The B&G Navigators’ Prize for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15
by Sail-World.com on 12 Nov 2014
November 01, 2014. Leg 1 onboard Team Vestas Wind. Wouter Verbraak studies the weather models. Day 21 at Sea. Brian Carlin - Team Vestas Wind
The finish of Leg One of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 was surely one of the most dramatic that the race has ever seen.
At the end of an excruciatingly exciting two boat tryst, all within just a few miles of the finish line in Cape Town, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing snatched the win from Dongfeng Race Team. Those last few hours before the leg was won were so enthralling that one could be forgiven, just for the briefest moment, for losing focus on the fact that these guys had just smashed 25 days of hard ocean racing to get to this point.
Reading back through Mark Chisnell's weekly blog on this site, one is fast reminded of the myriad different strategic, tactical and navigational wins and losses that had played out since the start in Alicante. However, you can be assured that the seven navigators will be rewinding, reworking and reviewing every single game-play with a view to learning and gaining from the analysis ahead of the next leg.
The B&G Navigators’ Prize for the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 will be awarded to the Navigator who has made the most effective use of meteorological, oceanographic and geographical information to gain distance on the majority of the fleet, as voted for by the seven competing Navigators themselves.
There's $1000 on offer for the winner of the B&G Navigators' Prize for each leg of the race and $5000 for the overall winner, to be presented at the end of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15, next June.
B&G will be announcing who has won the prize for Leg One at the end of this week, but here's a revealing (and somewhat poignant) little taster of opinion so far from Nicolas Lunven and Wouter Verbraak.
To read the rest of this commentary and the views of two of the navigators
click here
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