Fotogalerie
January 31, 2012 - 2200 UTC Leg 3 Stage 2 Day 10
PACE UP, PRESSURE ON Leg 3 Report: 31/01/2012 22:01:36 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF
1 TELE 0.00 0 11.6 822.4 2 GPMA 5.60 1 11.8 827.9 3 PUMA 38.70 26 11.9 861.1 4 ADOR 126.10 44 11.3 948.5 5 CMPR 141.20 39 11.3 963.6 6 SNYA 196.20 11 11.6 1018.5
At 2200 UTC tonight, Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) continued keep the pace up and the pressure on to lead the six-boat fleet towards the South Cape of Vietnam, 261 nautical miles (nm) ahead.Even though the team had to back up to free some plastic stuck in the daggerboard, since 1600 UTC today they have been making small gains on the entire fleet and tonight at 2200 UTC, all five boats had loss valuable miles to the leader.Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA), now four nm to windward is 5.6 nm behind, meanwhile, Ken Read has broken free from the clutches of Groupama 4 and Telefónica and has tacked, clearly considering the easterly route rather than the coastal option. As a result, PUMA’s Mar Mostro is showing a loss tonight of 25 nm and is now 38 nm nm behind Martínez and his unstoppable team.
Further back in the field, the gap between Mar Mostro in third and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam in fourth has extended to 126 nm. Fifth placed CAMPER is 21 nm east of Azzam and 15 nm behind.Bringing up the rear is Team Sanya who are now out in the South China Sea although still heading east and trailing by nearly 200 nm.Gales are forecast for up to 125 nm off the Vietnam coast and the leaders are heading directly towards the area where, according to weather experts, conditions will become rough to extreme, with short period waves of around two – four metres in height.The sea state is probably going to the deciding factor in how fast the teams will push, rather than the wind strength. “When the wind starts building, we will adjust our sails accordingly and start slowing the boat down as we need to,” Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Rob Greenhalgh said.
On board, checks are bing made in readiness for the bad weather ahead and the crews are trying to be as rested as they possibly can, given the closeness of the competition. When to put the pedal down and when to back off will be critical and it could just be that the team that survives it might well win.&xnbsp;
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January 31, 2012 - 1000 UTC Leg 3 Stage 2 Day 10
WEATHER CLOSES IN AS LEADERS FIGHT FOR SUPREMACY
Leg 3 Report: 31/01/2012 10:04:35 UTC
DTL DTLC BS DTF
1 TELE 0.00 0 11.8 948.2 2 GPMA 0.60 1 11.4 948.8 3 PUMA 4.20 0 11.8 952.4 4 CMPR 30.70 13 10.4 978.8 5 ADOR 35.80 17 11.5 984.0 6 SNYA 176.30 4 7.3 1124.4
At 0200 UTC this morning, Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) and PUMA’s Mar Mostro had peeled off from the wake of leg leader Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and tacked onto starboard. The first five boats are racing towards an archipelago situated 130 nm off the east coast of Malaysia, which they must leave to port. Martínez and his men changed direction one hour later and by doing so, adopted a protective position between Groupama 4 and the wind.Four hours later, Mar Mostro had tacked again and, such is the closeness of this race, Groupama followed five minutes later.The leading trio is now engaged in a battle as they trade tacks to clear the string of islands. Although largely flat, the islands should not present a wind shadow, although there is always the chance of fluky breeze close to the coastlines. The next hours will be very tactical and it is likely that the leading three will continue to sail as if racing inshore, looking for the layline and covering their position.
Once past Selia Island, the third of three waypoints in this area, the next challenge will be a punching 450 nm one-tack beat towards the coast of Vietnam. The weather is closing in and in 30 hours’ time the fleet will be sailing in gale force conditions with waves up to five metres. Closer to the Vietnam shore, however, the wind will ease as it moves left and bends round the coastline, but it will be physically demanding on the crews as they tack and stack around the Capes, looking for an advantage, while escaping the worst of the storm.In fourth and fifth place, 30 nm behind the leaders CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) and Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, five nm behind, have their own private match race having both turned the corner and pointed their bows towards the archipelago. Present conditions are unpleasant with frequent rainsqualls and 14-15 knots of northeasterly breeze; a complete change from the windless heat of the Singapore Strait, which sixth placed Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) is still negotiating.
Over 176 nm in arrears, Team Sanya are crossing the worst of the commercial traffic in the Singapore Strait in daylight, having had a lucky escape from a fishing net yesterday. For those that negotiated the Strait at night, the blur of lights from the maze of shipping was a confusing, but magnificent sight.“Hundreds of 200-300-metre ships were swinging at anchor causing an abundance of commercial confusion and a buzz of constant activity,” reported Amory Ross from Mar Mostro. “All the while, the massive metropolis of Singapore loomed up river, bright enough to silhouette the surrounding aircraft carrier-sized ships,” he said of a sight, although already long forgotten by the racing crew, he will remember for years.
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