Fotogalerie Leg 8
Tagesberichte siehe Menu unten
Pressemitteilung vom Start der 8. Etappe des Volvo Ocean Race
June 14, 2012 - 1900 UTC Leg 8 Day 5
TELEFÓNICA OVERCOME RUDDER DAMAGE AND RACING GOES DOWN TO THE WIRE
Leg 8 14/06/2012 19:05:22 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF 1 TELE 0.00 0 24.7 348.6 2 GPMA 2.20 0 23 350.9 3 CMPR 4.00 1 15 352.7 4 PUMA 9.90 2 20.7 358.5 5 ADOR 18.40 1 22 367.0 6 SNYA 69.20 0 23 417.8
In an adrenaline-filled afternoon in the North Atlantic Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) overcame damage to their starboard rudder and regained first place, while CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) overhauled PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA), snatched third place and logged a distance of 565.82 nm in the previous 24 hours. The top four protagonists are all within 20 minutes of each other and not giving an inch.
It doesn’t seem possible that the final 350 nautical miles to the finish line in Lorient can be any more action-packed, however this afternoon as the wind increased, Telefónica were forced to back off in spite of previously notching up a 24-hour run of 564 nm, in order to replace their starboard rudder. With the wind rising to 40 knots and huge seas, the crew of Telefónica replaced their broken rudder with a spare carried as part of the mandatory inventory. Although their speed was temporarily reduced by 90 per cent, they were quickly back in the running and at 1900 GMT this evening they were back in their customary first place.
Telefónica navigator Andrew Cape described the current situation as ‘hairy’, with gale force winds predicted to continue until at least midnight. “It’s on the edge,” he said, adding that the team will be sailing with high boat speed until late evening when they gybe on to port tack for the approach to the Lorient finish.
Franck Cammas and his crew on board Groupama are still struggling with the indexsail headboard car, which jammed at the top of the mast yesterday. Bowman Brad Marsh managed to install another car so that the crew could shorten sail to two reefs. “We will see how things go on Friday morning when we try to shake a reef because right now, the profile of the indexsail doesn’t look great,” said skipper Franck Cammas.Meanwhile, a serious arm wrestle is in progress as CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand race side by side with their three closest competitors. The team’s earlier run of 565.82 nm may yet be good enough to claim the IWC Schaffhausen 24-hour Speed Record Challenge, and the thought of winning the prized IWC Schaffhausen timepiece is keeping every sailor on board fully motivated. Tonight, the team were deliberating when to gybe and which sail to use to survive the night and indextain their podium position.
The crew of PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG in fourth place had hoped to gybe during daylight hours, but at 1900 GMT the fleet was still powering downwind at breakneck speeds on starboard tack into fading light.“The worst is still to come. We just have to try to keep it all together,” said PUMA navigator Tom Addis said. “If you’re too conservative, your chances of winning are pretty slim because you’ve got very little time to make up the extra distance. We will see how we go,” he added.
At 1900 GMT, the first four boats were separated by 9.9 nm, so close that the margin for error was zero. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) were still very much in touch, 18.4 nm astern of the front-runners, while Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) were 69.2 nm adrift.The first boat is expected to finish in Lorient on Friday at around 1000 GMT.
&xnbsp; &xnbsp;
June 14, 2012 - 0700 UTC Leg 8 Day 5
SCREAMING SPEEDS FOR VOLVO FLEET AS STORM TAKES HOLD
Leg 8 14/06/2012 7:02:31 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF
1 TELE 0.00 0 26.4 580.7 2 GPMA 6.20 1 27 586.9 3 PUMA 9.20 3 23 589.9 4 CMPR 13.30 5 23.2 594.0 5 ADOR 35.70 1 24.5 616.4 6 SNYA 60.70 4 21.9 641.5
Overnight the deep Atlantic depression delivered all that it promised and more as the fleet achieved speeds of 30 knots, allowing leg leaders Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) to achieve a 24-hour run of 540 nautical miles. Groupama, meanwhile, suffered a glitch which saw them lose 20 miles and two places as they battled to shorten sail in the worst of the storm.
As the gale howled around them, the crew of Groupama went to shorten sail only to find the indexsail halyard had jammed at the masthead. Bowman Brad Marsh made three trips to the top of the 31m mast as the wind built and the boat shook. In conditions where it was almost impossible to stand on deck, Marsh managed to free the sail after two hours and the indexsail fell to the deck before being rehoisted.
The escapade cost the team 20 miles, allowing both PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) to take advantage. However, by 0100 GMT, Groupama were back up to their customary speed and had overhauled CAMPER. Still gaining at 0700 GMT, Groupama had snatched back second place from PUMA and had closed to within 6.20 nm of the Spaniards.Meanwhile, as boat speeds increased as the storm took hold, distance to finish was clicking down rapidly. “The miles are clocking down at a fantastic rate,” reported Hamish Hooper, Media Crew Member with CAMPER. "In what seemed like minutes, 100 miles just disappeared."As the boats lurched and surfed their way towards Lorient in pitch darkness, the violent motion catapulted Hooper out of his bunk and forward into the navigation area. Fortunately, navigator Will Oxley and skipper Chris Nicholson were not occupying it at the time and no one was hurt.
With still a chance of winning the race overall, the crew of CAMPER have yet to throttle back. “It is that old question, when to pull back and when to keep pushing,” said skipper Chris Nicholson. "You just have to judge things at the moment and keep pushing hard. At the moment things are alright, so we keep blasting along, chasing down the leading boats just a handful of miles away."Telefónica achieved 540 nm in the 24-hour period leading up to the 0700 GMT position report this morning. They are the fastest in the fleet, but still some way off the 595.6-mile yardstick set by Ericsson 4 in the last edition. However, the wind continues to build and with just 580 nm to run to the finish, the 24-hour world record and the IWC Schaffhausen 24-hour Speed Record Challenge for the race could both be under threat.At 0700 GMT today, Telefónica led Groupama by 6.20 nm, followed by PUMA on their port hip and CAMPER further to the west.
With just 13.3 nm separating the first four boats, the pressure is intense. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) and Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) have not been able to achieve the relentless pace of the leading four and have slipped back to 35.7 nm and 60.7 nm respectively.The big gybe onto starboard towards the finish is likely to be in about six hours’ time. Daylight will make this difficult manoeuvre easier, allowing the crews to judge the sea state and see the surfing waves. With 580 nm to go to the finish, it is likely that the fleet will arrive in Lorient in France on Friday during daylight. &xnbsp;
|
