16 minutes 20 seconds apart after 5200 miles of racing

Team Brunel claims the Volvo Ocean Race's second leg into Abu Dhabi

The trans-oceanic match race between Team Brunel and Dongfeng Race Team that has gone on relentlessly for the last 16 days finally reached its conclusion this morning upon their arrival in Abu Dhabi at the end of the 5200 mile leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race.

After the lead duo overhauled Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing last week and fell into further fickle winds that have dogged the majority of this leg up the Indian Ocean. Shortly before 1600 UTC yesterday afternoon as the boats were just to the north of Oman's Musandam Peninsula, the breeze filled in from the northeast, Dongfeng managed to overhauled her rival and led southwest down the coast of the UAE. However despite the two boats being alongside overnight Team Brunel managed to overhaul the Franco-Chinese team to end up finishing 08:20:20 UTC, first by a mere 16 minutes and 20 seconds, causing Dongfeng to finish a close second for the second consecutive leg. Team Brunel's final elapsed time for the leg was 23 days 16 hours 25 minutes and 20 seconds.

Bekking says he will not forget the finish in a hurry. The 51-year-old Dutch skipper, who took part in his first Whitbread Round the World Race back in 1985-86, commented: "It is a good feeling. I’ve always said, it’s better to be lucky than good, but we’ve been good this leg as well, so it’s so nice to win this one because it could have been an easy leg to finish last. It’s just really nice to get the scores but the team did a fantastic job, we sailed the boat much better than in the first leg."

As to the last hours at sea, Bekking added: "Nobody slept - it was a drag race. Suddenly the wind shifted slightly, this meant we could sail the last miles with a bit more speed and pass Dongfeng.

“We’ve learned a lot about handling the sails over the past weeks and because of that we’ve been sailing faster than we did on the first leg - particularly in light winds."

Another key moment of the race was getting ahead of long term leader Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Ian Walker's team clearly keen to win the leg into its home port. “Just above the Equator, navigator Andrew Cape made a golden tactical decision,” explained Bekking. “On Saturday morning, I was woken up by Andrew. He told me that a small low-pressure area had developed to the northwest of our position and advised changing course by 30° immediately. He had my full attention because this sort of change of course hardly ever happens. A bit later, I gave the order for a change of sail and a change of course.”

This more easterly route turned out to be the right choice. “Together with Dongfeng Race Team, we overtook Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, which was sailing further to the west. In the first 45 minutes after the change of course, we also gained more than eight miles on Dongfeng Race Team.”

On their Franco-Chinese rivals, Bekking had said during the leg: “They were always there We wake up and say ‘morning team’ then we look to our right and say ‘good morning Dongfeng’. We call them our Kung-Fu Fighting Friends. Always there, always fighting.”

Next week, the Team Brunel crew, sponsored by the international temporary employment agency bearing their name plus Moduleo, Robeco and Schouten Global, will spending recovering from this tough second leg. Meanwhile the team's technical crew will start to carry out minor repairs and maintenance."

Dongfeng Race Team

Dongfeng Race Team skipper Charles Caudrelier could not conceal his disappointment in the result: “We had a fantastic leg and a fantastic fight with Team Brunel. Bit disappointed as we were leading a few hours before but they deserved this win.” Charles Caudrelier

“Brunel has been much faster than us since a few days and we don’t know why. We’re a bit disappointed because we did a good job to pass them, but they keep passing us. You have to do well, but you also have to be fast. If you’re not fast, it’s difficult to win a leg.

"We managed to pass Team Brunel, we did a good job but a few hours ago we were ahead but they came back with a big gust and they were much faster than us, we couldn’t do anything. It’s very strange, we’ve been slower than them at times and they beat us purely through speed, it’s very frustrating. If you can’t go fast, you can’t win.

“We’re not so happy (about second). We always want to improve, but for sure it’s good news for Dongfeng. We try to do the leg and try to improve it every leg. We showed that we can play the match with the best, and we’re proud of that.

“We could have won so we’re a bit disappointed. At least we beat Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, who are the race favourites. For Dongfeng it’s not just about winning for us, we have a good team and we try to do the best and prove it on each leg. This leg was complicated but we have proven that we can match the best so we’re are happy with that.”

Nonetheless Caudrelier and his team continue to exceed expectations. He is leading a multinational crew made up of professional sailors and rookies. The pros come mainly from the French shorthanded sailing environment so are used to sailing with a small number of crew which the eight crew often feels like on these powerful Volvo Ocean 65s. Alongside them are the Chinese rookie sailors who continue to impress and pull their weight, albeit without all the skills or experience a Volvo Ocean Race sailor would normally have. But the combination is working and as a result Dongfeng Race Team continue to outperform some of the best sailors in the world. The Leg 2 result proves that the Leg 1 second-place was no fluke and, although it’s without question too early to speculate on a nine month long race, what we can say today is that the Chinese team are now considered fully competitive.

“In Leg 1 everyone said ‘oh, wow, Dongfeng finished second they must be pretty good’ and now they have been consistently first, second or third the whole race since the beginning and with more set backs than other teams,” said Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race. “I think it’s super impressive and I think Charles should be sailor of the year when they hand out awards as a lot of people don’t realise what the team has done to raise those Chinese sailors to make them that good in such a short space of time.”

However there is consolation for Dongfeng Race Team. Their second place leaves them equal on points at the top of the overall leaderboard alongside both Team Brunel and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. They all have four points but Team Brunel and Abu Dhabi Ocean Race are ranked above Dongfeng Race Team because of the victories each has already achieved, the Dutch boat getting the highest position because they hold the most recent victory.

Photos: Ainhoa Sanchez in the air, Francois Nel on the water/land