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Volvo Ocean Race 2011/2012 - Leg 5 - Start 18.03.2012
www.volvooceanrace.com - Übersicht
April 12, 2012 - 1530 UTC Leg 5 Day 26
10 Apr 2012, 17:30UTC
Heroic Groupama close out third place
IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race
Groupama sailing team kept their hopes of overall victory alive on Tuesday, overcoming the loss of their rig to claim the final podium position -- and a crucial 20 points -- for Leg 5.
IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race IAN ROMAN/Volvo Ocean Race PAUL TODD/Volvo Ocean Race
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"The mood among the guys is very good and we're still right in this race" - Franck Cammas
Groupama raced over the finish line under a cleverly jury rigged mast at 1358 UTC on Tuesday after a painfully slow final approach which saw their speed drop to as low as three knots in the fickle winds off the Brazilian coast.
"The guys all did a fantastic job and I am very happy with our podium place," said skipper Franck Cammas. "The mood among the guys is very good and we're still right in this race."
Just six days ago Cammas’ crew were questioning what they had done to deserve their ill fortune after a broken mast ended dreams of a second consecutive leg win.
They had looked to be winning their duel with eventual leg winners PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG through the South Atlantic when disaster struck.
They suspended racing at 1542 UTC on April 4 after their mast snapped in two, just level with the first set of spreaders, around 10 metres above the deck.
The sailors were able to recover most of the rig and made for the Uruguayan city of Punta del Este, around 60 miles from where the incident happened.
A round-the-clock repair effort saw a makeshift rig fashioned from the bigger of the two broken parts of the mast in just three days.
The team resumed racing at 0500 UTC on April 7 with seven crew on board including bowman Brad Marsh, who had five staples put into his wrist after accidentally plunging a knife into it while cutting away the indexsail from the broken mast.
Victory in the 6,700 nautical mile leg from Auckland to Itajaí would have seen the French team move within touching distance of overall leaders Team Telefónica.
However third place was consolation enough for Cammas’ men, who are now just 20 points behind the leaders.
They also extend their lead over third-placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, who should finish Leg 5 in fourth.
Abu Dhabi back on their way to Itajaí
Nick Dana/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race
The ship carrying Azzam from Puerto Montt in Chile is en route to Itajai with an ETA of April 17 -- four days before Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are due to return to competition in the In-Port Race.
Thanks to the help of DHL, the Race's official logistics partner, Azzam was sent on her way on Tuesday morning, with two members of the Abu Dhabi shore crew.
“The ship has literally just pulled up anchor and are officially on their way to Itajaí,” said Abu Dhabi shore manager Phil Allen today.
“We have two shore crew guys on board, Sam Bourne and Tim Collen, who will doing as much work on board as possible with the limited tools they were able to take,” he said.
“Their job will be to do as much preparation as possible for the repair and get a head start on the general stopover indextenance.”
The index work will be carried out once the ship arrives in Brazil and the Emirati team estimate it will take around 72 hours to complete the repairs, which will include replacing an area of core foam on both sides of the boat and get her ready to race again.
The team say they will need to chop out 4m x 1m sections on each side of the boat, which will be replaced by new core foam pieces, which have been pre-shaped in the Persico facility in Italy where Azzam was built.
Despite the scale of the task ahead of them the team say they are confident they will be able to nurse Azzam back to full competitiveness for the Itajaí In-Port Race on April 21 and the four reindexing legs of the race.
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