# 2017–2018 Volvo Ocean Race

The 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race was the 13th edition of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race. It started in Alicante, Spain, and concluded in The Hague, Netherlands. GAC Pindar provides logistic support for the race. At the stopovers, teams had premium bases for better fan interaction.
Volvo made a number of changes to this edition. Sailors were able to provide social media updates, new male/female ratios were introduced, Onboard Reporters rotated between teams, a new scoring system was used, the yachts were upgraded with Hydro generators for back-up power and all teams sailed the 2017 Fastnet Race.
During Leg 7 of the race, John Fisher, 47, a British citizen who lived in Adelaide, was swept overboard from Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and lost at sea 1400 miles west of Cape Horn.

## Yachts

For the second edition running, the race was one-design, racing the Volvo Ocean 65. The VO65 was designed by Farr Yacht Design to be a cheaper and safer alternative to the ageing and expensive Volvo Open 70.
All Volvo 65's have undergone repairs and refits by The Boatyard. This ensured that all the yachts are the same. The estimated cost of the refit was 1 million euros per boat.

## Participants

Despite an eighth boat being produced for this edition, only seven teams participated, as in the previous edition:
| Team | Skipper |
| Team AkzoNobel | Simeon Tienpont |
| Dongfeng Race Team | Charles Caudrelier |
| MAPFRE | Xabi Fernández |
| Vestas 11th Hour Racing | Charlie Enright |
| Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag | David Witt |
| Turn the Tide on Plastic | Dee Caffari |
| Team Brunel | Bouwe Bekking |
* ^1 — Skipper Simeon Tienpont was released from Team AkzoNobel on 13 October, one day before the first in-port race, and replaced by Brad Jackson. Two hours before the start of leg 1, Tienpont was re-instated by an arbitration panel.

## Route

The full route for this edition was announced in June 2016, with the announcement of the addition of Melbourne in January 2017.
This edition of the race included "Leg 0", a set of 4 offshore races to help generate interest. They included the 2017 Round the Island Race, and the 2017 Fastnet Race.
| Event | Start date | Finish date | Start | Finish | Distance |
| In-Port Race | 14 October 2017 | 14 October 2017 | Alicante | Alicante | Alicante |
| Leg 1 | 22 October 2017 | 28 October | Alicante | Lisbon | 1,650 nm |
| In-Port Race | 3 November 2017 | 3 November 2017 | Lisbon | Lisbon | Lisbon |
| Leg 2 | 5 November 2017 | 24 November | Lisbon | Cape Town | 7,000 nm |
| In-Port Race | 8 December 2017 | 8 December 2017 | Cape Town | Cape Town | Cape Town |
| Leg 3 | 10 December 2017 | 27 December | Cape Town | Melbourne | 6,500 nm |
| Leg 4 | 2 January 2018 | 19 January | Melbourne | Hong Kong | 6,000 nm |
| In-Port Race | 27 & 28 January 2018 | 27 & 28 January 2018 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| Leg 5 (non-scoring) | 1 February 2018 | 1 February 2018 | Hong Kong | Guangzhou | 100 nm |
| In-Port Race | 3 February 2018 | 3 February 2018 | Guangzhou | Guangzhou | Guangzhou |
| Leg 5 (non-scoring) | 5 February 2018 | 5 February 2018 | Guangzhou | Hong Kong | 100 nm |
| Leg 6 | 7 February 2018 | 27 February 2018 | Hong Kong | Auckland | 5,600 nm |
| In-Port Race | 10 March 2018 | 10 March 2018 | Auckland | Auckland | Auckland |
| Leg 7 | 18 March 2018 | 3 April 2018 | Auckland | Itajaí | 7,500 nm |
| In-Port Race | 20 April 2018 | 20 April 2018 | Itajaí | Itajaí | Itajaí |
| Leg 8 | 22 April 2018 | 8 May 2018 | Itajaí | Newport | 5,500 nm |
| In-Port Race | 19 May 2018 | 19 May 2018 | Newport | Newport | Newport |
| Leg 9 | 20 May 2018 | 29 May 2018 | Newport | Cardiff | 3,300 nm |
| In-Port Race | 8 June 2018 | 8 June 2018 | Cardiff | Cardiff | Cardiff |
| Leg 10 | 10 June 2018 | 14 June 2018 | Cardiff | Gothenburg | 1,230 nm |
| In-Port Race | 17 June 2018 | 17 June 2018 | Gothenburg | Gothenburg | Gothenburg |
| Leg 11 | 21 June 2018 | 24 June 2018 | Gothenburg | The Hague | 520 nm |
| In-Port Race | 30 June 2018 | 30 June 2018 | The Hague | The Hague | The Hague |
Notes (134 sailing days for race winners and 10 In-port racing days):

## Results

As opposed to the previous edition, scoring was based on a high-points system, with the winner of every leg scoring one bonus point (7+1 bonus point for a win, 6 for second, 5 for third, etc.). The two Southern Ocean legs – from Cape Town to Melbourne, and Auckland to Itajaí, plus the North Atlantic leg near the end of the race, Newport to Cardiff – all scored double points. There was a bonus point for the first team to round Cape Horn in a nod to the historic significance of this turning point in the race. A further bonus point was awarded for the team with the best total elapsed time overall in the race. The In-Port Series didn't count in the overall points but remained the tiebreaker should teams be tied on points at the finish in The Hague.

### Overall Leg standings

| | Leg 1 | Leg 2 | Leg 3 | Leg 4 | Leg 5 | Leg 6 | Leg 7 | Leg 8 | Leg 9 | Leg 10 | Leg 11 | Bonus | Total |
| Dongfeng | 5 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 4 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 73 |
| MAPFRE | 6 | 7 | 14 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 70 |
| Team Brunel | 2 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 69 |
| AkzoNobel | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 59 |
| Vestas 11th Hour | 7 | 5 | 10 | Ret | DNS | DNS | Ret | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 39 |
| Turn the Tide on Plastic | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | 32 |
| Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 6 | Ret | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 32 |
| Source: ||||||||||||||
* ^2 — Retired from leg after damage sustained from collision with commercial fishing vessel approximately 30 miles from the finish in Hong Kong. The collision resulted in the loss of the fishing vessel and the fatality of one of the crew members several hours later in a local hospital. Vestas 11th Hour Racing issued a Mayday distress call on behalf of the other vessel and undertook a search and rescue mission immediately following the incident.
* ^3 — 1 point for leg win, 1 point for elapsed time.
* ^4 — 3 points for leg win, 1 point for first around Cape Horn.

### In-port series

| | Ali | Lis | CT | HK | Gzu | Auc | Ita | NP | Car | Got | DH | Total |
| MAPFRE | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 64 |
| Dongfeng | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 56 |
| Team Brunel | 4 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 50 |
| AkzoNobel | 2 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 50 |
| Vestas 11th Hour | 5 | 3 | 4 | DNS | DNS | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 35 |
| Turn the Tide on Plastic | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 25 |
| Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | DNS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 25 |
| Source: |||||||||||||

## Overall Results

| Pos | Sail Number | Yacht | Country | Yacht Type | LOA (Metres) | Skipper | Points |
| 1 | CHN 1969 | Dongfeng Race Team | China | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Charles Caudrelier | 73 |
| 2 | ESP 1 | MAPFRE | Spain | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Xabier Fernández | 70 |
| 3 | NED 8 | Team Brunel | Netherlands | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Bouwe Bekking | 69 |
| 4 | NED 65 | Team AkzoNobel | Netherlands | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Simeon Tienpont | 59 |
| 5 | USA 11 | Vestas 11th Hour Racing | United States Denmark | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Charlie Enright | 39 |
| 6 | UN 65 | Turn the Tide on Plastic | United Nations | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | Dee Caffari | 32 |
| 7 | HKG 65 | Team Sun Hung Kai-Scallywag | Hong Kong | Farr Volvo Ocean 65 | 20.37 | David Witt | 32 |
| References: ||||||||