2014–2015 Volvo Ocean Race

The 2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race was the 12th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. It started on 19 October 2014 in Alicante, Spain, and concluded in June 2015 in Gothenburg, Sweden. After 38,739 nautical miles of ocean racing, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing led by skipper Ian Walker claimed the overall trophy.

2014–15 Volvo Ocean Race

Edition	12th
Dates	19 Oct 2014 – 27 June 2015
Competitors	7
Yachts	Volvo Ocean 65
Results
Winner	Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
← 2011–12 2017–18 →

Yachts

Main article: Volvo Ocean 65

For the first time, the race is a one-design event. The Volvo Ocean 65 was designed by Farr Yacht Design in response to concerns about safety and cost. The Volvo Ocean Race ensures a minimum of eight boats are built.[1]

The aim was to reduce participation cost to around 15 million euros per entry.[2]

The boats are maintained by a common team, The Boatyard. They manage the spares, repairs, and maintenance for all the teams.[3]

Onboard Reporters

For this edition of the race, each yacht had an onboard reporter. They are responsible for producing 4 minutes of video, 200 words, and 8 photographs a day.[4] These media assets are sent to the Volvo Ocean Race Media Center in Alicante for editing and wide dissemination. OBRs were allowed to perform additional activities beyond producing content, however, they may not assist in the sailing of the boat.

Participants

Seven teams are participating in this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race. One of them, Team SCA, is a women-only team.[5]

Team	Flag and Sail	Skipper
Team SCA	SWE 1929	Samantha Davies
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing	UAE 2	Ian Walker
Dongfeng Race Team	CHN 1969	Charles Caudrelier
Team Brunel	NED 1	Bouwe Bekking
Team Alvimedica	USA 4	Charlie Enright
MAPFRE	ESP 1	Iker Martinez
Team Vestas Wind		Chris Nicholson

Sailors by nationality[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Country	Sailors
France	12
United Kingdom	10
Australia	8
United States	8
Spain	7
China	6
Netherlands	6
New Zealand	5
Denmark	3
Argentina	2
Switzerland	2
Belgium	1
Brazil	1
Ireland	1
Italy	1
Lithuania	1
Sweden	1
United Arab Emirates	1

Route

Event	Start date	Finish date	Start	Finish	Distance
In-Port Race	4 October 2014		Alicante
Leg 1	11 October 2014	5 November 2014	Alicante	Cape Town	6,487 nm
In-Port Race	15 November 2014		Cape Town
Leg 2	19 November 2014	13 December 2014	Cape Town	Abu Dhabi	5,185 nm
In-Port Race	2 January 2015		Abu Dhabi
Leg 3	3 January 2015	27 January 2015	Abu Dhabi	Sanya	4,642 nm
In-Port Race	7 February 2015		Sanya
Leg 4	8 February 2015	28 February 2015	Sanya	Auckland	5,264 nm
In-Port Race	14 March 2015		Auckland
Leg 5	18 March 2015^1	5 April 2015	Auckland	Itajaí	6,776 nm
In-Port Race	18 April 2015		Itajaí
Leg 6	19 April 2015	7 May 2015	Itajaí	Newport	5,010 nm
In-Port Race	16 May 2015		Newport
Leg 7	17 May 2015	27 May 2015	Newport	Lisbon	2,800 nm
In-Port Race	6 June 2015		Lisbon
Leg 8	7 June 2015	11 June 2015	Lisbon	Lorient	647 nm
In-Port Race	14 June 2015		Lorient
Leg 9	17 June 2015	22 June 2015	Lorient	Gothenburg	960 nm
In-Port Race	27 June 2015		Gothenburg

Notes (157 sailing days for race winners and 10 In-port racing days):

• ^1 Originally scheduled to begin on 15 March 2015, but delayed because of Cyclone Pam.[13]

Results

The point standings are done via low points. The winner of each leg/in-port race will receive 1 point, runner up will receive 2 points, and so on down to the final finisher who will receive 7 points. Failure to finish a leg is counted as 8 points. The overall winner will be the one the lowest number of leg points, with the in-port points being used for tie-breaking.[14]

Overall standings

	Leg 1	Leg 2	Leg 3	Leg 4	Leg 5	Leg 6	Leg 7	Leg 8	Leg 9	Penalty/ Redress	Total
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing	1	3	2	2	1	2	5	3	5		24
Team Brunel	3	1	5	5	4	3	1	5	2		29
Dongfeng Race Team	2	2	1	3	DNF^2	1	4	7	4	1^5	33
MAPFRE	7	4	4	1	2	4	2	4	3	3^4 ^5	34
Team Alvimedica	5	5	3	4	3	5	3	6	1	-1^3	34
Team SCA	6	6	6	6	5	6	6	1	7	2^5	51
Team Vestas Wind	4	DNF^1	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	2	6		60

Notes:

• ^1 - Team Vestas Wind was grounded on the Cargados Carajos Shoals near Mauritius. They re-joined the race for leg 8.[15]
• ^2 - Dongfeng suffered a broken mast near Cape Horn and had to abandon leg 5.[16]
• ^3 - Team Alvimedica finished leg 2 in fifth place, but were awarded 1 point redress for standing by the grounded Team Vestas Wind[17]
• ^4 - MAPFRE finished leg 5 in second position, but were given two points penalty for rules breaches.[18]
• ^5 - MAPFRE and Dongfeng (1 point each) and SCA (2 points) were handed penalty points after leg 7 for infringing sailing rules.[19]

In-port series

	Ali	CT	AD	San	Auc	Ita	NP	Lis	Lor	Got	Total
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing	2	1	3	2	6	2	3	2	4	6	31
Team Brunel	4	2	2	4	2	1	5	5	6	1	32
Team SCA	6	3	1	5	1	4	4	4	5	2	35
MAPFRE	3	7	6	6	3	5	1	1	2	3	37
Team Alvimedica	1	6	5	3	5	6	2	3	1	5	37
Dongfeng Race Team	5	4	4	1	4	3	6	6	3	4	40
Team Vestas Wind	7	5	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	7	7	7	73

Media

The race was chronicled in a daily show hosted by Genny Tulloch called Inside Tack - Life at the Extreme, and a weekly show -Life at the Extreme.

References

1. All-women's team first to enter 2014-15 Race Archived 2013-04-30 at the Wayback Machine volvooceanrace.com, 21 August 2012
2. Volvo Ocean Race due to start from Alicante in 2014 to feature all-female crew thetelegraph.co.uk, 20 August 2012
3. Race, Volvo Ocean. "The Boatyard".
4. "Grounded". Volvo Ocean Race official website. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
5. "Meet the teams". volvooceanrace.com. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
6. "The Team - Dongfeng Race Team".
7. "Home - Team SCA".
8. Sailing Team
9. "THE TEAM - MAPFRE".
10. Team/
11. Race, Volvo Ocean. "Volvo Ocean Race".
12. "Meet Team Brunel, personal profiles of all our crew members". Archived from the original on 2015-01-18. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
13. "The start is on!". volvooceanrace.com. 2015-03-16. Archived from the original on 2015-03-15. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
14. "Keeping score". volvooceanrace.com. Archived from the original on 2015-06-30. Retrieved 2015-06-28.
15. "Back in the race". volvooceanrace.com. 2015-01-28. Archived from the original on 2015-06-12. Retrieved 2015-06-03.
16. "Time to call it quits". volvooceanrace.com. 2015-03-31. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2015-04-01.
17. "Time to redress". volvooceanrace.com. 2014-12-30.
18. "The jury decides". volvooceanrace.com. 2015-04-17. Archived from the original on 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
19. "Penalty point pain". volvooceanrace.com. 2015-06-03.

External links

• Volvo Ocean Race – Official site
• Dongfeng Team Page
• SCA Team Page
• Alvimedica Team Page
• MAPFRE Team Page
• Vestas Wind Team Page
• Brunel Team Page
• Abu Dhabi Team Page