Sport-heute: Sailing - FISHING NETS SLOW RUSSIANS' PROGRESS

03. Dezember 2008, 14:14

FISHING NETS SLOW RUSSIANS' PROGRESS

'We are on the emerald highway home and nothing is going to stop us from enjoying our last few days at sea. Even the rain that is falling now will not break our spirit,' said MCM Mark Covell from onboard Kosatka as they close on the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin.

cochin (mk) Earlier, the team had the unwelcome experience of being caught in a fishing net, when sailing in 12 knots of breeze. The crew had to drop the sails, including the mainsail, which was a five-crew operation, to stop the boat, and navigator Wouter Verbraak from The Netherlands was lowered into the water to cut the net free. In the darkness, it was hard for Verbraak to make out where the net was, and there was a serious risk of him becoming entangled with it as he dove a metre down to attach a sheet round the net so that the crew could pull it free.

'The scary bit about it all is that there were no lit buoys on either side of the net, and no more than some working lights on the fishing boat. On the next leg we can expect to see many more of these boats, so specialised boathooks and cutting devices are already widely discussed,' Verbraak said, adding that he doesn't wish to repeat his night time dive inside a fishing net.

At 1000 GMT today, Team Russia had 48 nm to run and were sailing at 12 - 13 knots. The team is expected to finish in Cochin in approximately four hours' time.

Leg Two Finishing Order into Cochin, India
1. Ericsson 4/SWE (Torben Grael/BRA)
2. Telefónica Blue/ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED)
3. Ericson 3/SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE)
4. Telefónica Black/ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP)
5. PUMA/USA (Ken Read/USA)
6. Delta Lloyd/NED (Roberto Bermudez/ESP)
7. Green Dragon/CHN/IRL (Ian Walker/GBR)
8. Team Russia/RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) (RACING)

Overall Leaderboard (Provisional)
1. Ericsson 4: 26 points (FINISHED)
2. Telefónica Blue: 19 points (FINISHED)
3. PUMA: 18 points (FINISHED)
4. Green Dragon: 16 points (FINISHED)
5. Ericsson 3: 14.5 points (FINISHED)
6. Telefónica Black: 13.5 points (FINISHED)
7. Delta Lloyd: 7.5 points (FINISHED)
8. Team Russia: 6.5 points (RACING)

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For EDITORIAL USE only, please credit: Mark Covell/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Mike Joubert and skipper Andreas Hanakamp change sails onboard Team Russia, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India