Sports | Friday 2 January, 2015 1:36 am |

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (ADOR) - the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) - contesting team backed by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority – resumes competitive action this week as the three-week race stopover in the United Arab Emirates’ capital draws to a close with the In-Port Race, just off the city’s stunning Corniche, on January 2 and the Leg 3 start to Sanya, China on January 3.

ADOR won the race opening leg from Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa and was third on Leg 2 to Abu Dhabi. These back-to-back podium results see the team – led by double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker and including Emirati Olympian Adil Khalid – the only Arab sailor in the round-the-world epic endurance trial – tied for the overall lead with the Chinese and Dutch crews.

After spending the festive break relaxing with their families and enjoying Abu Dhabi’s winter sunshine, the ADOR sailors are raring to get back racing and navigator Simon ‘SiFi’ Fisher said the team’s mood is upbeat.

“Everyone’s had a chance to recuperate from the first two legs and enjoy time with their families,” said the ADOR navigator. “Now they’re enthusiastic to get back to work and into racing again. This is a busy week with a practice race and preparations for the in-port race and leg start.”

Fisher said although the in-port race does not score overall points, the ADOR crew would be sailing flat out to pull off a win to get the home crowd on the Corniche cheering – just like they did in 2012 when he and Walker masterminded a spectacular in-port-winning performance in Abu Dhabi.

“We’re all looking forward to the in-port race because this is our home stopover and we want to put on a good show for our fans here,” he said. “We always get fantastic support in Abu Dhabi and we want to return the favour with a win.”

Fisher says he expects one of two likely local weather scenarios to play out on in-port race day. “Most likely is that we get a local sea breeze generated by the land heating up, producing 10-12 knots of breeze – perfect conditions for yacht racing,” he said. “Alternatively, if we get a shamal – a hot, northwesterly wind from the Arabian Gulf – we could see 18 to 20 knots of wind. Either way, I think we’re in for an exciting day on the water.”

Local hero and sailing poster boy Adil Khalid, who’s competing in his second consecutive VOR in ADOR colours, believes a win in the Abu Dhabi In-Port Race would send the ADOR crew into Leg 3 full of confidence.

“The stopover in Abu Dhabi has been fantastic and I’m very proud of the way the city had showcased what the United Arab Emirates has to offer,” he said. “I remember the noise of the crowds cheering us on in the last in-port race here and we need people to come down and do the same again.”

ADOR will rest Australian trimmer and helmsman Phil Harmer for Leg 3 to allow him more time to recover his strength after injuring his left wrist and contracting a nasty bug on Leg 2. ADOR performance director and five-time VOR veteran Neal McDonald will stand-in for Harmer when ADOR sails its Volvo Ocean 65 yacht Azzam – which means determination - for China.

At 4,670 nautical miles, the passage from Abu Dhabi to Sanya – an island off the Chinese south coast - is the shortest in the race so far. However, Fisher says Leg 3 will be particularly challenging - especially for the navigators.

“It’s a very complex course, with a lot of coastal sailing and thermally driven breezes to deal with,” he said. According to Fisher, the first challenge facing the crews would be extricating themselves from the Arabian Gulf’s light winds and strong currents.

“I think it will be a bit like sailing in the Mediterranean,” he said. “We are all conscious that you can’t win the leg on the first night, but you could lose it. We will be focusing on getting away from Abu Dhabi with the lead group and then staying with that pack as much as possible.”

After that the fleet will hook into northeasterly monsoon winds meaning consistent conditions on the way to the southerly tip of India where another key choice awaits the navigators. “Where we place ourselves in relation to the Indian coast – close in, or offshore – could be the most important decision of the whole leg,” Fisher said.

Then, the fleet must negotiate the light winds and strong currents of the Straits of Malacca and squeeze through the world’s busiest shipping lanes off Singapore, before bumping and banging through a thousand miles of upwind sailing across the South China Sea and along the south coast of Vietnam, before they finally make it to Sanya.

Leg 3 should take a little over three weeks to complete and Fisher said ADOR’s strategy for it would remain the same as for the preceding ones: to sail conservatively, aim for a top three result and avoid a bad result at all costs.