Local heroes CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand stormed to victory in front of tens of thousands of ecstatic home fans in the Auckland In-Port Race on Saturday, giving them a first Volvo Ocean Race victory and ‘flicking a switch’ on their campaign.

Chris Nicholson’s men produced a dominant performance on the waters of Waitemata Harbour, taking the lead on the sprint to the first mark thanks to their decision to tack way out to shore and out of the strongest current, and then refusing to let go.

Fifty-four seconds after they heard the gun – and huge cheers from the crowd — PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG crossed the line in second place ahead of Groupama sailing team following a terrific battle for the podium positions.

Behind them, Auckland-born skipper Mike Sanderson was also celebrating as Team Sanya finished the race in fourth, having out-manoeuvred Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in fifth and overall race leaders Team Telefónica in sixth.

Tens of thousands of people lined Auckland’s shoreline and packed hundreds of spectator boats to watch Auckland’s first Volvo Ocean Race action in 10 years – and a win for CAMPER, the Spanish-sponsored team who count Auckland as one of their two home ports, made the day all the more special.

“The one thing we said all week is how do we thank everyone who has supported us and I hope this goes a long way to doing it,” said CAMPER’s Australian skipper Chris Nicholson as his team moved back to within 18 points of the leaders. “It’s been a huge week of support and it’s helped.

“Now we’ve flicked the switch and we want this on the next leg.”

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG got off to a flying start leading the boats over the line in 15-20 knots of easterly breeze but by the first turning mark CAMPER had snuck in front.

Groupama moved up into second but PUMA clawed their way back on the second upwind leg, overtaking Franck Cammas’ men to claim second and bank a vital five points.

“It was a lot of fun,” said PUMA skipper Ken Read. “We had a good start but CAMPER got the first shift and that’s all they needed.”

With Telefónica picking up just one point for sixth place, their stronghold on the overall leaderboard weakened.

“We had a pretty bad race,” said Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez. “We didn’t sail well, so it was a headache for us. It was pretty difficult. We didn’t have much room to play with out there.”

Groupama moved to within 15 points of the overall leaders as they took home four points from the in-port race.

“Third is not so bad,” said Cammas. “We had a problem with the keel which lost us the 20-second advantage which we had over PUMA and PUMA took advantage well to overtake us. But apart from that we are happy with the race.”

Team Sanya scored their best result since the Iberdrola In-Port Race in Alicante, the first competitive racing of the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race.

“That was awesome,” said Sanya’s local boy Sanderson. “We’re just so stoked to be in the race but that was one step better because we had a couple of boats behind us.”

The fleet now faces its biggest challenge yet when they set sail from Auckland at 1400 local time on Sunday – the Southern Ocean.

The 6,705 nautical mile sprint around Cape Horn and on to Itajaí in Brazil will see the teams dodging icebergs and huge storms.

“The Southern Ocean is a fearsome place and deserves a great deal of respect,” said Telefónica watch captain Neal McDonald. “Climbing Everest is not particularly risk free or glamorous but people want to do it for the challenge and it’s the same with the Southern Ocean.”

Waves of 12 metres and winds of up to 60 knots are forecast and teams will use night-vision goggles to try to spot icebergs at night.

Three new sailors join the fleet for Leg 5. Anthony Nossiter from Australia is joining Abu Dhabi to replace the outgoing trimmer/helmsman Justin Ferris, Finnish Olympic gold medal winner Thomas Johanson takes over for the leg from injured Kelvin Harrap on PUMA and Danish Olympic gold medallist Martin Kirketerp steps up for Leg 5 on Sanya for Ryan Houston who picked up a kidney infection.

The Leg 5 start will be broadcast live from 1400 local time (0100 UTC) on Sunday. The leg should take the fleet around 17 days to complete.

Watch the action live at www.volvooceanrace.com or at the race’s Livestream page HERE. Coverage starts 15 minutes prior to the leg start.

Auckland In-Port Race results:

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (60min 38sec) 6pts
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (+0:54) 5pts
Groupama sailing team (+1:26) 4pts
Team Sanya (+2:20) 3pts
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (+2:52) 2 pts
Team Telefónica (+3:27) 1 pts

 

 

Share on Facebook

 

 

The final outcome of Leg 4 from China to New Zealand remained far from certain today as the fleet set up to round the island of New Caledonia while a complex and rapidly changing weather scenario raised prospects of a leaderboard shuffle on the final approach to Auckland.

The even spilt in the fleet which has prevailed for the past week began to diminish today as the leading pair, Groupama sailing team and PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG tried to translate their easterly separation into genuine distance ahead and Telefónica and CAMPER finally abandoned the west.

The fleet look most likely to round the 300 mile long land mass to the west before heading for Auckland and to avoid the huge wind shadow thrown by its mountainous terrain the teams will need to push well south before making the left turn.

Also driving the teams’ headlong rush to the south is a light wind zone developing close behind the fleet threatening to compress the standings if it overruns the fleet.

For Mike Sanderson’s six placed older generation boat Team Sanya, the unpredictable conditions could mean a chance to beat at least one of the new boats to Auckland — a scalp which Sanderson says the Sanya crew justly deserve.

“I think there are plenty of opportunities,” he said. “We are being chased down by light airs behind us so the whole fleet is racing south to try and escape its clutches. We are only just hanging on by the skin of our teeth.

“Until the Solomons we were pretty pleased how we were staying with the fleet,” he said. “Obviously Telefónica is on the march that’s for sure but in relation to CAMPER and Abu Dhabi we are in pretty similar shape as to when the fleet rotated south more than 2,500 miles ago.

“So we are quite pleased with ourselves over that. It’s been a great performance and the guys have done an awesome job of sailing the boat.

“In the back of my mind I really feel like we deserve to beat someone on this leg so I certainly hope that from New Caledonia to New Zealand can be our turn,” Sanderson concluded.

The battle royale for fourth place between Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing continued to be close despite the huge lateral separation between the teams.

“We are in there with those guys (Abu Dhabi) and to an extent PUMA trying to get south at the moment,” said CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson today.

“We have got a huge separation east west on them and at the moment the way forward for us out in the west looks OK — but we are looking at it changing hourly.”

At 1300 UTC Abu Dhabi were ahead by just 0.2 nautical miles (nm) after CAMPER and Telefónica both tacked towards the east as their breeze dropped below 10 knots, prompting second placed PUMA to follow suit.

Nicholson cautioned that the potential effect of New Caledonia on the prevailing easterly wind should not be taken lightly.

“The land shadow will be big,” he said. “It’s amazing the effect these mountains have on the breeze in this part of the world. We went under an island yesterday and we were 60 miles away and we felt the wind shadow from that very hard on us. So we will be careful of that and continue on our journey south.”

Nicholson said he was keeping a very open mind about the final section from New Caledonia to Auckland where he reckoned absolutely anything could happen.

There’s opportunities here I think for every team at the moment — and that ranges between a first or a last in this leg,” he said. “Certainly nothing can be taken for granted at the moment.”

On Abu Dhabi Ian Walker admitted frustration over so far not getting the advantage he had anticipated after fighting for eastern leverage and losing ground to third placed overall race leaders, Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica.

“It’s tough,” he said. “We are not making the gain in the east we might have expected and Telefónica seems to be moving forward.

“I think we are quite close with CAMPER and still ahead of Sanya so I hope our easterly position pays. Maybe the leaders will slow down in lighter winds towards the finish and maybe the whole fleet will compress.

“We will see — I guess Groupama will be hoping nothing changes,” he added.

Meanwhile, on Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team the long time leg leaders were trying to laugh off some of the more nightmarish scenarios their routing software threw up.

“When running the routing for the top three boats, you can see that the first one is still largely ahead with 500 miles to go till the finish,” said Media Crew Member (MCM) Yann Riou.

“Then it gets caught up in a windless zone which it can’t get out of whilst two pursuers calmly go around the zone and end up with a lead of 11 hours.

“Of course this routing, which almost had us laughing, shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It was a very special situation which the software had problems getting a handle on — the whole thing was based on GRIB files with a fairly weak percentage of confidence involved.

“But I suppose it goes some way to showing what we could be in store for at the end of the week.” Riou concluded.

With 1,400 nm still to go on Leg 4 the leading boats are currently expected to reach Auckland on the morning of March 10.kedown.”

05/03/2012 13:02:59 UTC
                          DTL         DTLC BS DTF
1   GPMA 0.00  0 11.3 1372.3
2   PUMA 70.10  16 7.3 1442.4
3   TELE 114.60  8 8.9 1486.9
4   ADOR 151.50  4 10.2 1523.8
5   CMPR 151.70  10 9.5 1524.0
6   SNYA 235.00  3 11.7 1607.3

Share on Facebook

The very northerly course adopted by the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is somewhat surprising! Still in the wake of the New Zealanders, Groupama 4 is not closing on the goal: over 100° from the usual heading and 300 miles above the direct route… However, there’s no other way out just now: you have to gain ground to the North-East to latch back onto the normal monsoon system.

“We’re in a state of uncertainty because the weather models aren’t very clear! As such we’re having to make do with the wind we have. This Thursday morning for example, we’ve had 25-30 knots of south-westerly wind, which wasn’t forecast at all. It’s very complicated to form a strategy as it’s likely that the island of Taiwan, which has some sizeable land masses, has severely disrupted the monsoon. As such there is very little isobaric gradient right the way around. Gradually, between now and Friday evening, we’re going to shift our course round towards New Zealand, but prior to that, we’ll have to link back up with a steady air flow. We are beneath the tropics and fortunately the skies are overcast, which isn’t unpleasant as it’s very hot. However, we’re making the most of it to recover from the fatigue of the South China Sea, because it was very difficult to sleep with messy waves since we left Sanya,” explained Charles Caudrelier at noon this Thursday.

Letters from Iwo Jima

It’s towards this island lost in the middle of the North Pacific that the bows are currently heading: Iwo Jima was one of the last points of entrenchment of the Empire of the Rising Sun’s army back in February 1945 when battling against the American armada. This confetti of Japanese islands marks the western limit of the anticyclone responsible for dishing out easterly tradewinds… For the time being, it’s the islands of Ishigaki which the fleet will have to negotiate, followed by the Okinawa archipelago, which is sure to mark the breaking point in this rather atypical course. As such, there are still nearly 300 miles to go with the wind on the nose for Franck Cammas and his men. Groupama 4, which has really cut a dash through the tricky passage to the South of Taiwan, is managing to keep up with the steady pace set by Camper, which is the true leader given the route imposed by the weather.

“There was a lot of current in the South China Sea and I dread to think what it must be like when there’s 40 knots of wind! Right now, we’re not doing too badly as the boat hasn’t suffered any damage and we’re happy with our positioning as we prepare to launch into a long session of reaching in 24 to 30 hours’ time. Right now, to the great despair of our New Zealanders onboard, we’re distancing ourselves from Auckland… However, there’s no way out from the direct route which passes close to the Philippines as there’s very little wind in this zone: as such our goal is to latch onto the easterly tradewinds which are blowing a long way offshore of Taiwan and for now we’re still on a beat to the North-East on starboard tack.”

No man’s sea…

Around the Luzon Strait the situation is very complicated as the light southerly airs aren’t managing to hold their own, transforming the direct course into a no-through road. The Spanish tried to close on it last night, but quickly understood that this solitary option was going to hit a wall. Their move to reposition themselves in the North caused them to cross paths with the Americans, who have really made a great comeback after their delayed departure from China. However, just ten miles shy of Sanya and Abu Dhabi, Telefonica and Puma got trapped by a windless zone for a good hour. Ken Read managed to hotfoot it North but Iker Martinez took a lot longer to extract himself from the resulting gloop! As such nobody’s going to tempt fate with a course near the Philippines now so the routing is taking the crews towards Japan instead…

Taiwan has witnessed the fracturing of the fleet then and though the boats are heading roughly the same way, they’re now split into four groups: Camper is sticking to her guns in her position as true leader, very gradually extending her lead in relation to her direct rival, Groupama 4, which is proving to be a little less at ease sailing into the wind, but is still keeping her hand in thanks to her position to windward of the New Zealanders. Abu Dhabi and Sanya (polled as leaders because they’re closer to the finish) are in reality around fifty miles to the South-West of Camper, whilst Puma is continuing to strike out on her own along the coast of the Republic of China, formerly known as Nationalist China, but now commonly referred to as Taiwan. As for Telefonica, she’s in a rather difficult patch which could cost her very dearly for the next stage of the race… As such this is a very important stage of the race being played out this Thursday evening and we’ll have to wait till the weekend to have a clearer idea of the true hierarchy at the end of this Luzon lesson: there’s no Supreme Leader just a guiding line!

Position of the competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race on the fourth leg from Sanya – Auckland at 1600 UTC on 23/02/2012

1. Team Sanya 4,614 miles from the finish
2. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – 3.5 miles astern of the leader
3. Groupama 4 – 11.4 miles astern of the leader
4. Camper – 20.2 miles astern of the leader
5. Telefonica – 40.4 miles astern of the leader
6. Puma – 107.5 miles astern of the leader

Share on Facebook

 

Sea sickness and waves as high as five metres are making life difficult for all six teams on the first day of the second stage of Leg 4 from Sanya, China to Auckland, New Zealand.

Conditions on board have been brutal as the crews struggle to rein in their Volvo Open 70s to avoid teeth-rattling crash landings off the backs of the monster waves left over from several days of gale force winds.

A drifting start in the wind shadow of Sanya’s towering mountains belied the testing weather the crews found themselves in just hours later, after the wind and sea state quickly ramped powering them towards the Strait of Luzon at speeds up to 20 knots.

On Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Media Crew Member (MCM) Nick Dana said the unavoidable and relentless slamming made for a near impossible working environment on board.

“The airdrops we are experiencing off the backs of these sharp waves make it difficult to keep your feet below you let alone a sail or a steering wheel in your hands,” he said.

“We’re currently blasting along at around 18-20 knots with a J4 and reef in.

“Down below looks like a war zone. Several people have been sick already, and the rest just keep swallowing.”

Even Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker, a double Olympic medallist, confessed to feeling the effects of the punishing sea state.

“Today I had a hint of seasickness for the first time ever,” he said. “Fortunately I have kept the freeze dried roast chicken and mashed potato down so far unlike a few others onboard.”

Walker said the Abu Dhabi crew were not relishing the prospect of a fortnight-long battering but were settling into a normal offshore routine of grabbing sleep in between their four hourly watches.

“The snoring has started down below and the guys on deck are finding their rhythm,” he said. “Nobody is really looking forward to a week or two of upwind slog – especially in these waves, but we will cross off the miles and wait for better sailing somewhere further down the line.”

Race organisers split Leg 4 into two stages in order to prevent the fleet encountering conditions considered un-sailable in the South China Sea.

Conditions were light and fickle for the second stage start at 2300 UTC on Sunday (0700 today in Sanya), all but wiping out the effects of the staggered start sequence from the Stage 1 coastal race less than 24 hours previously.

Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team made the best of the early drifting to pick their way past overall race leaders Team Telefónica, skippered by Iker Martínez, and into the lead.

At 1300 UTC today Groupama had a lead of less than two miles over Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, with third and fourth placed Telefónica and Abu Dhabi positioned furthest north just over a mile and a half apart.

The near windless start had given CAMPER an immediate opportunity to sail round round the wallowing early starters.

“We had to wait nine long minutes and 13 arduous seconds as Telefónica, Groupama, Abu Dhabi & Sanya all started before us,” said CAMPER MCM Hamish Hooper.

“As it turned out it became a slight blessing in disguise for us,” he added. “We could see that they were all a bit parked up not long after the start so knew we didn’t want to go the way they did.”

CAMPER leave Sanya still second in the overall standings and Hooper says despite losing points to leaders Telefónica during the Chinese stopover the predominantly Kiwi crew have been re-energised by the prospect of a victorious arrival in New Zealand.

“At times you feel like a block of cheese being rubbed up against a cheese grater, slowly withering you away physically and mentally, but the guys are resilient and focused, and it feels fantastic to finally be heading for home to Auckland.

“Our short-term goal for sure is to be the first out of the Luzon Strait. No need to guess our long-term goal,” Hooper said.

Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, who started almost 40 minutes after Telefónica, were still in sixth at 1300 UTC, 14.5 nm off the lead.

Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya made a tactical break to the south of the main fleet and at 1300 UTC were fifth, 8.4 nm behind Groupama and averaging 11 knots.

The six-boat fleet will take around three days to cross the South China Sea to the Strait of Luzon and are expected to complete the 5,220 nm second stage of Leg 4 to Auckland around March 8.

Share on Facebook

 

 Fierce conditions and the potential for more breakages will be on the minds of all six teams as they gear up for a return to competitive action with the Sanya Haitang Bay In-Port Race on February 18 and the start of Leg 4 to Auckland, New Zealand the next day. Saturday’s in-port starts at 1400 local time (0600 UTC) with near perfect winds and flat seas forecast for the 60 minute inshore course. The predicted conditions for Sunday’s Leg 4 start are in stark contrast with fierce monsoon winds kicking up a punishing sea state likely to give the fleet its toughest test to date as they funnel their way between Taiwan and the Philippine island of Luzon on the way to New Zealand. Race leaders Team Telefónica opted to miss today’s practice race to swap out their rigging after a routine check revealed a problem. The Spanish team’s decision ultimately cost them little in lost training time when light winds forced the abandonment of the practice race. Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez said the team were being cautious because of the forecast of strong winds and the fact that two boats lost their masts during Leg 1. “We want to be super safe,” he said. “We found something that we didn’t like much so we’ve decided to replace the rigging for the next leg, and we have a spare rig here that we’ve used already and we’re very confident with.” Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante is forecasting a monsoon to develop to the north of Taiwan resulting in north easterly winds of between 35 and 40 knots across the South China Sea over the weekend. Infante says Sanya Bay’s protection from the north east monsoon by mountains should mean conditions for the in-port race will be perfect with moderate winds and flat seas. Offshore it will be a very different story when the fleet sets off for Auckland the following day, potentially requiring the teams to resort to survival techniques to protect their boats from the huge waves. “Now only a very small area in the centre of the South China Sea is affected by big waves – from six to eight metres,” he said. “However, as we get closer to the start date, the affected area will grow until by Saturday the whole South China Sea will be affected by this sea state.” Team Telefónica take a 15-point lead over Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand into this weekend’s resumption of racing and will be keen to consolidate this with a repeat of their in-port race winning form in Cape Town before the start of Leg 2. Second placed CAMPER are yet to register a victory but according to team managing director Grant Dalton a strong performance on Saturday is vital if they are to close the gap on Telefónica. “First of all, we have to stop bleeding points inshore,” Dalton said. “We’ve bled enough offshore, we have to stop bleeding them inshore. “If Telefónica keep on going the way they are, we’re not going to beat them, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work that out.” Dalton, who won the race himself in 1981-82 and 1993-94, said the fourth leg to Auckland, which the Spanish-sponsored team counts as one of two bases, was also providing motivation. “Auckland is important for two reasons,” he said. “It’s important because there’s so much history of titanic struggles into Auckland — the last three races I did we were never more than a couple of minutes apart the whole way – and it’s important for some of the guys because they’re coming home. “It’s both pressure and motivation. You’re motivated to sit on the rail for the last two and a half days if you have to.”

Share on Facebook

PUMA skipper Ken Read launched a surprise tactical gamble on Wednesday that could take the Leg 3 fight all the way to the wire, with the American taking his team offshore just as Telefónica led the main fleet towards the coast of Vietnam.

In a calculated risk taken with the team’s need for points in mind, Read defied conventional wisdom by investing in a position around 150 nautical miles to the east of the fleet as the race to Sanya in China enters a fraught final phase.

The move relegated PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG to fifth in the leg standings with less than 800 nautical miles to go as the rest of the leaders headed north towards Vietnam, the more traditional route.

With the other teams preparing for a 35-knot upwind battering, PUMA were banking on kinder winds, less tide and a better sea state to put them in contention for their first leg win. Success in the leg would also see them make vital gains on the overall race leaderboard where they currently lie in fourth place, 35 points behind Telefónica.

“It’s a case of make or break really,” said PUMA helmsman Jonathan Swain. “We’ve seen an opportunity which we can possibly capitalise on so we decided to take it. We were in line with the two leading boats but we decided to take an opportunity and try to win this thing. Looking at the scoreboard right now we had to do something, and here’s the opportunity to do it.

“There’s only three days left, only 800 miles left. We had two possibilities: one going up the coast of Vietnam hard on the wind and against the tide, and the other going further east and coming in to Sanya on a better angle with favourable current. It was a really tough decision to make for the navigator and skipper but this is the course we’ve chosen and so now we’re hoping it pans out for us.”

Swain said it would only be clear whether their move had worked in the dying moments of the leg.

“It’s going to be nail-biting,” he said. “It’s very stressful on board because we’re not seeing gains straight away.”

At the front of the pack, Groupama sailing team continued their persistent hounding of Team Telefónica, which saw them at times get to within one mile of the leaders.

“We were so close to overtaking Telefónica at least three times,” said Groupama helmsman Erwan Israël. “It really was a matter of one metre. This race is of incredible intensity — each metre is crucial. We gave everything.

At 1300 UTC the gap between the leading pair was up to seven nautical miles, but Israël said their fight was far from over.

“Now the game is more open,” he said. “The racecourse is larger and the boats are going in every direction. That’s offshore sailing. We are on the western side and are looking forward to see what happens next.”

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand moved up to third place closing the gap to Telefónica to less than 40nm. Co-skipper Stu Bannatyne said his team, well trained in heavy weather upwind sailing, were waiting for their moment to strike as the finish line neared.

“Hopefully we can just chip away and gain a bit here and there and get close enough for a crack on the final sprint in to the finish in Sanya,” he said.

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing faced a nerve-wracking 48 hours as they sailed into tough conditions akin to those which saw their yacht Azzam dismasted within six hours of the Leg 1 start.

“I would be lying if I said I was not worried about our mast and rigging, but all the signs are that things should be OK,” Walker said. “The big test will be when we go for the heavy weather jib and two reefs in the mainsail for the first time in anger since stepping this spare mast back in December.”

Team Sanya were just over 250nm behind the leg leaders at 1300 UTC having pulled back two nm in the three hours prior to the report.

“We would love to pick off a couple of boats and we are always looking for opportunities back here,” said watch captain Richard Mason. “In reality that would mean a breakdown or gear failure on one of the other boats. This morning we had our bowman up the rig checking all the fittings ahead of the heavy weather. There’s a point at which you stop racing and start surviving and that’s about 35 knots.”

Team Sanya will receive full Leg 3 points when they finish at their home port, as they were unable to take part in Stage 1 because of a rigging problem, while the other five teams who successfully completed the first stage of Leg 3 will receive 80 per cent of the points for completing the second stage.

Report: 01/02/2012 13:03:36 UTC
  DTL DTLC BS DTF
1   TELE 0.00  0 12 665.7
2   GPMA 7.00  0 11.8 672.7
3   CMPR 39.10  0 12.2 704.8
4   ADOR 76.00  0 12.4 741.7
5   PUMA 118.40  4 10.3 784.1
6   SNYA 256.80  2 7.9 922.5

Share on Facebook

 

Team Sanya celebrated Chinese New Year’s Eve by leading a full strength Volvo Ocean Race fleet off the start line on the 3,051-nautical mile Leg 3 second stage from the Maldives to their home port in China.

In hot and humid tropical conditions the fleet got away cleanly on schedule at 0800 UTC on Sunday (1300 local time in the Maldives) with Team Sanya, the first sole Chinese entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, making the early running immediately after the start of their homecoming leg.

Sanya continued to scrap for the lead in the first few hours of sailing with less than half a nautical mile separating the six-boat fleet.

Speaking from the boat in a live video call after the start Chinese crew member Teng Jiang He, otherwise known as Tiger, confirmed that Team Sanya had got away to the best possible start.

“We had a perfect start this morning,” he said. “We were the first boat to cross the start line and we are still in the lead now an hour and a half into the race.”

Tiger is hoping the Year of the Dragon will herald a change in fortune for Sanya, who were forced out of Leg 1 inside the first 24 hours and also suffered rig damage in the first stage of Leg 2. He was hopeful of an arrival in Sanya in time the Lantern Festival in just over two weeks’ time.

“I wish all people in China a great Chinese New Year,” he said. “I also sincerely wish our boat a great prospect in the Year of the Dragon. The Lantern Festival is on February 6 so I hope we can arrive in Sanya before then and have a good celebration before the New Year festival period concludes.”

By 1100 UTC the closely packed fleet continued to track south easterly sailing line abreast on port tack separated by less than three nautical miles from north to south with all six boats working flat out for the lead.

At that time Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG had taken up the most northerly position shadowed by overall race leader Team Telefónica skippered by Iker Martínez.

In the middle of the fleet Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, Team Sanya and Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had formed a close knit bunch, while Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team were pursuing the most southerly route.

The Leg 3 second stage course will see the fleet cross the Bay of Bengal to the north west tip of Sumatra where they will enter the congested waters of the Malacca Strait before eventually turning north east to negotiate strong winds and steep waves in the South China sea on their way to the finish on the island of Sanya.

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson said he expected the fleet to face some extreme conditions after passing Singapore.

“It looks like we are in for a lot of breeze on the way up to China,” he said. “The first 1000 miles isn’t too bad, there’s just the lighter trade winds, they get up to 15 knots at one stage, then we do the Malacca Strait. At the moment I think it looks quite light and quite tricky down there.

“Round the corner to Singapore it looks like we’re in a for quite a rough time all the way to China. It’s the sort of thing that if you can lead out of the Malacca Strait and you keep the pressure on I’d say it would be good. But will be quite boat breaking conditions.”

By 1200 UTC CAMPER had eked out a narrow 0.3 nm lead over PUMA, with Telefónica holding on to third despite being significantly slowed by a breakage their headsail.

“It was a real shame because we were going very well,” commented Media Crew Member Diego Fructuoso. “We’re now working on repairing everything that broke — Jordi (Calafat) and Zane (Gills) on the sail and Ñeti (Antonio Cuervas-Mons) and Pepe (Ribes) on the ropes.

“Now we have to get everything right and start our comeback,” he added.

The boats will take around two weeks to complete Leg 2 with an estimated arrival in Sanya on or around February 6.

Eighty percent of the points for Leg 3 remain up for grabs, after the Stage 1 sprint from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah delivered the other 20 percent to all the teams except for Sanya, who will score full points for this stage*.

* As Sanya were unable to race the first stage of Leg 3, they will score full points for this leg – 30 points for 1st place, 25 for 2nd, 20 for 3rd, 15 for 4th, 10 for 5th, 5 for 6th. The other teams will score points on the following scale – 24 points for 1st, 20 for 2nd, 16 for 3rd, 12 for 4th, 8 for 5th, 4 for 6th.

 

Share on Facebook

 

 

Hometown heroes Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing claimed their second inshore victory on Friday, winning the Etihad Airways In-Port Race in front of thousands of ecstatic local supporters.

Abu Dhabi, who take six points for a dream victory in front of their home fans, were followed by Groupama sailing team in second and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand in the third podium place. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were fourth, followed by overall race leaders Team Telefónica in fifth.

Watch the full Etihad Airways In-Port Race replay in HD on  YouTube .

“We so wanted to win the race so we were prepared to take risks,” said Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker. “We knew if we could win it would be very special for everyone.

“I want to thank everyone here for their support. Everyone has been wishing us luck in the in-port race during the stopover and there were so many people in the village and out on the water cheering us on.

“We’re involved in a nine-month odyssey round the world but today is the most important day for Abu Dhabi. We have never seen this many boats out on the water to watch racing, and there are lots of people out who are new to sailing. Right now all they are seeing is their country flag being waved. It’s a real thrill for that to happen.”

PUMA led the fleet off the start line, but a port and starboard infringement on Telefónica soon after resulted in a penalty turn that cost them dearly. CAMPER made massive gains on the right hand side of the downwind course, but it was home favourites Abu Dhabi who came in from the left to take the lead at the first mark.

Abu Dhabi secured a 30-second jump over the fleet on the first 1.4 nautical mile run, but lost their lead in a port/starboard encounter midway through the second leg when they were forced to dip Groupama’s stern. The close-quarters upwind battle continued, with Abu Dhabi regaining the lead shortly before the second mark.

At the third mark, after just a few minutes reaching, Abu Dhabi led Groupama by 38 seconds, followed by CAMPER, PUMA and Telefónica, who slipped to last after a problematic second mark rounding.

Abu Dhabi’s Azzam consolidated their lead as the fleet started the second lap of the eight-plus mile course in a southerly breeze gusting to around seven knots. The locals held their lead for the remainder of the race, when with fists pumping on board they crossed the line after just under an hour’s racing.

No one was more thrilled than Azzam’s local sailor Adil Khalid, the first Emirati to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race, who waved the flag of the United Arab Emirates as they finished.

“I am so pleased with this win here in Abu Dhabi,” Khalid said. “The stopover has been wonderful and this is a great result for us as a team in our home port.”

A touch of royalty joined the fleet, with His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sheikh Shakhboot bin Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan racing on board Azzam. Prince Andrew, standing beside Walker as Azzam crossed the line, gave the British skipper a congratulatory pat on the back.

Thousands of spectators lined the shores of Abu Dhabi and hundreds more, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, took front row seats on board spectator boats, as the fleet battled the third of 10 in-port races, which account for around 20 per cent of all points.

The more than 4,000 nautical mile Leg 3 race to Sanya will start on Saturday, with the first stage race from Abu Dhabi to a point off the Sharjah coast getting underway at 1400 local time, 1000 UTC/GMT. Early forecasts are tipping fresh north-west winds of 13 to 16 knots inshore, building to 18 to 22 kts offshore.

1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 6 points
2. Groupama sailing team 5
3. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand 4
4. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG 3
5. Team Telefonica 2
6. Team Sanya DNS*

Overall:

1. Team Telefonica 68
2. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand 62
3. Groupama sailing team 47
4. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG 31
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 25
6. Team Sanya 4*

* Team Sanya can still score points for Leg 2 and the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi In-Port Race if they complete Stage 1 in racing conditions.

Share on Facebook