Volvo Ocean Race poised for Sharjah-Abu Dhabi sprint

The five teams sailing in leg two, stage two of the Volvo Ocean Race will scramble for vital points when they reconvene for a 98-nautical mile speed race from Sharjah to Abu Dhabi today (provisional start time 9am UAE). Team Telefónica and Camper will contest the overall victory in a leg split into two parts because of the threat of piracy in the Indian Ocean. The other leg two finishing positions are also up for grabs, with 20 per cent of the points still available after a first stage — raced from Cape Town to an undisclosed safe haven — which ended with a narrow victory for Telefónica. Today's second stage will see the boats sprint from an unloading point off the Sharjah coastline into the race's first Middle Eastern host port at Abu Dhabi. It could be a spectacular race, with forecasts of winds up to 25 knots. The course takes the fleet out from Sharjah before turning for a fast run parallel with the shore. After rounding the final mark, the fleet will power directly towards the finish line at Abu Dhabi. Fantastic reception "This is pretty unusual," said Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker, who is looking forward to racing into the team's home port. "We'll be going for a bit of glory in stage two. They've done a fantastic job here and I'm sure, whatever the result, there'll be a fantastic reception not just for us but for everyone." Overall leaders Telefónica scored 24 points for their first stage victory, against 20 for Camper, 16 for Berg, 12 for Groupama and Abu Dhabi's eight. The winning team today will scoop six points, with five for second, four for third, three for fourth and two for fifth. "It's a day-long race and we'll be thinking about it more or less like an in-port," said Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez. ¨We´ll have to be very focussed.¨ Team Sanya, forced into port at Madagascar to fix a rigging problem, did not make the ship that transported the boats to the UAE and will not sail in stage two, though they can still pick up points assuming they go on to finish leg two, stage one, as is their plan. Organisers expect the boats to arrive at the Abu Dhabi race village between 3pm and 4pm UAE time and fans will be able to track the boats in real time at www.volvooceanrace.com updating every 60 seconds.