Sport-heute: Sailing - TRIMMING, STACKING AND STUDYING

26. Januar 2012, 09:10

TRIMMING, STACKING AND STUDYING

At 1000 UTC today, PUMA’S Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) continued her spell at the top of the leg leaderboard from the hard-pushing team on CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) who are three nautical miles (nm) behind, to lead the six-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet towards Pulau We, the waypoint that marks the entrance to the Malacca Strait. Daryl Wislang steering CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Credit: Hamish Hooper/CAMPER ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race).

Zürich, 25.1.12 Red. (mk) With just 463 nautical miles to go before an anticipated ‘restart’ at the entrance of the Malacca Strait, the stretch of water separating Sumatra and Singapore, the small gains made over the next two days will be significant, not least in psychological terms, when the fleet enters the second part of this leg in trying conditions.

Gains and losses here will not just be about the weather. A narrow channel packed with shipping, ocean debris and the ever-present small craft, often unlit and fishing with long lines at night, the Strait presents traps and hazards that can see a lead built up over days evaporate in hours.

“The game is about intricacies," says Nicholson. Minute changes in direction will have important consequences once the fleet reaches Pulau We. “This is really going to be a game of inches,” remarks CAMPER’s navigator, Will Oxley.

What might look like easy straight-line sailing is in fact an action-packed time for the six teams, who are constantly trimming, stacking and studying the weather, as well as each other’s performance, in order to make a small gain. “If shifting the stack like that means we gain a mere metre, then it’s definitely a worthwhile exercise,” Nicholson says.

In third, just over six nm on the port hip of PUMA's Mar Mostro, the crew of Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) is switching between close hauled and tight reaching, with both the leaders in vision, keeping the crew fully motivated.

The crew of the most windward boat in the fleet, Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP), 14 nm to windward of the fleet and in fourth place, is still recovering from the damage to their code zero and deck fitting suffered hours after the start. The team now have the sail hoisted and are working hard to make good the losses and catch the leaders.

“I think getting around the top of Sumatra and into the Malacca Strait is going to be a very tricky moment for the race and I think there will be some places to gain and lose there," said watch leader Neal McDonald (GBR) in a radio link today. “We seem to be going very well other than that setback which was a disaster really that the guys recovered well from. It cost us a lot and it put us on the back foot really."

The crew of sixth-placed Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) consider the Malacca Strait to be their big opportunity on this leg to their homeport in China. Lacking the speed of the newly constructed Volvo Open 70s, Sanderson will try to use the fluky breeze and other hazards to his best advantage.

“We are preparing for sleepless nights on board in the hope that we can take an opportunity to slip past some of the fleet,” wrote MCM Andrés Soriano today.

Meanwhile, as the fleet ploughs on, conditions on board are stifling, both on deck and below. Sleep is near to impossible in the sauna created not only by the scorching sun, but also by the generator used to create power on board, usually run at night when it is marginally cooler. Morale, however, across the fleet remains high in anticipation of exciting times ahead.

Leg 3
Report: 25/01/2012 10:02:48 UTC
	DTL	DTLC	BS	DTF
1			PUMA	0.00	0	10.5	2166.6
2			CMPR	3.00	0	10.2	2169.6
3			GPMA	6.10	0	10.3	2172.7
4			TELE	10.10	7	12.8	2176.7
5			ADOR	19.90	1	9.3	2186.5
6			SNYA	25.70	0	10.1	2192.3

TELEFÓNICA CHAMPING AT THE BIT

There’s no holding back the overall race leader Team Telefónica, with Spaniard Iker Martínez in charge, as they pulled back almost 10 miles on the Leg 3 leaders today jumping two places up the rankings in the process. All afternoon she has been threatening the fleet from her controlling position to windward and, at 1600 today, she rolled Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) to take up third place.

Telefónica are this evening just over a mile behind second-placed CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) who in turn are 6.6 nm astern of the long-time leg leader PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA). Telefónica’s strong position to windward could provide Martínez with the ammunition he needs to translate 14 nm of leverage into distance ahead.

Telefónica lost more than 10 miles on the leaders early in the leg while positioning themselves to the north, but navigator Andrew Cape was relishing in the fruits of his labour today as his team carved chunks out of PUMA’s advantage.

“The [decision to go north] caused a lot of initial pain, and that might have affected other people’s decision not to do it,” Cape said.

“But we knew we’d get rewards in a day and a half so we’re pretty happy now. Two days down the road it’s paying back.

“If you’re winning you’re not going to throw away miles, and going north when we did was a loss of 10 miles instantly.

“Most people don’t want to do that, but we didn’t’ really mind because we were looking at the long term picture.”

Leg 3
Report: 25/01/2012 19:00:44 UTC
	DTL	DTLC	BS	DTF
1			PUMA	0.00	0	9.8	2075.6
2			CMPR	6.60	1	9.5	2082.2
3			TELE	7.30	2	9.4	2082.9
4			GPMA	7.80	1	9.5	2083.4
5			ADOR	22.60	0	9.8	2098.1
6			SNYA	30.50	0	9.9	2106.0

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Team Sanya, Teng Jiang He and Cameron Dunn during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Credit: AndrŽs Soriano/Team Sanya/Volvo Ocean Race)

Team Sanya, Teng Jiang He during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Credit: AndrŽs Soriano/Team Sanya/Volvo Ocean Race)

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Credit: Nick Dana/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race)

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, Wade Morgan during leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China. (Credit: Nick Dana/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race)