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Volvo Ocean Race 2011/2012 - Leg 9 - Lorient - Galway - Start 01.07.2012
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Fotogalerie Leg9
July 1, 2012 - 2100 UTC, Leg 9 Day 1
“No guts no glory. This is it.”
Leg 9 01/07/2012 21:06:02 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF 1 TELE 0.00 0 19.7 385.0 2 CMPR 0.10 0 20 385.0 3 GPMA 0.80 0 20.7 385.8 4 PUMA 3.60 0 19.7 388.6 5 ADOR 6.40 2 18 391.4 6 SNYA 9.90 2 20.5 394.8
Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) held a 0.1 nautical mile lead in the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 at 2100 GMT tonight, as they enjoyed a terrific scrap with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) starting right from the off.“No guts, no glory. This is it,” said Ken Read, skipper of PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, previewing the end of the 11th edition of the race.
There is a lot at stake and the next 36 hours could decide the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race after nearly 39,270 nm of racing around the world.Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) began Leg 9 with a commanding lead, but so close are the scores that should PUMA finish this leg in first place, and Groupama finish in sixth, their scores would be equal leaving just the Galway in-port race to decide the final outcome. It is the closest racing ever in the 39-year history of the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race.Tonight as the fleet made its way up the Brittany coast, 13 nm south west of Ushant, an island at the south western end of the English Channel, marking the north westernmost point of France, the crews were reaching at a steady 19-20 knots, preparing for the wind to pipe up as they leave the coast of France.
At 1930 GMT, in a live report, Tony Rae, helmsman/trimmer on board CAMPER reported that the team were reaching with Telefónica just up to weather and Groupama just behind. PUMA were a little further behind and to weather.“We would love to win this leg and a podium finish in the whole race would be very, very important to us. We are giving it everything to try to make that happen,” Rae said.As the crews were settling down for possibly the only full night at sea, dusk had given way to rain and a solid south westerly breeze, which is expected to take the fleet as far as the Fastnet Rock, off the coast of southwest Ireland, late on Monday morning. Read reported that the breeze is yet to increase and is lighter than expected and that the fleet is ploughing through a head sea but at a reaching angle. However, further inshore, Groupama were already feeling the effects of stronger breeze. “We have 21 knots at the moment and we are expecting 25 knots,” said bowman Brad Marsh, as Cammas and his team prepared for a sail change.
At 2000 GMT, the six-boat fleet had split with all but PUMA and Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) taking an inshore course leaving the Île de Sein to port. PUMA had passed the island 3.87 nm to the west with Sanya on the same offshore course. Just 0.9 nm separates Telefónica in first place from Sanya in sixth. Telefónica lead by 0.1 nm from CAMPER, with Groupama a further .70 nm behind.
July 1, 2012 - 1200 UTC, Leg 9 Day 1
TELEFÓNICA RIGHT BACK IN THE GROOVE AS GROUPAMA BID TO CLOSE OUT RACE
Leg 9 01/07/2012 11:47:10 UTC
&xnbsp; DTL DTLC BS DTF 1 TELE 0.00 0 17 513.7 2 PUMA 0.40 0 18.5 514.0 3 CMPR 0.50 0 17.5 514.1 4 ADOR 0.60 1 18 514.3 5 SNYA 0.70 1 17 514.3 6 GPMA 0.80 1 18.5 514.4 Overall Bretagne In-Port Race Total 1 Groupama sailing team 6 225 2 PUMA Ocean Racing by BERG 4 200 3 CAMPER with Emirates Team NZ 5 196 4 Team Telefónica 3 194 5 Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 2 124 6 Team Sanya 1 40
Media Zone ?
Telefónica smoked their rivals off the start line and led out into open water as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet set out on the final offshore leg of the 2011-12 event on Sunday -- with Groupama just needing a top-four finish to close out victory.
Having dropped to fourth overall following their terrible luck on Leg 8 and a fourth place in Saturday’s Bretagne In-Port Race, Telefónica&xnbsp;made their intentions clear right from the starting gun of the 550-mile leg from Lorient to Galway, stretching out an early lead around the 6.5-mile inshore course.
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Fotos: Ian Roman
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PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were the only team who managed to hang on to Telefónica’s coat tails around the inshore section as the two boats eked out a 60-second advantage.
An aggressive start-line manoeuvre from CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand saw them penalised and relegated temporarily to the back of the fleet, but slick crew work saw them pull back to third by the time the fleet rounded the final turning mark.
Meanwhile race leaders Groupama, with a 25-point buffer at the top of the leaderboard, opted for a more conservative approach at the back of the pack, safe in the knowledge that the next 48 hours hold fast conditions that suit their boat perfectly.
Prior to leaving their home port, Groupama skipper Franck Cammas said he was buoyed by the forecast but still mindful of the capabilities of his team’s rivals.
“The conditions are not so bad for our boat for sure, but the routing is very easy, it’s almost straight, and in these conditions all the boats are very fast,” he said.
“If we have one issue on our boat we could lose a lot of miles so it’s a little bit stressful in these conditions.”
Rather than heading straight to Ireland, the fleet must first sail south 25 miles round the island of Belle Ile, which promises to be a quick run in 15-18 knots of westerly wind.
Once round Belle Ile the fleet will get a chance to stretch their legs in south-westerly breeze blowing between 20 and 30 knots – perfect conditions for Volvo Open 70s to hit top speeds.
Although just 550 nautical miles long, the leg will throw up some challenges for the fleet and the first will come this evening in the form of an exclusion zone off the north-west tip of France.
The teams will most likely pass the zone to the south, having to dodge shipping traffic in big winds and total darkness. A cold front between France and Ireland could make things even more interesting with squalls and small storms to negotiate.
Several metres of swell blown across the continental shelf by a powerful low pressure system in the North Atlantic will be yet another challenge for the teams.
By late morning on Monday the fleet should be rounding Fastnet Rock, the most southerly tip of Ireland.
From there it’s a straight run up to the Aran Islands, a set of three islands marking the entrance to Galway Bay that boast 200-metre tall cliffs.
Eiragh lighthouse, at the western end of the Aran Islands, must be left to starboard before the fleet turn east and head for the finish line in Galway Bay.
The current ETA for the fleet is 0000 UTC on Tuesday.
Follow all the action from the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at www.volvooceanrace.com including rolling updates, regular live calls to the boats and a live race tracker. &xnbsp; &xnbsp;
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