Abu Dhabi wins 1st leg of Volvo Ocean Race, China comes in 2nd

World Today

Abu Dhabi won the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015 when it became the first country to reach Cape Town, South Africa. CCTV America’s Dan Williams reported this story from South Africa.

Crew members are taking a well-deserved break after navigating their way through extreme sailing conditions over the past month after first departing from Alicante, Spain. The Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team was skippered by British Olympic medalist Ian Walker. Coming in second was, China’s Dongfeng team.

After 6.487 nautical miles of racing, there was very little to separate the first two yachts.

While the Dongfeng team was led by Frenchman Charles Caudrelier, the Chinese crew members have only been sailing for about six months, pulling in a commendable performance for a rookie crew.

“Second place for me is a very good race, especially for me being the first race, and for us it is a complicated team as you know. It is very different with the people from the different backgrounds. And it is nice to have the experience and in the end, we still try to catch them,” said Yang Jiru, a Dongfeng crew member.

Teams will have only a short time to recover. On Nov. 15, there will be an in-port race in Cape Town Harbor before the second leg of the race to Abu Dhabi begins on Nov. 19.