Marcus Ashley Jones / Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag

gender Male
Antonio: Finally, with the sunset the wind is here. Last 70 miles will be fast. A bit afraid because Dongfeng and MAPFRE are catching up very fast. They're now 6 miles behind. Stacking aft below. Crew in the moonlight. Lights on shore. Marcus: If we can keep this up, a few more hours of downwind sailing. Maybe slide past the guys in front. Got a jump on the guys behind us. Still gunning for that top spot at the moment. Witty on the helm in the moonlight. Near broach. "Ease, ease, ease! Mainsheet! Mainsheet!" Sailing fast. Fish recaps: Cloud line came through earlier; Akzo got it first and extended a little. They've managed to hold off TTToP, MAPFRE, and Dongfeng. Just trying to challenge Akzo for the win. Libby at the nav station. "It's all action here. 30 miles to the finish. It's all on in the last miles."They sail in light wind very close to some rocks. Alex, trimming: "I think we should get closer to these rocks." Talks about how the whole fleet is right here. Trying to eke out any advanage. Marcus, on the helm, points out possible new breeze line. Witty from the foredeck: "085, mate; 085!" Marcus jokes about needing to avoid having the rock named after them. Witty: "Can't believe Donfeng and MAPFRE are here. No justice in that." Libby and Trystan talk about 5 boats being within a few miles of each other. Great shots of the land. Trystan talks about the boats around them: TTToP, Brunel, MAPFRE, Dongfeng. Witty does play-by-play commentary. "Got some breeze back." 1 mile behind Akzo, 100 miles to go. It's been a tough day. "More than happy to take a second and then run away and hide." Ben on the helm; Witty on the PA: "We have gained one tenth of a mile." Ben talks about how intense it is.Antonio looks through binoculars at AkzoNobel, sailing in light air a quarter-mile ahead of them. AkzoNobel a quarter-mile to leeward. Witty calls for crew to get out of the forepeak and right on the bow. At the nav station: Witty says "238 miles of this rubbish... Wait for the right opportunity. Patience..." Sailing alongsisde Akzo. Alex trimming. Witty: "Just press in the puff." Trystan: "Full on, isn't it? We'll keep changing watch; keep the fresh people going... They just got nudged ahead." Libby, looking at her tablet, calls the angle on the other tack. Tacking the MH0; AkzoNobel three-quarters of a mile ahead of them. Antonio: Tight to the end. Libby looking through binoculars: "Pretty patchy out where Dee is." Libby explains that they got too focused on Akzo, maybe, and didn't pay enough attention to TTToP. Marcus discusses whether they'll be able to stay ahead of TTToP. 100 miles to go. "Not having a meltdown just yet." Shot of TTToP on the horizon.Sailing in light air in the moonlight. Witty at the nav station talks about how anything could happen. "It is entertaining and it keeps us all awake." Sunrise: We see AkzoNobel on the horizon. Crew talks about how it's insane that they're a mile away. "We've been further away in in-port races." Trystan on the helm talks about the competition. "It's all on." Shot of the land as they sail quietly past. Marcus: Almost there. "Cool sunrise." Annemieke on the foredeck points out AkzoNobel. "21 days of sailing, and you're in a match-race battle... Can't be more beautiful." Shots of AkzoNobel drifting a mile away. Witty trimming witih New Zealand shore behind him. Quiet, intense sailing.Marcus, on the helm, talks about going into stealth mode. Hasn't really paid off. Libby at the nav station: Akzo's always been in better pressure, so they've been okay. Marcus: Next passing lane's the top of Auckland. Akzo is arriving an hour before them, tide against them and lighter wind. So a chance to catch them there. Antonio: All well-rested. A lot of peeling, sail changes, at the end of the leg. Alex will be full-on. Alex: We'll have Akzo on our bow and Turn the Tide on our stern. Trystan: It's gonna be carnage, I think. Witty: Seriously, I don't really care any more. I just want to get in. Horrible... Boring... leg. Wonder what they're doing on Brunel. Measuring their fingernails. Let's just get to the finish. Hopefully we can pull a rabbit out of our hat, a lizard out of the drain, a dolphin out of the sea, and get ahead of AkzoNobel. Annamieke, trimming, waves to the camera as Witty grinds the runner.Crew goofing: "Ooooh! Let's go sailing." Sailing on port in stronger wind. Outrigger. Alex, Marcus smiling. Libby at the nav station. Pressure to the south. The more they can hook into that, the better. Trystan puts on foulies; talks about it being nice that they're dry again. Slomo shots of them sailing fast. Spray. Libby talks about trying to pass Akzo. Trystan lies in his bunk. Four days to go. Alex, above him, says it's three. "Last day doesn't count." Annemieke steers in goggles. Slomo spray coming over the bow.Glassy conditions. Sunrise. Ben cranks the runner. Annemieke on the helm. Flopping. Sailing in rain. Marcus on the bow talks about a bad sched, and TTToP slipped through. And Brunel had a breeze from the east. Still in touch with everyone. A long way to go; can't get too hung up in the emotions of one sched. Pole shots. Trystan stands on the boom looking ahead. Libby and Witty talk about "dot to dot." Witty: I'm going to the bow; I've heard enough. On the bow, he talks about the luck of the draw. Sounds discouraged. Pole shot of the keel underwater. Instruments.AkzoNobel a mile away to weather and slightly ahead. Marcus, on the helm, talks about 6 or 7 days of light conditions and a "dingdong battle with Nicho". Good to have another boat next to them. (Interesting that he refers to it as a battle with Nicho. Do they have history, maybe?) Alex looks at AkzoNobel through binoculars. Talks about being enemies. Antonio talks about seeing them every day - hopefully seeing them every day. More shots of AkzoiNobel.Slomo spray. Looking up the slot. Annemieke trimming in goggles. Ben makes the shaka sign. Ben talks with Marcus about them doing well strategically, for a change. Fish steering. Talks about the importance of the every-6-hours sched. In about 10 minutes time. Fisheye lense views of the cockpit. Witty at the nav station. He gives the sched via the PA. They've gained 20 miles on the leader; just 20 miles behind. Below, he eats. His favorite meal is probably the been stroganoff. More shots of spray as they sail fast on starboard. Below, Witty reads a new sched over the PA: They're now 6 miles in front. "Patience is a virtue." Witty talks with Marcus about the strategic situation. "Keep it rolling." Marcus talks about the pictures of clouds on the computer. "I don't know what it means." Witty: "I don't know what it means either... My son had to teach me how to play Minecraft."Drone shot of Scallywag approaching. Washing machine shot from the cabin. Witty with glasses at the nav station. 415 miles to the doldrums. Roll the dice. Would be nice to have a 15-mile lead instead of a 28-mile deficit to Akzo, but it's still going to come down to how they play the doldrums. Slomo washing machine. Antonio eating. "It's been relentless every day... Tough conditions." Looking forward to drying out in the doldrums. Haven't been dry in a weak. Slomo of Witty taking spray in the face on the helm. Closeup of the winch. Marcus talks about how he hasn't been across the equator yet. A little bit nervous. Witty: "King Neptune might be on board but it's not me." Ben grinding. Witty on the helm as they sail fast.Drone shot of Scallywag sailing upwind under the J1 on port tack with an island in the bakcground. Witty on the helm. "I like to be in front, everyone likes to be in front, everyone likes a winner. Long way to go, though." Witty reminisces about racing in the good old days; not with this freeze-dried food. Cocktails. Drone shots. Doubleheading in strong wind. Washing machine. Trystan grinding. Alex on the helm. Slomo of Trystan (I think?) spraying water on his face. Water in the cockpit. Fish getting drenched in the pit. Annemieke wearing ski goggles while trimming. Marcus (maybe?) grinding in slomo. High drone shot looking down.Fish, on the helm, to Witty: "Happy Valentine's Day, David." To the camera: "Happy Valentine's Day to Kirsten, the woman that makes me the man I am, for supporting me with everything I do." Other Valentine's wishes: Witty: his mum, his daughters Piper and Summer, to Abby, and to Lenny. Ben: I don't have one. Next. Marcus: The love of my life, Suzie. Thanks for being amazing, for being awesome, and when I called you up and said can I do the next leg of Volvo in a couple of hours, you just said go for it. So thanks for being awesome. Happy Valentine's Day.Washing machine shot of cockpit. Slomo spray. Marcus, below, talks about how wet the boat is. "I've never seen boats like this. They are just So. Wet. It's epic. It's good fun though. Nonstop spray in your face; no reprieve." Fish, below, talks about fast sailing. Slomo spray on deck. More spray. Annemieke talks about holding on, it's pretty bumpy. Slomo spray washing over Annemieke. Alex at the nav station, with Libby behind him, makes a wrap with a tortilla and something in it. "It's almost like normal food." To Libby: "Cutting the corner again." Witty talks about food, mangoes. Libby talks about how the northern group will get into some lighter winds and they'll be able to close some distance. Shots of nav software. Fish: "It's all to play for. Like we saw in the last leg going the other way." The nav team is pretty happy with where they are and where they're going, and he has every confidence in them.Drone shots of Scallywag sailing upwind on port tack under cloudy skies. Someone on the helm; think that must be Marcus. Antonio, below, talks about being almost in second place. Lost some gauge when clouds passed. But still in the fight. Ben at the mast during a reef. Marcus on the helm. Witty on the helm. Witty and Libby at the nav station. Witty talks about how they're doing fairly well. Libby is talking in the headset (to the cockpit, I assume) giving real-time updates on how they're doing vs. a competitor on AIS (I think). Drone shot circling them with a competitor in the distance. Drone shot overtaking Scallywag from astern with MAPFRE and Dongfeng a half mile ahead and only a few boatlenghts apart. Shot from on deck of Dongfeng and MAPFRE dueling ahead of them. Trystan, sitting on the stack forward in light, sloppy conditions, talks about the wind changes and trying to use the boats ahead of them to figure out what to do to gain in the transition. Shot of instruments as they sail in stronger wind. Shot of John Fisher grinding with Brunel to leeward of them. Circling drone shot showing MAPFRE to leeward of them.Libby, wearing a GoPro (that really is a Garmin) in the prestart: "20 to burn; 1:10 to go." Witty, on the helm on the final approach to the line: "Deploy the MH0 guys! When you're ready deploy the MH0. Go, go!" Libby: "No burn time." We see the MH0 deploy. Libby: "No burn time; we're late." Close action as they're tacking out. Witty: "Nice to wn the start in our home town." Tacking out with other boats close. Slomo grinding. New crewmember Marcus talks excitedly about the good start. Marcus, grinding: "I"m still feeling it. Didn't get much sleep on the plane, so I'll be looking forward to getting a bit of sleep tonight. I doubt it though." He laughs. Libby on the LIbby-cam: "J1 on the next tack." António smiles in slomo. Witty steers.