view of the timing, just before the start of the race,” said the Dutch sailor, who would have been competing in his first Volvo Ocean Race as skipper.

“I can only guess that it is about a small budget overrun on a safety issue, but we have always been 100% transparent to AkzoNobel about our financial affairs and all our expenses have been made with their approval. It is them, not me, who is in clear breach of the contract.”

Scuttlebutt Sailing News has more on Tienpont’s statement HERE.

#VOR - Team AkzoNobel has released a statement after the sudden ousting of skipper Simeon Tienpont over the weekend, just days before the first leg of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race.

The Dutch campaign cited “breach of contract” in their decision to terminate their relationship with Tienpont’s management company STEAM “with immediate effect”.

Tienpoint was the first skipper announced for the 13th edition of the global yachting challenge over a year ago, and the two-race veteran would have been sailing his first race in charge of a VOR 65.

Now the clock is ticking as the team rallies to find a new skipper before the fleet departs on the first leg next Sunday (22 October).

Team AkzoNobel’s statement in full:

First of all, we want to thank everyone for the many messages and comments the team has received over what has been a difficult few days for us. We appreciate every single one of them – the positive and the negative ones – and we very much value everyone’s passion for the campaign.

Right now team AkzoNobel is dealing with a challenge none of us ever expected to face. It has been tough, but the sailors and the shoreside support staff have every intention to be on the start line next Sunday for the start of Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The complex nature of the events that have unfolded over the last week have meant we have been unable to communicate with our supporters as openly as we would normally do so, and for that we are sorry.

The title partner and owner of the team has said:

– Simeon Tienpont’s management company STEAM breached its contract to manage the team AkzoNobel entry in the Volvo Ocean race 2017-18
– The breach was serious enough for AkzoNobel to terminate the contract with immediate effect and AkzoNobel then took over the full management of the team
– Simeon was offered the option to continue as skipper but opted not to continue and has left the team

AkzoNobel has restated to us its unwavering commitment to our entry in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The sailing team and management are working together to move forward and find the best solution for the race which starts in seven days time.

As soon as the new skipper is confirmed we will make sure our sailing fans are the first to know about it.

In the world of professional sport and particularly in major global sporting competitions like the Volvo Ocean Race, teams have to be able to deal with whatever adversities come their way.

We are all working in the best interest for the team and the Volvo Ocean Race.

Thanks once again for your support which we value even more than ever at this time.

#VOR - The local heroes on Xabi Fernández's MAPFRE were popular winners in the first in-port race — and first point-scoring race — of the 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante on Saturday (14 October).

Fernández and his team made a bold call at the start to duck behind the entire fleet in order to sail up what turned out to be the favoured right-hand side of the course, coming from behind to earn a narrow lead at the first gate.

“It was pretty clear from Joan [Vila] and Rob [Greenhalgh] that we wanted to hit the right side of the course in the first upwind looking for more breeze,” said Fernández.

“Our intention was to start on port but Pablo [Arrarte] saw the gap himself when Brunel did a poor tack and they couldn’t accelerate so we want for the cross and we had plenty of room and once we hit the right everything went well.”

MAPFRE then managed to stretch out to a lead of nearly one minute at the bottom gate, giving them a lead they would enjoy the rest of the way.

“The truth is it hasn’t been an easy race but we took a bit of a risk at the start," Fernández said after the finish. "We saw the gap in front of Brunel and we went for it. Everything went really well.”

In fact, the Spanish team sailed a flawless race, in terms of strategy and execution, and were never threatened after grabbing the lead at the first mark.

But behind them, it was a hard-fought race. Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag was strong on the first leg, but dropped back over the course of the race.

In contrast, Dongfeng Race Team fought up the fleet to grab second place, battling with Vestas 11th Hour Racing and Team Brunel who were trading places throughout.

“There was a lot of action! MAPFRE played their own game alone but behind them, we had a big fight for second place. It’s good, it’s good,” said skipper Charles Caudrelier on Dongfeng Race Team.

“We showed how we can sail well, after having not such good results in the last few days. It’s great that we managed to come back and get this result.”

“It was a very exciting first in-port race for us,” said Charlie Enright, the skipper of Vestas 11th Hour Racing.

“They’re always really close. You know, when you’re racing these 65-foot canting keel boats around a one-mile track it gets interesting, with a lot of exchanges and big headsails and a lot of grinding. We did some good things and some bad things and got third place. All in all, not a bad way to start the campaign.”

“I had a bad start and that put us on the back foot,” said Bouwe Bekking, skipper of Team Brunel. “But we sailed the boat very nicely. All in all, we're pretty happy with how we sailed today.”

Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag made a late gain to grab fifth over team AkzoNobel with Turn the Tide on Plastic never recovering from a poor first leg.

“It was okay. Fifth’s not great but it was okay. We were second at the top but we just made one mistake on the first run and it cost us. Basically, it was good. Amazing to be racing here in Alicante,” said David Witt, skipper of Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag.

Provisional results of the first in-port race are as follows:

#VOR - With the clock ticking to the start of the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race as the race village opens in Alicante later today (Wednesday 11 October), it’s time to take a closer look at the significant Irish presence in the world’s most challenging yacht race, as recently noted by our own WM Nixon.

The biggest name beyond sailing circles is surely Annalise Murphy, the hero of Rio 2016 who is swapping her Laser Radial for an entirely different challenge with the crew of Turn the Tide on Plastic, skippered by women’s offshore sailing pioneer Dee Caffari.

The Dubliner and National Yacht Club stalwart caused some concern over the summer when a knee injury sustained in the Moth Worlds forced her to pull out of the World Championships in her primary class.

But that break from competition might have been just what Annalise needed to get herself back into fighting fitness — not to mention prepared for a round-the-globe voyage that’s a world apart from her Tokyo 2020 ambitions.

The other big name among the VOR 65 crews is Damian Foxall, who returns for his sixth Volvo Ocean Race — this time with Vestas 11th Hour Racing, the former Team Vestas Wind (whose senior project manager happens to be Madrid-based Irishman Thomas John McMaw).

What’s more, the Kerry offshore legend heads a strong contingent from The Kingdom in this latest VOR, with Brian Carlin leading the team of on-board reporters and marine biologist Lucy Hunt in charge of the race’s sustainability education programme.

Other Irish names of note behind the scenes include Bill O’Hara, a former Northern Irish Olympian and race officer in charge of the VOR’s 2012 climax in Galway who is part of the race committee for the 2017–18 race, and Johnny Donnelly, MD of VOR event contractor Arcana.

Two others previously unmentioned are Philip Johnston, a veteran cross-channel racer from Northern Ireland with a strong record in the Fastnet Race who brings his expertise on shore logistics to Turn the Tide on Plastic, and Cork sailor James O’Mahony, another Fastnet vet at the mainsheet and mast positions and well versed in what support his team will need as part of the shore crew for Team Vestas 11th Hour.

Afloat.ie will be keeping up with all of their exploits when the 13th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race gets under way on Sunday 22 October.

#VOR - Just over three months ago, the Volvo Ocean Race unveiled the new generation of boats for the next decade and beyond, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

In its answer to the big question ‘monohull or multihull?’, the VOR opted for both: a one-design foil-assisted 60ft monohull for the ocean legs, and a one-design 32-50ft foiling catamaran for use inshore at the stopovers.

Now, with the 2017-18 edition already apace following a thrilling Leg Zero, work on the two new boats has been moving fast in the background, as the VOR website reports.

Last week, the first mock up of the Guillaume Verdier-designed offshore monohull was revealed at the Boatyard in Lisbon.

“We contacted several designers and asked them to submit their ideas for both a complete stand-alone Volvo Ocean Race boat, or with the potential to convert to an IMOCA boat,” said Boatyard head Nick Bice.

“All the designers that we invited to present were very strong, it wasn’t clear cut – we had some pretty serious soul-searching to decide what we wanted to do. I went to New Zealand and spent a day with Guillaume to get to know him, and we decided he was our man.”

Verdier is best known as a designer for the foiling 2016 Vendée Globe boats, and for the 35th America’s Cup winners Emirates Team New Zealand.

“We’ve created the Volvo Ocean Race Design Team as a collaboration, getting the best input from everywhere,” said Bice. “It’s going to be a very cool boat; imagine coming into the finish, in a harbour in 20 knots of breeze and you are going to see this thing fully airborne, foiling, at 35 to 40 knots.”

Verdier's team is already working hard on the hull lines. The design has developed in a way that will enable IMOCA 60 compatibility, making it convertible for events like the Vendée Globe.

And they’ve got not time to lose, with Bice emphasising the “critical path” till the scheduled launch in June 2019.

“Working all the way back from that, we need to start machining the moulds in September. Then we need to start laminating the first boat at the end of February, early March next year,” says Bice, who adds that Persico Marine in Italy is the lead contractor for the ambitious project.

As for the inshore foiling multihull, the tender period closed on Monday 31 July with 16 proposals received. Now Bice, as chief technical development officer, and his team must make their decision in view to an announcement during pre-race events in Alicante this October.

The VOR website has more on the story HERE.

#VOR - MAPFRE were declared overall winners of the Volvo Ocean Race’s Leg Zero after continued light winds saw the fourth and final stage shortened.

Racing was halted at 5.30am Irish time yesterday morning (Wednesday 16 August) as the fleet were making slow progress from Saint-Malo to Lisbon.

Vestas 11th Hour Racing, with Irish VOR veteran Damian Foxall among the crew, took the stage win with the shortest distance to finish, ahead of Team AkzoNobel and MAPFRE, whose third place was enough to seal the overall victory.

“I think it was a good decision [to shorten the stage] because this Leg Zero was already becoming quite long,” said MAPFRE skipper Xabi Fernández.

The decision to call a halt to the racing came late on Tuesday night as the stage had become a drifting contest, with the teams making a series of expensive gybes in a bid to find some wind, and latest ETAs predicting that the boats would not reach Lisbon until well into Thursday.

“Preparation time for the Volvo Ocean Race is at a real premium and we have to make sure the teams are using that time in the best way to get ready,” said race director Phil Lawrence on the decision to call the race mid-course.

Teams learned of the move as all but Scallywag were passing Cape Finisterre around 8pm Irish time on Tuesday (15 August) — giving them eight hours to adjust their strategy as winds dropped to as low as 2 knots along the northern Spanish coast.

#VOR - Annalise Murphy’s Tokyo 2020 ambitions will be taking a back seat for the time being as she tries out for a place on a Volvo Ocean Race crew, according to The Irish Times.

The Olympic silver medallist in the Laser Radial has been sailing with Dee Caffari’s new Turn the Tide On Plastic team, which is set to be announced after crew trials are completed later this month.

Our Annalise is among those jockeying for a much sought-after place on the round-the-world race crew — though an injury at last week’s International Moth Worlds has ruled her out of this weekend’s Rolex Fastnet Race, part of Leg Zero for the Volvo Ocean 65 fleet.

Looking ahead to the rest of the month, she tells The Irish Times: “I’m going to be pretty useful on the boat because I’m strong and fit as the boats are really physical with a lot of heavy lifting.

“Sail changes require a huge amount of effort so I’m pretty lucky that as a full-time athlete for the last seven years I’m at a really good level of strength and fitness.”

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Annalise tells her sailing story as she drives to her daily training in a new video from sponsor Mercedes-Benz.