Leg 03
Abu Dhabi - Sanya

Team SCA crossed the finish line in Sanya, China at 12:41:45 UTC on 27^th January 2015. The team reflected on their performance on this leg:

“Well, in my eyes, I have really seen us develop as a team and everyone together has contributed to some really good improvements in various areas. We were pleased to be able to stick in sight of the other boats for longer than ever before and feel that, thanks to this contact with the fleet, we have managed to improve our boat speed in some modes of sail.”

“We know that we still need to improve, but we feel that even in the second half of the leg we moved forward and we are confident that we can keep gaining on our performance in Leg Four. There is a sense of impatience to go out there again and see what we can do,” commented Sam Davies, skipper.

Watch Captain Carolijn Brouwer added: “Overall the feeling is good. We have managed to keep the margin smaller. All the fleet will finish within the same day, the same 24 hours. And for the first half, the first 12 days, we hung in there and always had a boat on AIS and we enjoyed that racing, we hold on to that and it is promising for us. We will finish within 20 hours of Dongfeng and that is different to the two previous legs. We have done better, things have improved.”

“But we made mistakes and there are a lot of lessons we have learned and we are looking forward to the finish and the break, but we are very keen and motivated to get out there again and keep pushing and learning.” 

Sam concluded: “This leg was also a leg of discovery for the whole crew as none of us has ever sailed in these waters. As we had heard all the horror stories about the Malacca Straits and Vietnam coast, we were well prepared to handle all the challenges thrown at us and never compromised the performance. We enjoyed sailing through the tricky areas, with tides, obstacles and transitions. It was tough from Sumatra onwards for us as our timing left us in lighter winds than the others and we saw them sail away a bit, but again, we never let this discourage us.”

“I feel like as a team we are becoming stronger and this in turn is bringing out the best in each crew member. Despite the relative ‘easy’ conditions on this leg, it feels like everyone has given it more than 100%.”