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Volvo Ocean Race 2011/2012 - Leg 5 - Start 18.03.2012
www.volvooceanrace.com - Übersicht
Tagesvideo Auckland
Leg 5 Day 1 1900 UTC
HARSH REMINDER AS TELEFÓNICA LEAD VOLVO FLEET TOWARDS SOUTHERN OCEAN
Leg 5 18/03/2012 19:03:36 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF
1 TELE 0.00 0 12.9 6595.0 2 CMPR 4.40 7 12.4 6599.4 3 GPMA 9.10 8 12.3 6604.1 4 PUMA 15.60 4 11.3 6610.6 5 SNYA 19.10 5 11.4 6614.1 - ADOR Suspended Racing
At 1900 UTC tonight Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) leads as the fleet racing in Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Auckland receives the predicted battering less than 24 hours into the leg.
Earlier, the crew of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) had a harsh reminder that this race is no playground, when only 40 nautical miles (nm) into the 6,700 nm course which takes the fleet around the infamous Cape Horn, damage forced the team to suspend racing and return to Auckland to affect repairs to their forward bulkhead.
The team plans to re-start in about 24 hours.According to weather experts, the already well-developed South Pacific low-pressure system to the northeast of Auckland is set to intensify as it moves towards the colder waters of the Southern Ocean. As the strong tropical depression moves south and east, it is blocking the route past East Cape with strong headwinds. This has caused the skippers and navigators to shy away from the traditional course across the Bay of Plenty and, instead of diving hard south, the fleet, now reduced to five boats, has headed north from Auckland to set up a better angle for heavy wind ahead.Although nerves are on edge, there is always a sense of anticipation among the crews as they take on the longest and most difficult leg of the race. To sail in the Southern Ocean, where albatrosses and whales are the only company and where conditions in the harsh wastelands, provides an adrenaline rush that cannot be found elsewhere and is for many the sole reason for competing in this race.
“It is one of those things that you know is going to be hard, real hard, and there is no room for error, but if we can sail it, and sail it well, it will be a huge achievement,” sums up Hamish Hooper, media crew member on board CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS).At 1900 UTC, the fleet had tacked onto port and were battling headwinds of up to 29 knots, flying off six-metre waves. Telefónica led the fleet from CAMPER 4.4 nm behind, followed closely by Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) and Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL), who had led the fleet out of the Hauraki Gulf earlier today. The fleet was split 19.10 nm from first to last with speeds varying from 11.4 knots for Sanya and 12.9 knots for Telefónica.
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March 18, 2012 - 1130 UTC
ABU DHABI BACK IN AUCKLAND, PLAN 24-HOUR REPAIR
&xnbsp; Leg 5 18/03/2012 10:17:44 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF
1 CMPR 0.00 0 13.3 6644.9 2 PUMA 0.60 0 12.8 6645.5 3 GPMA 1.20 0 12.3 6646.1 4 TELE 1.70 0 13.7 6646.6 5 SNYA 2.40 0 12.7 6647.3 - ADOR Suspended Racing
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are hopeful of resuming racing in Leg 5 within the next 24 hours after arriving back in Abu Dhabi to repair damage to their yacht Azzam.
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Ian Walker and his crew made the decision to return to the City of Sails five-and-a-half hours into the 6,700 nautical mile leg to Itajaí in Brazil when a bulkhead in the bow of their yacht Azzam, securing a crucial heavy weather headsail, ripped clean out.&xnbsp;
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Abu Dhabi nach Start in Auckland
Foto: Paul Todd
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Rather than risk continuing, Abu Dhabi chose to turn around and carry out a full repair to the J4 bulkhead in Auckland.&xnbsp;
“I don’t think it was a structural threat to the boat, but it would have been a big repair to get the bulkhead back in and take the load of the J4 which is a sail we’re probably going to use 80 per cent of the time in the Southern Ocean,” Walker said.&xnbsp;
“We discussed it and took the decision that we’re only 40 miles from Auckland, let’s come back and we’ll probably repair it quicker and better, and then we can get back out and try to catch everyone up.”&xnbsp;
After suspending racing at 0630 UTC, Abu Dhabi were back on the dock by 1030 UTC where the boat was handed over to their waiting shore crew.
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“It puts us behind the fleet but it’s not disastrous,” Walker added.&xnbsp;
“The fleet aren’t getting away that fast, they’re heading upwind and they’re going to get a bit of a pounding tonight.&xnbsp;&xnbsp;
“Looking 36 hours ahead there are probably faster conditions for getting out of here.
“It all depends on the movement of the high pressure – they might have to sail a longer distance round it than us. We’re not giving up hope.”&xnbsp;
Abu Dhabi team director Jamie Boag said the aim was now to get the team back out on the race course as quickly as possible.&xnbsp;
“We will try to get the boys turned round as quickly as we can and get them back in the race,” he said.&xnbsp;&xnbsp;
“We will know in the next hour how long the repair will take but it should be 24 to 30 hours or so. We will try to get back out there by this time tomorrow night.”&xnbsp;
Leg 5 started from Auckland at 1400 local time (0100 UTC) on Sunday and sees the fleet race through the Southern Ocean, around Cape Horn and on to Itajaí in Brazil.
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