Intro:

Portuguese footballing great Luis Figo made an honourary appearance on-board the Abu Dhabi sail boat on Sunday (10th June) during the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race to Lorient.

The leg is expected to take around six days to complete, with the winning team predicted to arrive in north-western France on Saturday June 16.

Script:

The battle for victory in the closest Volvo Ocean Race ever resumed on Sunday, with PUMA leading the fleet out towards the Atlantic on the critical Leg 8 race to Lorient, France that has a looming storm front with the potential to make or break the boats.

After a short inshore course on Lisbon's Tagus River, the fleet of six started the 1,940 nautical mile race.

While Leg 8 is the shortest of the race yet, it will by no means be easy sailing as the teams negotiate the light conditions of the Azores High before confronting a potentially gale force low-pressure system in the North Atlantic, with no margin for error.

With much of Europe buzzing over the opening weekend of Euro 2012, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing hosted Portuguese footballing great Luis Figo on-board their boat "Azzam" to start the race.

The former FIFA World Player of the Year and Real Madrid star completed the inshore course and then jumped into the Tagus River before getting a ride back to the docks from the team chase boat.

Groupama remain at the top of the overall race leaderboard having won Saturday's In-Port Race, but they hold just an eight-point buffer over second-placed Team Telefonica, making their position anything but secure.

Only four scoring events remain with two offshore legs and two In-Port races in Lorient, France and Galway, Ireland, where the race concludes on July 7. The offshore legs are worth 30 points each for victory.