Volvo Ocean Race: Fleet evenly spread after leaving Hong Kong on Leg 6
by Volvo Ocean Race and Sail-World.com/nz 7 Feb 05:16 GMT
7 February 2018
Leg 6 to Auckland, day 00 on board Brunel. 07 February, . Peter Burling © Yann Riou / Volvo Ocean Race
Leg 6 is underway with team AkzoNobel leading SHK/Scallywag and Brunel across the Hong Kong starting line. The race began at 0300UTC or 1100hrs local time.
It was team AkzoNobel and SHK/Scallywag who were first across the start line on Wednesday morning in Hong Kong, as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet start Leg 6 to Auckland, New Zealand.
Conditions were good, with a light to moderate 7-10 knot easterly, making for an upwind start and short beat out the channel before the fleet reached open water.
The Volvo Ocean Race tracker is now live - and will remain live for the first 24 hours of the race Live Tracker
Only six of the seven strong fleet is competing on the Leg with Vestas 11th Hour set to be the first into New Zealand waters as deck cargo after a collision just before the finish of Leg 4, damaging her bow. She has scored zero points for Leg 4 and Leg 6 plus the In-Port plus drops a further point for not making an appearance in mainland China.
In the local derby, America's Cup winner and Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Peter Burling on Team Brunel leads fellow America's Cup winner and Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist, Blair Tuke on MAPFRE by 0.6nm. MAPFRE is the currently race leader and lies in fifth place on the water.
If you missed the start here's the replay: