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Volvo Ocean Race 2011/2012 - Leg 2
Start 11. Dezember 2011
www.volvooceanrace.com - Übersicht Leg2
Tagesvideo
December 26, 2011 - 2330 UTC, Leg 2 Day 16
PUMA’S MAR MOSTRO HOLDS OFF GROUPAMA 4 TO FINISH THIRD
Ken Read and his men on board PUMA’s Mar Mostro took third place in the first stage of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi on Monday, holding off one-time leg leaders Groupama 4 for the 16 points.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG crossed the finish at 2333:10 UTC, more than five hours behind Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) who snatched his second leg win earlier today from CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS).
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Puma als 3. im sicheren Hafen
Foto: Paul Todd/VOR
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It has been a difficult leg for the crew of PUMA’s Mar Mostro who were forced to retire from Leg 1 due to dismasting in the South Atlantic Ocean. “We have all had our moments, but the chemistry of the crew has never been better,” said skipper Ken Read.
The tough time began for the crew of Mar Mostro on day five, when the fleet was in the grips of a menacing trough separating two belts of low-pressure. At the time, Read described the conditions as some of the most frustrating and mentally exhausting of his sailing career.&xnbsp;
Although the team was briefly in and out of the top three, enjoying a battle with Telefónica for first place in trade wind sailing on day nine, and again on day 11 with Groupama 4, it was Read’s decision to take the westerly side of the Doldrums for which he ultimately paid a high price.
The team made the call to go east, a move that both Telefónica and CAMPER had made earlier with great success, but it was a late and expensive decision. On day 12, December 21, the black cat was barely making five knots and had dropped from second place to fourth, over 78 nautical miles behind Telefónica.
On day 13, Read wrote: “It’s been a long day and it is the ultimate frustration. You work you butt off to get into a really nice position and then it comes crashing down on you.” By day 14, the situation was worse still and PUMA’s Mar Mostro was 133 nm behind CAMPER who had become the new leader. By Christmas Eve, PUMA was over 150 nm behind and still losing miles. “Nobody ever said this sport was easy, but man, I don’t think it needs to be this hard,” Read said.
The fight to get back in the game started on Christmas Day, when Mar Mostro started to pull back some miles. Early on Boxing Day she had passed Groupama and the team managed to hold off the French to claim the 16 points on offer for the third podium spot tonight and retain fourth place overall.
“We went into this leg with confidence,” Read said today as he approached the finish. “It’s a bit of a shame because there were a couple of points in this leg when we did really the right thing and put ourselves in the right position, but there was really one key moment when we entered the Doldrums that didn’t work for us and that was disappointing for us for sure.”
December 26, 2011 - 1800 UTC, Leg 2 Day 16
TELEFÓNICA TAKE KNIFE-EDGE VICTORY IN LEG 2, STAGE 1
Leg 2 Report: 26/12/2011 18:30:57 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS
1 TELE Finished: 015d 04h 57m 19s 2 CAMP Finished: 015d 04h 59m 16s 3 PUMA (STE) 0.00 52 7.1 4 GPMA (STE) 23.40 54 7.1 5 ADOR (STE) 75.10 43 3.5 - SNYA Suspended Racing
Team Telefónica will charge into 2012 as leaders of the Volvo Ocean Race after snatching victory over CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand in a thrilling finish to the first stage of Leg 2 from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi.
The final 24 hours came down to an intense match race between Iker Martínez’s Telefónica, winners of Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town, as well as the Cape Town In-Port Race, and CAMPER.
The stakes were high as the two teams headed towards the secret safe haven, with CAMPER needing to finish in front to leapfrog Telefónica to go top of the leaderboard.
Chris Nicholson’s team got close, leading for long periods over a thrilling final battle between Christmas Day and Boxing Day, but in the end Telefónica came through, grabbing the definitive lead with just eight nautical miles to go.
They held on to finish at 1757.20 UTC on Monday, just one minute and 57 seconds ahead of CAMPER.
"It was a really complicated race and we were fighting all the way through,"&xnbsp;Martínez said. "For sure, it was really, really tough."
The result reindexs provisional after CAMPER informed race management they had raised a protest flag over a manoeuvre made towards the end of the race.
Telefónica claimed 24 points for first place in the first of a two-stage, 5,430 nautical mile (nm) leg to from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi, where 80 per cent of the available points have been awarded. CAMPER take 20 for second.
The provisional leaderboard sees Telefónica top with 61 points, followed by CAMPER on 54.
The finish line was set at an undisclosed destination to protect the six-boat fleet from pirate activity. The boats will now be shipped to a point off the Sharjah coastline in the northern United Arab Emirates in time to start what is sure to be an exciting, day-long sprint to Abu Dhabi in early January for the reindexing 20 per cent of the leg points.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG are currently in third place, followed by Groupama sailing team in fourth and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing fifth. Team Sanya were forced to suspend racing and head for Madagascar, where they are repairing the rig and focusing on getting in shape for Leg 3 to their home port of Sanya in China.
After a brief period at the head of the fleet for both CAMPER and Telefónica as they fought light airs out of Cape Town, both found themselves at times near, or even at the back of the fleet. &xnbsp;&xnbsp;
On day four, December 14, Telefónica crossed the notorious Agulhas Current off Port Elizabeth first with CAMPER in fourth place, 44 nm behind the blue boat. &xnbsp;As the fleet fought to free themselves from a trough that had formed between two low-pressure systems, it was Telefónica who was still looking sweet, while CAMPER had slipped another 20 nm back. The pot of gold which was the new northerly breeze waiting on the far side of the trough seemed frustratingly out of reach. &xnbsp;
After a couple of false starts when the weather gods gave the fleet a brief taste of northerly breeze and then whipped it away, it was Telefónica who found it first and swooped into the lead with CAMPER relegated to fifth place 74 nm behind.&xnbsp;
“It’s almost like a sport now to beat this trough line,” said CAMPER’s Chris Nicholson on day six, December 16. &xnbsp;“It’s got a personality of its own, and I must say, I don’t like it. It is extremely stubborn and it is refusing to let us through.”
Martínez and Nicholson took the middle road to the east in a move, which ultimately set the pair up for a swift crossing of Doldrums. Telefónica still led, but the comeback kids on board CAMPER were only 2.2 nm behind, and the battle began at 35 degrees south. &xnbsp;By day seven, after only 1,700 nm of racing, CAMPER temporarily regained lead and the fleet finally broke free of the trough. &xnbsp;
The endless days of no wind and icy cold rainsqualls were now a distant memory as Telefónica, back in front, led PUMA Ocean Racing and CAMPER into some typical trade wind sailing under a shining sun and warm water spray. &xnbsp;
It was all about boat speed and straight line sailing on day 11, December 21, but both Telefónica but CAMPER had slipped down the order and were now 93 and 115 nm behind the new leader, Franck Cammas’ Groupama 4 who came swooping in from their position far south.
As the fleet split in opinion on how best to tackle the Doldrums, Telefónica and CAMPER, in third and fourth, set up for the eastern end and began to make steady gains as the fleet compressed on Groupama 4. &xnbsp;&xnbsp;
By Day 13, December 23, Telefónica had jumped to the lead with CAMPER just 6.7 nm behind nipping at their heels. Their tour through the eastern Doldrums belt had paid off handsomely with boat speeds averaging 15 knots, while the rest of the fleet languished under big clouds with sails flapping.
The CAMPER crew had an early Christmas present, reclaiming the top of the leg leaderboard on Christmas Eve but any festive thoughts were dismissed as the teams prepared for the final battle to the finish with no prospect of a truce. The final day’s racing saw the lead change on numerous occasions with just 100 metres separating the two teams for long periods. As night fell at the safe haven port it was Team&xnbsp;Telefónica who emerged as the final victors in the closest of contests.
December 26, 2011 -1000 UTC Leg 2 Day 16
DOWN TO THE WIRE FOR TOP TWO
Leg 2 Report: 26/12/2011 10:01:24 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS
1 CMPR (STE) 0.00 2 11.4 2 TELE (STE) 0.50 0 11 3 PUMA (STE) 49.20 0 10.2 4 GPMA (STE) 64.40 2 9.6 5 ADOR (STE) 115.40 2 9.9 - SNYA Suspended Racing
It is down to the wire for the top two boats this Boxing Day with the pair throwing punches at each other in a bid to draw head. Overnight, Iker Martínez/ESP and his men temporarily overthrew Chris Nicholson/AUS and CAMPER’s lead, but at 1000 UTC, Nicholson was back at the top of the leg leaderboard with Telefónica just half a mile astern and averaging 11 knots, half a knot slower than CAMPER.
"Boxing Day is appropriate because we have a full on street fight right here with Telefónica over my shoulder,” wrote CAMPER’s co-skipper Stu Bannatyne/NZL earlier this morning. “The guys are working on getting every ounce of boat speed out of the boat. The conditions are pretty light, so we are just trying to milk everything out as of it as we go along. It’s going to be a very long day,” he said.After several thousand miles of ocean racing it is nothing short of a match race for the leading pair. “Every metre, every run is decisive,” describes Team Telefónica’s MCM, Diego Fructuoso.
It was a very intense night for these two boats as they fought it out under warm and cloudless starry skies. The crews are exhausted after this extended battle, many of them only having had snatched sleep for days on end. “It will be full on, close quarters, neck and neck, all guns blazing racing all the way down to the wire,” says Hamish Hooper, MCM on board CAMPER.Meanwhile, in third place, Ken Read/USA has been able to draw PUMA’s Mar Mostro 15 nautical miles (nm) ahead of Franck Cammas and Groupama 4, while Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam (Ian Walker/GBR) is still over 115 nm in arrears. &xnbsp;
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