February 12, 2006, Melbourne, Australia
Race Report
Leg Three: Melbourne - Wellington
Thousands turn out to wave off Volvo Ocean Race fleet
Thousands of Melburnians lined
the dockside at Waterfront City, Docklands, this morning to wave goodbye
to the Volvo Ocean Race fleet as they head off on Leg Three to Wellington,
before heading on to Rio de Janeiro.
It was an emotional farewell on the dock as friends and family kissed
goodbye to loved ones before the fleet was blessed my Chaplin Graeme
Disney. The blessing finished with the singing of the national anthem.
The six boats in the Volvo Ocean Race headed out one by one to blaring
team music as they ducked under the Bolte Bridge for the final time.
A spectacular fly-by was performed by the RAAF Roulettes and shortly after
the start gun was fired by the Minister for Tourism, Mr John
Pandazopoulos, from the historic tall ship ‘Enterprize’.
The Spanish entry movistar, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) was the first
boat to hoist a spinnaker in the 10-12 northerly winds and take an early
lead followed by Paul Cayard’s (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean and five
times Olympic medallist Torben Grael (BRA) skippering Brasil 1.
It was a game of cat and mouse as the boats headed down, under spinnaker,
to the first mark off Mornington. Pirates of the Caribbean was the first
to pick up a gust of wind and shot away doing 20 knots from the fleet,
closely followed by Brasil 1, Neal McDonald’s (GBR) Ericsson and overall
leader ABN AMRO ONE skippered by New Zealander Mike Sanderson.
As the boats progressed down Port Phillip Bay the wind started to drop
below ten knots and the fleet bunched up, spreading out into one long line
across the bay. The Farr designed Volvo Open 70s showed good form in the
light airs, pulling away from the broader Juan Kouyoumdjian designed ABN
AMRO boats.
In the lighter airs, Brasil 1 managed to put her nose out front,
commanding a small lead over Ericsson, movistar and Pirates of the
Caribbean.
Within two hours of the start, the fleet completely slowed up and at the
moment it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top at the Mornington
mark which is approximately 8 nautical miles away.
Once the boats manage to get through Port Phillip Heads they will
encounter descent winds which will help them on their 1,450 nautical mile
journey to New Zealand.
Glenn Bourke, Chief Executive of the Volvo Ocean Race commented: “The gods
have smiled on Melbourne today. In return for the wonderful job that they
have done throughout the stopover, the sun was shining and there was a
beautiful offshore breeze. The fleet charged off the start line with their
spinnakers up, as up to a thousand spectator boats flanked these racing
machines down Port Phillip Bay towards the Heads and on to Wellington.”
Current Leaderboard
[position/team name/skipper/race points to date]
1. TEAM ABN AMRO ONE, Mike Sanderson (NZL) 32.5 pts
2. TEAM ABN AMRO TWO, Sebastien Josse (FRA) 25 pts
3. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking (NED) 18 pts
4. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard (USA) 16.5 pts
5. Brasil 1, Torben Grael (BRA) 16 pts
6. Ericsson Racing Team, Neal McDonald (GBR) 14.5 pts
For further information contact:
Sacha Oswald Volvo Ocean Race Press Officer in Melbourne,
Mob: +61 434 948 658. Email: sacha.oswald@volvooceanrace.org
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Images
Royalty free images for editorial use are available from the Image Archive
at http://media.vemuk.com For assistance, please contact: Patrick
Anderson, Picture Desk Manager Tel: +44 1489 554867 Mobile: +44 777 55 33
956 Email: patrick.anderson@volvooceanrace.org.
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Die Skyline wird schnell kleiner
Foto: Rick Tomlinson
Geballtes Auftreten von ABN AMRO
Noch ist das Feld zusammen
Foto: movistar
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