VOR: Brunel leads the fleet out of Newport to begin Leg 9 to Cardiff

NEWPORT, RI (#1018) – The Dutch team, led by eight-time race veteran Bouwe Bekking (NED), has been on a tear over the last two months of the race and is attempting to muscle its way from a podium position into a battle for the overall race lead. Leg 9 is a 3,300 nautical mile transatlantic race and the third and final double-point scoring leg. The results on this leg will go a long way to determining overall finishing position in this edition of the race.“We know we have to beat the red boats,” said Bekking before the start, referring to overall race leader MAPFRE and Dongfeng Race Team, who hold second place. “Ideally we would win the leg and they would finish sixth and seventh, but we can’t control that part. All we can do is sail our best and work to get a good result. ”Sunday dawned with a thick fog cloaking the Fort Adams race village and start area. In the lead up to race time, the fog would recede and come back, before finally burning off just in time for the race start. –Excerpt from the VOR news release written by Peter Rusch after today's Leg 9 start in Newport, RI.

Read the full release VOR here.

Watch a brief Facebook Live video from this afternoon taken by your Ed. at Newport's iconic Castle Hill as the seven yachts passed out of Narragansett Bay and into the Rhode Island Sound here.

Nice crowd at the Volvo Ocean Race Village hosted by Sail Newport at Fort Adams for the 1400 race start Sunday afternoon.

Two of the more famous faces in the Newport crowd this weekend, bothers Olaf (left) and Peter Harken (USA) with Olaf's daughter Heather Trudy Harken Evans at Castle Hill Sunday afternoon.