Volvo Ocean Race: Team SCA dominate Auckland in-port race

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing and Team Brunel tied at top of the table with 14 points.

Team SCA and Team Brunel compete in the New Zealand Herald InPort Race in Auckland, New Zealand. Getty Images

Team SCA, the first women’s crew to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race for 12 years, won their second in-port race in Auckland on Saturday.

Over the full legs, the female team have struggled and finished last in three of the four stages so far contested in the nine-month, round-the-world race.

But they are excelling in the separate in-port series and are now the only team to have won two races in it, having also triumphed in Abu Dhabi in early January.

Saturday’s victory, after leading from the starting gate, leaves them just two points off the overall series lead behind Auckland runners-up Team Brunel (Netherlands) and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

“We won it because we kept it simple, kept our manoeuvres to a minimum and that’s what paid out for us,” said their British navigator Libby Greenhalgh.

Skipper Sam Davies said: “I’m really happy because it’s going to boost our team’s morale for the next two days while we wait for (Cyclone) Pam to leave us some space to go out in the Southern Ocean.”

The departure for the treacherous Southern Ocean/Cape Horn fifth leg to Brazil has been delayed until at least Tuesday because of the category five cyclone in the Pacific.

In all, the fleet will contest nine offshore legs before the end of the race in Gothenburg, Sweden, on June 27.

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