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The 30-year-old Team Alvimedica skipper, a rookie in the nine-month
round-the-world offshore race, learned to sail in Newport and would
love nothing more than to enter the harbor as a winner in the
5,010-nautical mile (nm) stage from Itajai, Brazil. However, there
are still nearly 4,000nm and at least 12 days left to sail through
the Atlantic and his crew were protecting a slender 8.8nm lead over
Chinese pursuers Dongfeng Race Team.
The other boats in the six-strong fleet, including the all-women’s
crew of Team SCA (Sweden), are packed tightly behind Dongfeng with
overall leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing bringing up the rear, but
less than 20nm behind Alvimedica.
Enright’s boat, backed by Turkish sponsors and navigated by
Australian Will Oxley, took a gamble to sail north of the rest of
the fleet which looked to be paying dividends due to slightly higher
wind pressure.
The boats will visit 11 ports in a race that started on Oct. 11 in
Alicante, Spain, and ends on June 27 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Overall standings (after five legs, lowest points wins): 1 Abu Dhabi
Ocean Racing 9 points, 2 Dongfeng Race Team (China) 16, 3 Team
Brunel (Netherlands) 18, 4 Team Alvimedica (U.S./Turkey) 19, 5
MAPFRE (Spain) 20, 6 Team SCA (Sweden) 29.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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