SAILING. VOR2012, Leg 3 Stage 2 Day 14 – Team Telefónica clinched their third victory from three legs in the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday, as less than nine hours separated the top five teams at the finish of the 3,051 nautical mile (nm) second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya in China.

Team Telefonica, Pepe Ribes and Antonio Cuervas-Mons grinding during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Photo © Diego Fructuoso/Team Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race)

Telefónica, the overall race leaders, crossed the line at 03:58:22 UTC, finishing the second stage in 12 days 19 hours 58 minutes 21 seconds to take 24 points and become the first boat since Peter Blake's Steinlager 2 in 1989-90 to sweep the first three legs.

Groupama sailing team came in second, giving them 20 points, while CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand took the third podium place and 16 points.

PUMA Ocean Racing picked up 12 points for fourth, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing coming in fifth and taking eight points.

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, skippered by Ken Read from the USA finishes fourth on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Abu Dhabi, UAE, to Sanya, China. (Photo © PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race)

Telefónica navigator Andrew Cape said the second stage of Leg 3 had been full of challenges and one of the most difficult he had ever experienced.

“It’s one of the toughest legs I’ve done,” he said. “Mentally it was very difficult, tactically very difficult. Physically it wasn’t as tough as a long southern ocean leg but mentally it was really hard."

“I’m feeling really exhausted and I just want to have a beer.”

Team Telefonica, skippered by Iker Martinez from Spain celebrate on stage as they finish first on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 from Abu Dhabi, UAE, to Sanya, China. (Photo © IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race)

Telefónica’s third consecutive leg win extended their overall lead to 15 points over Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER.

Franck Cammas’ Groupama, who crossed the line at 05:45:25 UTC after 12 days 21 hours 45 minutes 24 seconds at sea, remain third overall but are now within nine points of CAMPER.

Cammas said the final part of the second stage of the leg had been punishing for the French crew.

“We had many manoeuvres all the time. In the last 48 hours we did 24 tacks and each tack on a Volvo Open 70 is very hard. All the crew have to be awake.

“The fight was very good with the others. I think Telefónica is very fast in these conditions, so all the time they gain a little bit in distance because of their speed.

“It was a good opportunity to test our boat with Telefónica and the leading boats. We improved a lot in the tuning of Groupama so it was very good for us.”

CAMPER finished at 07:28:24 UTC with an elapsed time of 12 days 23 hours 28 minutes 23 seconds.

Skipper Chris Nicholson confessed to being disappointed with third place after a tactical call in the Malacca Strait saw them lose touch with the leaders.

“We thought and expected to do better than third to be honest but it’s a difficult race we’re entered into with the best professional teams in the world,” he said.

“We got on the wrong side of a thunderstorm in the Malacca Strait. The other guys went to the Indonesian shore line and we couldn’t get there.

“That was pretty much the ball game there and then.

“We left the Singapore Strait in fifth so we’re happy to have got back to third. We thought we were a lot better than fifth. To finish third is good, it’s a good positive for us to finish on.

Nicholson said his team were looking forward to some rest but would continue to work on improving their performance for the remainder of the race.

“There’s still a lot of thought required about how we can start winning legs," he said. “We’re able to match the leaders at certain periods of the race and then we kind of let ourselves down occasionally.

“We just have to keep working on that, go back to the designer, see if there’s anything more in regards to how we’re sailing the boat.

"We hope to rest up a bit now. It’s been a big exercise in sailing and logistics so a big rest up here is in order so we can come out with good training and attitude for the in-port race.”

Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean racing powered by BERG crossed the Sanya finish line at 08:29:13 UTC having taken 13 days 29 minutes 13 seconds.

They remain in fourth overall with 48 points.

Skipper Ken Read said the key moment of the second stage of the leg had been their breakaway move out to the east in the final few days.

“I think, the whole world knows our most defining moment was choosing an easterly course on the last bit from the Malacca Strait to Sanya,” he said.

“It didn’t work and I put my hand up for that. At the end of the day that’s my call. I have to look at myself in the mirror over these decisions.

“We have to sit down and figure out better ways to handle these situations. I’m not in anyway going to turn my back on these decisions, but at the same time we take calculated risks.

“But instead of just saying screw it and quitting, we bowed back into it got back ahead of Abu Dhabi and shouting distance of CAMPER.

“Net loss one boat in that whole debacle, so we have to take that for what it is and live to fight another day.”

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing closed out the top five, finishing at 11:05:06 UTC after 13 days three hours nine minutes and 59 seconds of racing.

Walker said that other than in the Malacca Strait there had been few tactical options during the second stage of Leg 3.

“Certainly in the first week and in the last few days there has been a lot of straight line and boat speed sailing,” he said.

“A lot of light wind and up wind. We just crossed the miles off and we are glad to be here.

“The Malacca Strait is always busy although this time it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. We had one hard night along the Vietnamese coast with a succession of tacks, but other than that I would say it was relatively easy on the bodies.

“The margins are very small. The difference between us and Telefónica is one or two per cent.

“We sailed pretty well, we just didn’t have the legs to keep up with the leaders.”

Despite having had to deal with a problem with their winches earlier today, Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya remained on track to finish the second stage of Leg 3 tomorrow February 5.

Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 2012
February 4, 2012 - 1300 UTC

PUMA FALTER AS TELEFÓNICA CONSOLIDATE

February 2, 2012 - 1300 UTC Leg 3 Stage 2 Day 12. After two weeks and over 2500 nautical miles (nm) of sailing on the second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya in China, today the top five boats are separated by just four hours as they take on a gruelling 500 nm beat to the finish.

Overall race leaders Team Telefónica were the first to reach the coast of Vietnam overnight and this morning began an arduous zigzag along the shore, tacking on average once an hour to avoid the worst of a strong south westerly flowing current.

Nine nautical miles behind Telefónica, second placed Groupama sailing team continued to put pressure on the leader, while keeping a wary eye on third placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, who have been making steady gains.

A gutsy attempt to sail around the fleet by PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG came to nothing this morning, after they encountered an unexpected light wind zone and an anticipated right hand wind shift failed to materialise.

This turn of events now leaves PUMA in a battle with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing for fourth place.

Sixth placed Team Sanya continue to make steady progress toward their home port but with over 600 nm to sail they trailed the fleet by some 22 hours.

Overnight all the teams were pummelled by 25-knot head winds and steep waves as they dodged floating debris in the South China Sea on the approach to the Vietnam coast.

On Abu Dhabi, skipper Ian Walker confessed he would be glad when the upwind sailing was over and told of a collision with an unidentified floating object in the night.

“OK I admit it - I have had enough of sailing upwind!” he said. “Sadly we still have another 250 upwind miles or so to go before we can ease sheets and head directly for Sanya.

“Something hit our daggerboard and rudder hard in the night and I was pretty glad when Junior (helmsman Andrew Lewis) reported that both were still intact.

“Given the amount of tree trunks, crates and other debris we see in the day I consider we got off lightly,” he added.

Walker said the Abu Dhabi crew had been monitoring PUMA closely to see how the breakaway move to the east made several days ago would pan out.

“It will be interesting over the next 10 hours to see how Puma come out of their far eastern strategy,” he said. “It looks relatively evenly poised between them and perhaps Camper from where I am sitting right now.”

On PUMA skipper Ken Read was taking a more pessimistic view of his team’s situation.

“The mood on board is very sombre right now I can tell you,” he said. “It was all looking very promising until we got a big header which sent us pointing back towards Vietnam.

“Without that we were right in the hunt but with this header it is sending us right to the back of that pack. Hopefully it’s just a blip and it will come back, but every minute is costing us miles right now.”

Read said the wind had been less fearsome than expected but the sea state was proving energy sapping for the already weary crew and stronger breeze was expected for the night time.

“It hasn’t been brutal from a breeze standpoint but the waves have been awful,” he said. “Short, steep, lousy waves. In these boats it’s never the wind that gets you, it’s the waves. That wears you out a little bit.

“We were expecting a little more breeze than we’ve had so far but we’re expecting more to come.”

Telefónica Navigator Andrew Cape said the race and leg leaders were feeling the effects of almost two weeks of non-stop racing but were otherwise positive about their situation.

“We have got plenty of food but not a lot of rest,” he said. “It’s been quite tough with a lot of tacking and it's not over yet. It’s been hard but everyone sees the light at the end of the tunnel and you know there’s plenty of time to recover then.”

Cape said the Spanish team were now sailing their own race but keeping a loose cover on the fleet.

“You have got to pick the right place to tack – the right angle’” he said. “If you tack too early you could end up with the wrong current.

“At the end of the day you have to go where you think is best and temper that a bit with where the opposition are and modify it a bit. Just to make sure you hang on to what you have got.”

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson confessed that since closing on the Vietnam shoreline it had been difficult to pick an obvious way to go.

“It’s been one of the most bizarre tactical situations I think I’ve ever seen. Normally you have boats that are on certain wind shifts but these have been progressive shifts based on the geography of Vietnam, mixed in with some current and fishing nets.

“It’s been a minefield trying to work out which way to go. I think we’ve done a reasonable job of it but some people are perhaps struggling with it.”

Nicholson said he expected a busy time ahead when CAMPER left the coast and headed out into higher winds and the strongest current.

“There´s going to be a fair bit going on tonight,” he said. “When we exit the coast we will be exiting the most south east part of Vietnam and it will be like rounding a cape – windy and potential for confused seas.

“We’ll have our wits about us for that bit,” he said.

According to Nicholson, catching second placed Groupama would now require a mistake from the French team.

“That’s a big ask, they’re pretty quick’” he said. “We’re probably quite similar speeds, maybe we’re a touch quicker in this stuff, I’m not sure.

“I think there are chances – it could be windy tonight and if you put the wrong sail up you can get caught out and that’s going to cost you miles.

“Hopefully we’ll be breathing down their necks, but we’ve also got to keep a close eye on Abu Dhabi and PUMA as well.”

Groupama helmsman Erwan Israel said the constant tacking was taking it out of the French crew who were looking forward to some straight line sailing when they head offshore.

“We are tacking along the coast waiting for a left (wind) shift,” he said. “It’s exhausting.

“We’ve got less current close to the coast, which is why we sailed west of CAMPER. We are hoping to go offshore in a couple of hours.”

Israel said despite not being able to see their competitors there was still plenty to look at on their coastal passage.

“We have 150 boats in sight. But these are Vietnam fishermen boats. No sign of Telefónica and CAMPER.”

At the 1300 UTC position report Telefónica had 438 nm to go to the finish and held a 9.1 nautical mile lead over Groupama. Third placed CAMPER were just under three nautical miles behind with Abu Dhabi 22 nm back in fourth.

Team Sanya remained in sixth, 229 nm off the lead.

Latest estimations suggest the leading boats will reach the finish in Sanya on February 4.

Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 2012
February 2, 2012 - 1300 UTC

TELEFÓNICA ON COURSE FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE LEG WIN

February 3, 2012 - 1500 UTC Leg 3 Stage 2 Day 13. Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica were today on course for their third consecutive leg victory of the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race as they led the six boat fleet on the final miles of the second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya, China.

At 1300 UTC today Telefónica were 274 nautical miles (nm) from the finish line and had extended their lead over Franck Cammas’ second placed Groupama sailing team to 29 nm.

Almost 31 nm behind, Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand sat in third with a 15 nm lead over Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in fourth.

Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were fifth, but had positioned themselves east of the fleet and beginning to make gains on Abu Dhabi and CAMPER.

Mike Sanderson’s sixth placed Team Sanya had reached the Vietnam coast and making good progress towards the finish despite having to repair a fitting on their mainsail.

Overall race leaders Telefónica finished the first stage of Leg 3 -- a one day sprint from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah -- in fifth, before the fleet was loaded aboard a secure cargo ship and transferred through a high risk piracy zone to the then secret safe haven port of Malé in the Maldives.

Martínez’s crew had languished in last place early in the second stage of Leg 3 after damage to their key code zero headsail hours after the start had slowed them down for a full day.

By the time the fleet reached the first turning point on the north west tip of Sumatra, however, Telefónica were back to full speed and took the lead after smartly positioning themselves as the most northerly boat.

Speaking from the boat today, Martínez put Telefónica’s comeback down to the hard work and resilience of his crew.

“Of course I’m proud of them,” he said. “They did excellent work. Everyone did his job well while helping each other.”

Despite their healthy lead, Martínez said the Telefónica crew had been unable to back off for fear of losing their lead in the closely packed fleet.

“It’s very tight. If anyone does a small mistake, the ranking can change accordingly,” he said. “We were lucky with the wind – we got what we wanted going close to the Vietnam coast. As you can imagine, we are ready to arrive to China now.”

After losing miles when their mainsail control line broke overnight, Groupama skipper Franck Cammas conceded that, barring a disaster for Telefónica, the French team would have to settle for second place into Sanya.

“The main sheet broke when we were sailing off Vietnam,” he said. “We heard a bang and 10 seconds later it was gone.

“We changed all of it. We lost five or 10 miles but we fixed it easily with the spare one. It could have been dangerous but nothing happened.

“I think Telefónica has a strong safety margin now. They made gains today and they have such a margin that I have little hope.

“It will be very difficult to catch up in 300 miles except if there is a squall, a gust or something unlucky for them and lucky for us.”

Behind Groupama, a fierce battle was brewing for the final Leg 3 podium position between Chris Nicholson’s third placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Ian Walker’s fourth placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

Walker’s crew won the opening stage of Leg 3 and, if they remain in fourth, will be tied on points for the leg with CAMPER.

Both crews expressed relief at being able to get away from the Vietnamese coast after each narrowly avoiding collisions with floating debris and unmarked hazards.

CAMPER navigator Will Oxley said the crew had narrowly avoided disaster on more than one occasion and had been slowed by fishing nets on their keel several times.

“With poor quality charting multitudes of unlit fishing vessels and miles of nets not to mention shallow wrecks from the war, the potential for disaster was high,” he said.

“We had some very near misses and ended up hooking up fishing gear a couple of times.”

Abu Dhabi skipper, Ian Walker said that his team had been close to sustaining major damage in the night when they had to swerve at the last second to miss an unlit metal navigation buoy.

“We missed it by a metre and for sure it would have made a big mess of our bow,” he said.

Walker added he was uncertain if Abu Dhabi would be able to close down CAMPER before the finish.

“Whether there will be anymore passing opportunities I am not sure as we are all now set up on starboard, close to pointing at Sanya and the leg finish.”

In fifth, PUMA looked to be hoping a final roll of the dice could help them pull back at least one place as they positioned themselves to the east of the pack to benefit first from better winds.

At 1300 UTC they remained in fifth but were averaging one knot faster than the other boats.

PUMA Media Crew Member Amory Ross said the team were exhausted but resigned to having no chance to rest before they got ashore as they fought their way to the finish.

“The strategy from here seems simple: don’t give up too much leverage and play each shift like it’s the last,” he said.

“The racecourse has become small enough that any gain is an important one—regardless of its size—and it promises to be a busy 36 hours of hard work fighting for every length of distance on the competition. Anything can happen.”

Leaders Telefónica are expected to complete the second stage of Leg 3 in Sanya some time after 0430 UTC (1230 local time) tomorrow February 4, with Groupama, CAMPER, Abu Dhabi and PUMA all expected to finish later that day.

Team Sanya are expected to receive a warm homecoming welcome the following day February 5 at around 1300 UTC (2100 local time).

Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 2012
February 3, 2012 - 1500 UTC

TELEFÓNICA SEE OFF GROUPAMA TO MAKE IT THREE IN A ROW

February 4, 2012 - 0700 UTC, Leg 3 Stage 2. Telefónica became the first team since Steinlager 2 in 1989-90 to win the first three legs of the Volvo Ocean Race when they held off the challenge of Groupama sailing team to arrive first into the Chinese port of Sanya on Saturday.

Team Telefónica, skippered by co-World Sailor of the Year Iker Martínez, finished at 03:58:22 UTC to complete the stage from the Maldives in 12 days and take 24 points. Groupama came in at 05:45:25 UTC to clinch second place.

With three points in the bag from their performance in Stage 1 of the leg – a one-day sprint from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah – Telefónica sealed overall victory in Leg 3. The result also sees them strengthen their position at the top of the overall standings. Groupama have a total of 24 points from the leg.

“You always dream to start a race like this and I just hope everything is going to keep going smooth,” said Martínez, whose team have a total of 95 points.

“I think it was by far the most dangerous leg I’ve ever done in a boat. The Malacca Strait put us in a lot of difficult situations so that’s why we are so happy. Now we start feeling more relaxed. We have a very nice boat in very good shape with only little jobs.”

Navigator Andrew Cape, who masterminded Telefónica’s route from the Maldives to Sanya, added: “I never thought we were going to win this leg to be honest. I just felt that something was going to go wrong because there are too many stages where I couldn’t see the outcome, so I’m really relieved to get in without anything going bad.

“Mentally it was very difficult, tactically very difficult, physically it wasn’t as tough as a long southern ocean leg but mentally it was really hard. It’s one of the toughest legs I’ve done.”

Crossing the line, Groupama skipper Franck Cammas said the result had once again boosted confidence on the French boat.

“I think we did good work on the first two legs without seeing a result but now we’re seeing results. For sure the confidence is high on Groupama 4 now.

“The last few days were very hard for the crew. There were lots of manoeuvres, we tacked about 25 times in the last 24 hours in rough seas which was very tough on the crew. It wasn’t easy but the result was we got second place.”

Telefónica´s latest victory was remarkable given the damage they suffered to their code zero sail just hours after the start in the Maldives, a setback that pushed them into last place.

After completing a repair job overseen by Jordi Calafat, Telefónica made the strategic decision, along with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, to take a hitch to the north. Showing a loss on the leaderboard, Martínez said, “We know that the lost miles to the finish will be important, but we’re hoping that it will be better for us when we arrive at the Malacca Strait in two days’ time”.

How right he was. Sailing conditions for this drag race to Pulau We at the northern end of Sumatra were about perfect, with warm air, warm seas and clear nights lit by countless stars.

By day four, the code zero was hoisted and Telefónica rose up the order by seven miles to fourth place. They then overtook Groupama 4 to move into third place, within a mile of CAMPER in second.

Setting up for the entrance to the Malacca Strait, Telefónica took another hitch north which swapped the order again, but the leverage gained in the high lane was looking sweeter by the hour. On day five, January 26, she snatched second place and the crew’s attention turned to their final victim, CAMPER. By 1900 UTC that day, sailing two knots faster than any other boat in the fleet, Telefónica was in the lead.

Sticking to the middle of the Strait on day seven, Telefónica pressed on, dodging commercial shipping, fishing nets and all kinds of ocean debris, while CAMPER broke away towards mainland Malaysia and Groupama 4 became the new challenger.

On day eight, Telefónica’s lead was reduced to 0.4 nm from Groupama 4 and 1.1 nm from PUMA. The pressure was on, but Olympic gold medallist Martínez kept a cool head and by that evening they were leading the fleet to the open waters of the South China Sea.

Dodging the small archipelago off the eastern coast of Malaysia, Telefónica led the race through gales to the relative safety of the coast of Vietnam. On Day 12, the fiercest battle of the leg took place as the fleet beat up the coast. Tack after tack, Telefónica held off Groupama and extended her lead to win the leg, not only claiming a third victory but making history too.

Hundreds of fans flooded to the Sanya Race Village prior to Telefónica’s victorious arrival to help celebrate the official opening ceremony. A colourful array of fireworks exploded overhead as several local dignitaries addressed the crowd.

Volvo Ocean Race 2011 - 2012
www.volvooceanrace.com
February 4, 2012 - 0700 UTC