Sport-heute: Sailing - Die letzten 400 Meilen bis ins Ziel

25. Juni 2009, 12:46

Die letzten 400 Meilen bis ins Ziel

Heute startet die Volvo Ocean Race zu ihrer zehnten und letzten Etappe von Stockholm nach St.Petersburg. Noch ist nicht klar ob das Russische Boot eine Starterlaubnis bekommt. Mit dieser Etappe wird in zwei Tagen die 37.000 Meilen lange Seereise zu Ende gehen. Die Wetterprognosen sind viel- versprechend und mit 8-10 Knoten Wind geradezu ideal. Für Puma ist das Wetter nicht perfekt, den in solchen Situationen kann viel passieren und das Glück hilft da manchmal nach - sagt Puma Skipper Ken Read.

Brüttisellen, 25.6.09 (mk) Die Startliste

Crew List Leg Ten: Stockholm – St Petersburg

DELTA LLOYD

1. Roberto Bermúdez De Castro/ESP – skipper
2. Wouter Verbraak/NED – navigator
3. Sander Pluijm/NED – media crew member
4. Stuart Wilson/NZL – watch captain
5. Nick Bice/AUS – watch captain
6. Andre Fonseca/BRA – helmsman
7. Ben Costello/NZL – helmsman
8. Ed Van Lierde/NED – trimmer
9. David Pella/ESP – trimmer
10. Gerd-Jan Poortman/NED – bowman
11. Morgan White/AUS - bowman

No changes

ERICSSON 4

1. Torben Grael/BRA - skipper
2. Jules Salter/GBR - navigator
3. Guy Salter/GBR - MCM
4. Brad Jackson/NZL – watch captain
5. Stu Bannatyne/NZL – watch captain
6. Dave Endean/NZL - pitman
7. Horacio Carabelli/BRA - trimmer
8. Tony Mutter/NZL - trimmer
9. Joao Signorini/BRA - trimmer
10. Ryan Godfrey/AUS - bowman
11. Phil Jameson/NZL – bowman

No changes

ERICSSON 3

1. Magnus Olsson/SWE – skipper
2. Aksel Magdahl/NOR - navigator
3. Gustav Morin/SWE MCM
4. Thomas Johanson/FIN – helmsman/trimmer
5. Eivind Melleby/NOR - helmsman
6. Richard Mason/NZL - watch captain
7. Martin Strömberg/SWE – trimmer
8. Jens Dolmer/DEN - pitman
9. Anders Dahlsjö/SWE - bowman
10. Martin Krite/SWE - bowman
11. Arve Roaas/NOR – trimmer/helmsman

No changes

GREEN DRAGON

1. Ian Walker/GBR - skipper
2. Jean-Luc Nelias/FRA - navigator
3. Guo Chuan/CHN - MCM
4. Neal McDonald/GBR – watch captain
5. Damian Foxall/IRL – watch captain
6. Anthony Merrington/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
7. Phil Harmer/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
8. Andrew Mclean/NZL – pitman/trimmer
9. Justin Slattery/IRL – bowman
10. Freddy Shanks/GBR – bowman
11. James Carroll/IRL - trimmer

On:
Jean-Luc Nelias/FRA - navigator

Off:
Ian Moore/GBR - navigator

PUMA

1. Ken Read/USA - skipper
2. Andrew Cape/AUS - navigator
3. Rick Deppe/GBR MCM
4. Erle Williams/NZL – watch captain
5. Robert Greenhalgh/GBR – watch captain
6. Robert Salthouse/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
7. Shannon Falcone/ANT – bowman/pitman
8. Jerry Kirby/USA – bowman
9. Casey Smith/AUS – bowman/helmsman
10. Michael Müller/GER – helmsman/bowman
11. Craig Satterthwaite NZL – trimmer/driver

On: Jerry Kirby/USA – bowman
Off: Justin Ferris/NZL – helmsman/trimmer

TELEFÓNICA BLUE

1. Bouwe Bekking/NED - skipper
2. Simon Fisher/GBR - navigator
3. Gabriele Olivo/ITA – MCM
4. Iker Martinez/ESP - helmsman
5. Jonathan Swain/RSA – watch captain
6. Jordi Calafat ESP – helmsman
7. Xabier Fernandez/ESP - trimmer
8. Pablo Arrarte/ESP Spanish - trimmer
9. Laurent Pages/FRA – helmsman
10. Daryl Wislang/NZL - bowman
11. Pepe Ribes/ESP - bowman

No changes

Four Hundred Miles to the Finish

It was like the end of a school term at the skippers’ press conference in Stockholm today as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet prepares to tackle leg ten, a final, short, sprint to the overall finish line in St. Petersburg.

With just 400 miles remaining in a race around the world that measures over 37,000 nautical miles, and the leaderboard almost entirely decided, the finish line – the real one – is now in sight.

One leaderboard duel does remain. With a maximum of eight points available to the winner of the leg, PUMA leads Telefónica Blue by 6.5 points in the battle to finish second overall in the race.

The forecast is promising for the start on Thursday afternoon. A light northeasterly breeze of 8-10 knots is expected. But, as the leg progresses, the wind is forecast to ease. It could be a long 400 miles.

“This weather forecast is not perfect for us,” said PUMA skipper Ken Read. “We don’t want it to turn into a light air crap shoot because anything can happen that way. Telefónica can go and win the leg by 100 miles if they want; (but) we just have to beat one boat.”

“I think, realistically, they have sewn it up," countered Telefónica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking. "But it’s yacht racing and hopefully they sail the wrong way, come last and we come first. There would be a lot written if that happened. We’ll certainly be pushing hard for a win.”

Also making an appearance at the press conference today was Team Russia skipper Stig Westergaard, who brought the Russian boat, Kosatka, into Stockholm last night. They haven’t competed since leg three and the team is now engaged in a race against time to get rule compliant ahead of the start.

With Ericsson 4 having mathematically won the Volvo Ocean Race on the leg into Stockholm, the rest of the teams are sailing for pride. And, according to Telefónica Black skipper Fernando Echávarri, that will be motivation enough.

“This is the last chance we have to win a leg and we’ll try to do that," he said. "It’s more about personal pressure and trying to finish with a leg win, rather than pressure on the overall standing. It’s going to be good (weather) conditions for our boats so we’ll try to do our best to arrive in St Petersburg in the top position.”

Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael agreed it will be a competitive race: “We all owe it to our sponsors to get a good result and we are all very competitive people. A win is important to us.”

There will be full coverage of the start (web tv and audio commentary) and the leg (including a live race blog) at www.volvooceanrace.org and www.volvooceanrace.tv The start is scheduled for 12:00 GMT on Thursday, with an ETA in St. Petersburg on Saturday morning.

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Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Telefonica Blue, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) finish first in the Stockholm in-port race

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Telefonica Blue, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) finish first in the Stockholm in-port race

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Telefonica Black, skippered by Fernando Echavarri (ESP) finish third in the Stockholm in-port race

Sally Collison/PUMA Ocean Racing 21JUN09 PUMA Ocean Racing take 2nd place in the In Port Races, Stockholm. The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, visiting 11 ports over nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier ocean yacht race for professional racing crews.