Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012

[mpowlison]

May 31, 2012

ABU DHABI WINS LEG 7 AS GROUPAMA TAKES OVERALL LEAD IN VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2011-12



Lisbon, Portugal – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing shrugged off seven months of frustration to seal their first offshore victory in a nerve-jarring transatlantic leg from Miami to Lisbon, while Groupama’s second place finish – only five minutes behind after more than 3,500 nautical miles of racing – was enough to take them top of the overall leaderboard in place of long-term leaders Telefonica.

Groupama spent the entire day snapping at the heels of the Emirati team and were within a mile of their rivals as they headed up the River Tagus towards the finish line.

Abu Dhabi defended resolutely, however, matching their rivals manoeuvre for manoeuvre to ensure that their first podium finish on an offshore leg would also be their first win and spark wild celebrations lit up by a booming firework display.

For Groupama, the consolation prize came soon enough, as Telefonica’s 4th place finish -- behind PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG in third -- meant the French team move to the top of the overall standings with two off-shore legs and three In-Port Races still left in this 11th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Abu Dhabi, who finished at 21:23:54 UTC, received 30 points for victory, with Groupama netting 25 after their finish at 21:29:21. PUMA took 20 points, Telefonica 15 and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand with 10 – after the two had a scintillating neck-and-neck battle to the finish line. Team Sanya finished sixth and picked up five points.

Groupama, skippered by Franck Cammas, now lead Telefonica by 3 points overall, with the Spanish team dropping from the top spot on the leaderboard for the first time since their victory on Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town back in November.

Next up for the fleet is the Lisbon In-Port Race on Saturday, June 9 with the Leg 8 Start the following day.

[mpowlison]

June 8, 2012

CLOSEST EVER VOLVO OCEAN RACE DOWN TO THE WIRE IN FINAL MONTH

Lisbon, Portugal – The finish of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 is exactly one month away as the race is set to conclude the weekend of July 7-8 in Galway, Ireland. And the famed around-the-world race has never been closer in its 39-year history.

With three In-Port races, two offshore legs and a maximum 78 total points still up-for-grabs, this 11th edition of the race is proving to be the closest on record dating back to its beginnings in 1973.

Only 21 points separates overall leaders Groupama sailing team from fourth-place CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand. Spanish-entry Team Telefonica lie second overall, just three points behind the lead. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by Berg are third, another nine points back of Telefonica, having staged a remarkable comeback since dropping out of Leg 1 with a broken mast.

This is the 11th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, which began life as the “Whitbread Round the World Race” in 1973, and never before have four teams had a realistic chance of winning this close to the finish.

For the four teams still in contention for offshore sailing’s most prestigious prize the end game will be all about the pursuit of perfection with less than two weeks of sailing left and no more margin for error.

As the sailors and the boats creak under the effects of seven months of battle through the world’s toughest oceans, they must somehow raise their levels of concentration a notch higher.

With two short legs and three inshore races remaining, starting with Saturday’s Oeiras In-Port Race in Lisbon, just 21 points split four teams all vying for overall victory – and any slip-up in the five remaining scoring opportunities is now likely to be extremely costly.

Legs 8 and 9 are both significantly shorter than the other offshore stages in the 39,000 nm round the world race that started November 5, 2011 in Alicante, Spain. Only about nine or 10 days of off-shore sailing remain depending on conditions.

Lisbon to Lorient, France, is less than 2,000 miles while the sprint to Galway is under 500 miles -- and as the leg lengths decrease, the intensity ramps up in what promises to be the most thrilling finale to a Volvo Ocean Race in its 39-year history.

Along with the top four teams, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are in contention to win the overall In-Port Race series and are riding a wave of momentum from their Leg 7 transatlantic victory into Lisbon. Chinese-entry Team Sanya looks increasingly dangerous and could play the role of spoiler if they snag a podium finish in any of the last five races.

Each of the offshore legs offers 30 points to the winner, 25 for second, 20 for third, 15 for fourth, 10 for fifth and 5 for sixth. The hour-long in-port races score at 20 percent of that rate – 6 points for first, 5 for second and so on down to a single point for sixth.

[mpowlison]

June 9, 2012

GROUPAMA ADD TO OVERALL POINTS LEAD IN LISBON



Lisbon, Portugal – New race frontrunners Groupama sailing team stamped their authority on the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 today with a crucial win in the Oeiras In-Port Race, extending their overall lead to eight points with just four more scoring opportunities left.

After knocking Spanish-entry Telefónica off the top spot at the end of Leg 7, the team led by French skipper Franck Cammas dealt another blow to their rivals with a stellar performance on the waters of Lisbon’s River Tagus to take their points tally to 189.

American-entry PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG kept their hopes of an overall win alive and moved to the top of the in-port series rankings with a strong second place earning them five points, while CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand could also take heart as they took the third podium place. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing were fourth, followed by Sanya.

Telefónica were yet again left licking their wounds after a penalty turn for a start-line rule infringement on PUMA relegated them to the back of the pack. Their fate was sealed when the rope holding their spinnaker to the top of the mast broke, dumping the huge sail in the water.

As the gun fired at 1300 local time (1200 UTC) it was Groupama who enjoyed the best start, avoiding getting tangled up with their rivals to rocket down towards the first mark in 10-15-knot south-westerly winds.

Despite exchanging leading positions several times with CAMPER as the fleet blasted down the Tagus River past Lisbon’s iconic 25th of April Bridge, Groupama rounded the first mark ahead and never looked back, holding onto the front spot for the remainder of the 11.6nm course.

Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER managed to hold back Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi crew to record their fifth in-port race podium finish in eight races. The results see PUMA move to within five points of Telefónica for second overall, with CAMPER 10 points behind them in fourth on leaderboard.

The Leg 8 Start from Lisbon, Portugal to Lorient, France is Sunday at 12h00 UTC and 13h00 local-time in Lisbon. There are two offshore legs and two In-Port races remaining with the race concluding July 7 in Galway, Ireland.

This is the 11th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, which began life as the “Whitbread Round the World Race” in 1973, and never before have four teams had a realistic chance of winning this close to the finish.


Overall Race Leaderboard (after Oeiras In-Port Race)
1. Groupama sailing team 189
2. Team Telefónica 181
3. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG 176
4. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand 166
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing 107
6. Team Sanya 34

[mpowlison]

June 11, 2012

GROUPAMA SURGE ON RACE TO THE AZORES



Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA), who snatched the overall race lead from Telefónica after finishing second on the transatlantic leg from Miami to Lisbon, entered the Leg 8 reckoning in a menacing third place this morning at 0500 UTC as the fleet raced towards a high pressure zone hovering around the Azores, just shy of 600 nautical miles ahead.

The first night of the leg from Lisbon to Lorient in France produced plenty of variety at the top of the leg leaderboard as PUMA (Ken Read/USA), then Abu Dhabi (Ian Walker/GBR) and finally Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) all took turns to lead the fleet towards the Azores at a steady 18-20 knots.

Bunched tightly in the middle of the race track are Team Telefónica, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG and Groupama sailing team. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) are following the same course, but are struggling to keep pace with the leading three boats who are all from the board of Argentine designer Juan Kouyoumdjian. Three miles to windward are Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, while Mike Sanderson/NZL has taken Team Sanya 10 nm to leeward.

According to Stu Bannatyne, CAMPER’s co-skipper and watch leader, there is a pretty high chance that his team will be within eyesight of at least one other boat for the entire 1,950 nm leg to Lorient. “There aren’t that many options in terms of routing to get us to the Azores,” he explained as the team continued to fight for every boat length.

Ken Read and his men on board PUMA's Mar Mostro have not been off the podium since they finished second in the Sanya Haitang Bay in-port race. A serious contender for overall honours, the team are trying not to enter the ‘how many points to whom’ game. “It would be easy to do this because in an ocean race covering isn’t always an option, and thinking that way is more distracting than anything else,” remarked Media Crew Member Amory Ross. “The rational thing to do is to sail the boat as fast we know how, be tactically aggressive while minimising the risks, and hope for success."

As the teams approach the expected high-pressure slow-up around the Azores, it is likely that the fleet will compress, giving CAMPER an opportunity to get back in the mix. “The realistic objective is to arrive in ‘coo-ee’ of the others at the turning mark, then set up for what is now looking like some very heavy downwind running to reel them in again,” said CAMPER’s MCM Hamish Hooper.

At 0700 GMT today, the fleet was split by just short of 20 nm from Telefónica in first place, to Sanya in sixth, with 260 nm covered since the start from Lisbon at 1200 UTC on Sunday.

[mpowlison]

June 12, 2012

THREE BATTLE RAGES AS HIGH PRESSURE SLOWS THE FLEET



The top three teams overall in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 remained locked together in a titanic struggle on Tuesday as the fleet slowed slightly on the way to the only Leg 8 turning mark -- São Miguel island in the Azores archipelago.

At 1000 UTC Team Telefónica had nosed back in front of overall race leaders Groupama sailing team, after a night of dead heating for the lead, while within clear sight, in third, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG remained a constant threat to the leading duo.

Groupama navigator Jean-Luc Nélias said the light wind zone stretching as far as São Miguel had slightly thrown the advantage back to Telefónica and compressed the whole fleet over the last 12 hours.

‘’The wind dropped down and we now are in very light winds,” he said. “We are 50 metres away from Telefónica, we can see PUMA and on the horizon we can also see Abu Dhabi and CAMPER.

‘’Our speed advantage over on Telefónica has reduced as the wind got lighter -- we were faster yesterday in stronger winds. We managed to equal their speed last night but slowed down a bit today.”

However, by 1300 UTC Groupama were back in the lead pulling out a 2.1 nautical mile (nm) advantage on Telefónica after positioning themselves to the north in a strong position to cover the fleet on the remaining upwind section to São Miguel.

PUMA remained in third, five nm off the lead and three nm ahead of fourth placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand. Four nm back, Abu Dhabi were in fifth, with Team Sanya in sixth, 17 nm off first place.

PUMA skipper Ken Read said the competition for the top three places had been intense since leaving Lisbon on Sunday.

“It is certainly close,” he said. “Groupama and Telefónica are a couple of miles away. It’s all on, that’s for sure.”

Despite the unrelenting pressure, Read said the PUMA crew were treating the penultimate leg like any of the previous seven in this edition of the race.

“To be honest, it’s not affecting the crew,” he said. “We’re doing a completely normal watch system and treating it like any other leg right now. Tom (Addis, navigator) is at the computer and the guys on deck are just doing their job.

“So far the three of us have been glued to each other the entire leg, but hopefully these guys up ahead get caught up with each other and take their eye off us for a little while, we’ll see,” Read said.

Although currently fixated on finding the fastest path through the light airs of the high pressure, the fleet’s navigators are also keeping a wary eye on a potent low pressure system lurking to the north west which could deliver a fast run from the Azores to Lorient if tackled correctly.

“We think this leg is still going to be won or lost on the other side of the island,” Read said. “It’s a question of who can deal with the big breeze best -- and who can not break in the mean time.

“It’s going to be a big one and we’ve got to get ready for it,” confirmed Telefónica navigator Andrew Cape. “We have to reach into it to get more wind and the best course to Lorient.”

Needing to beat Groupama by two places to regain the overall lead, Cape said the Telefónica crew know they may have to push harder and take more risks than their French counterparts.

“Certainly the probability of breakages is the same for everybody and no one is going to be the first to take their foot off the pedal,” he said.

“We’re all going to go quite fast and it will be a tight race because no one will want to slow down -- although sometimes you might have to.

“It will be a very interesting aspect of this leg: just how much risk will be taken.”

Latest estimates suggest the boats will round the Azores waypoint in the early hours of June 13 on the way to the Leg 8 finish in Lorient, on the Brittany coast of France.