Leg 3

[Guest]

Leg 3

Report: 31/01/2012 14:47:07 UTC

DTL DTLC BS DTF

1 TELE 0.00 0 11 901.7

2 GPMA 3.60 6 10.8 905.3

3 PUMA 10.80 16 10.5 912.5

4 ADOR 72.60 9 10 974.3

5 CMPR 79.20 19 9.7 980.9

6 SNYA 179.70 1 11 1081.4

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Team Telefónica were fending off relentless attacks from Groupama sailing team on Tuesday, clinging to the lead as the fleet continued the race through the South China Sea.

 

Groupama’s persistence took them to within four nautical miles of Telefónica, the overall race leaders, at 1440 UTC, with PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG a lurking presence 11 miles behind the frontrunner.

 

"It's going to be tight with Groupama,” said Telefónica’s Australian navigator Andrew Cape. “They're a good team and very hard to get rid of.”

 

The teams, relieved to be out of the Malacca Strait, were sailing against the wind towards a final landfall prior to what looks set to be a straight-line slog over 500 nm to the Vietnamese coast on their way to the Leg 3 Stage 2 finish in Sanya.

 

On their way to China, the fleet must leave a large archipelago 150 nm off the eastern coast of Malaysia on their left.

 

As the leading trio closed in on Selia Island on the archipelago’s easternmost tip, Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica were still doing just enough to keep Franck Cammas’ Groupama sailing team at bay.

 

“They're way too close for our liking,” said Cape. "You have to react very quickly when they do something because you don't want to take chances when they're that close. You have to react very fast to their manoeuvres. It's going to be very interesting to watch.”

 

Cape’s opposite number on Groupama, Jean-Luc Nélias, said the fight was too close to call with such a long way to go.

 

“Ridiculous this lead in view of what lies ahead," he said, adding: "We are still happy to be where we are."

 

Some 80nm astern, Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand lived up to their reputation as being fast upwind, revelling in the 15 knot north easterly winds to position themselves to the east of Ian Walker’s fourth-place Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

 

Abu Dhabi watch captain Robert Greenhalgh said he expected opportunities to open up in the gale force winds and big seas expected in the next 24 hours.

 

“As the breeze builds things may well even up,” he said. “Once the wind’s up above 25 knots and the sea state builds, it’s anyone’s game.”

 

After a difficult passage through the Malacca Strait section, which saw them drop to over 179 nm from the lead, Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya were the last boat to exit the Singapore Strait.

 

Media Crew Member Andrés Soriano said the Chinese team had narrowly avoided becoming ensnared in the floating net of an uncommunicative fisherman.

 

Sanya passed the Horsburgh Lighthouse and joined the rest of the fleet in the South China Sea at around 1400 UTC today.

 

Revised estimations now suggest the leading boats could complete the second stage of Leg 3 to Sanya as early as February 4.

 

Team Sanya will receive full Leg 3 points when they finish at their homeport, as they were unable to take part in Stage 1 because of a rigging problem, while the other five teams will receive 80 per cent of the leg points.

[Guest]

The updates are stuffed at the moment. Camper are not 200nm behind telefonica and it has to be an error from the volvos computers. Its annoying me so I wont out an update out untill they fix it. Check out the other thread for more info about the flaws at the moment

 

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=18711

[Guest]

Oh yea. For people like me who thought that the boats wernt going to get a work out going this way.........heres the weather forecast for the next several days

 

Sailing Weather Forecast

Leg 3 Stage 2 - Abu Dhabi to Sanya

 

Issued 0300Z 31-JAN-2012

 

Synopsis:

 

A trough of low pressure oriented SW to NE along 05N/110E to 15N/120E continues to weaken at 31/03Z. A NE Monsoon surge is moving south through the South China Sea. Most of the South China Sea north of 07N is marked by 20-25 knots NE'ly flow with significant acceleration around the Vietnamese coast and an E-W line of strong convection just southeast of Vietnam from 108E to 113E.

 

Thin SE-NW oriented lines of thunderstorms and squalls move north and west over Singapore and the Natuana Sea at 31/03Z while weakening somewhat.

 

Over the next 24-48 hours, the NW Monsoon surge extends southward through the South China Sea with fresh 20-25 knots NE'ly flow north of 05N by 01/03Z. Winds in excess of GALE FORCE are expected from the coast of Vietnam out to 125nm from the coast.

[Guest]

fresh of the camper boat

 

On day ten of Leg Three CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand has begun the long beat to Sanya with CAMPER heading for the Vietnam coast and a building monsoon weather system that will deliver strong head winds and steep seas.

 

After closing up on the frontrunners yesterday CAMPER has stayed in striking distance overnight.

 

This differs from the data being displayed by the Volvo Ocean Race tracker which is currently not giving an accurate picture of the situation on the water and appears to be having some telemetry issues. For example the last four schedule reports from Volvo have shown CAMPER dropping 133 miles on the leader despite having very similar boat speed and conditions.

 

This has led to some confusion but latest reports from on the boat confirm them as being only 30 to 35 miles behind third placed Puma not 142 miles as suggested by the Volvo tracker, and 50 to 60 miles off the lead not 200 as suggested by the Volvo tracker.

 

With the fleet heading for the Vietnam coast and into a developing weather front they face a tactical decision of whether to head in close or stay further out to sea. The coastal route is higher risk/higher reward offering the potential of much better breeze strength and angle, but also the risk of strong currents, wind shadow and obstructions such as fishing boats and nets. The offshore option is less complicated and lower risk but generally does not offer the potential large gains that inshore does.

 

CAMPER Skipper Chris Nicholson says that they as they head into strong head winds they are weighing up the constant issue of how hard they can push the boat.

 

“In a decent blow the difference between pushing the boat that little harder or not could easily equate to the 30 odd miles of ground that Puma currently has over us. But it could also equate to the difference between a leg ending breakage or not so it’s a pretty fine balancing act.

“We’ve got plenty of confidence in this boat though and a lot of hard upwind miles behind us so we’re relatively comfortable with the type of conditions that are coming up.

 

“We just need to keep on chipping away, sailing fast, not making any mistakes and taking any opportunities that are presented to us.

 

“There’s still 900 miles of racing ahead of us in this leg and we need to make the most of every one of them.”

 

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1500h 1 February NZT is averaging 12.3 knots in a 13 knot north easterly.

[Guest]

The tracker is working properly and look at this. Camper are up to third and are lifting nicely compeered to the rest of the fleet with extra speed as well. Puma are further east than them so its close for third, but for the Camper fans out there, they are back in the race and could even catch the leaders. On that note of the leaders, Telefonica tacked to go east but have come back setting up a interesting cross with Groupama when they text back.

[Guest]

Camper continue their surge on the even of some lovely 25 knot plus winds while Puma continue to go west and suffer on the distance to finish meter. This however is not the reality and Puma are in a strong position if the winds go there way as they are the furthermost boat east and the tracker doesnt reward it as much as going north (infact its only rewarded them 4nm in the last update). Ill keep my eye on it in case this is another computer problem.

[Guest]

Video time and the pr from volvo

 

 

 

 

PUMA skipper Ken Read launched a surprise tactical gamble on Wednesday that could take the Leg 3 fight all the way to the wire, with the American taking his team offshore just as Telefónica led the main fleet towards the coast of Vietnam.

 

In a calculated risk taken with the team’s need for points in mind, Read defied conventional wisdom by investing in a position around 150 nautical miles to the east of the fleet as the race to Sanya in China enters a fraught final phase.

 

The move relegated PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG to fifth in the leg standings with less than 800 nautical miles to go as the rest of the leaders headed north towards Vietnam, the more traditional route.

 

With the other teams preparing for a 35-knot upwind battering, PUMA were banking on kinder winds, less tide and a better sea state to put them in contention for their first leg win. Success in the leg would also see them make vital gains on the overall race leaderboard where they currently lie in fourth place, 35 points behind Telefónica.

 

“It’s a case of make or break really,” said PUMA helmsman Jonathan Swain. “We’ve seen an opportunity which we can possibly capitalise on so we decided to take it. We were in line with the two leading boats but we decided to take an opportunity and try to win this thing. Looking at the scoreboard right now we had to do something, and here’s the opportunity to do it.

 

“There’s only three days left, only 800 miles left. We had two possibilities: one going up the coast of Vietnam hard on the wind and against the tide, and the other going further east and coming in to Sanya on a better angle with favourable current. It was a really tough decision to make for the navigator and skipper but this is the course we’ve chosen and so now we’re hoping it pans out for us.”

 

Swain said it would only be clear whether their move had worked in the dying moments of the leg.

 

“It’s going to be nail-biting,” he said. “It’s very stressful on board because we’re not seeing gains straight away.”

 

At the front of the pack, Groupama sailing team continued their persistent hounding of Team Telefónica, which saw them at times get to within one mile of the leaders.

 

“We were so close to overtaking Telefónica at least three times,” said Groupama helmsman Erwan Israël. “It really was a matter of one metre. This race is of incredible intensity -- each metre is crucial. We gave everything.

 

At 1300 UTC the gap between the leading pair was up to seven nautical miles, but Israël said their fight was far from over.

 

“Now the game is more open,” he said. “The racecourse is larger and the boats are going in every direction. That’s offshore sailing. We are on the western side and are looking forward to see what happens next.”

 

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand moved up to third place closing the gap to Telefónica to less than 40nm. Co-skipper Stu Bannatyne said his team, well trained in heavy weather upwind sailing, were waiting for their moment to strike as the finish line neared.

 

“Hopefully we can just chip away and gain a bit here and there and get close enough for a crack on the final sprint in to the finish in Sanya,” he said.

 

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing faced a nerve-wracking 48 hours as they sailed into tough conditions akin to those which saw their yacht Azzam dismasted within six hours of the Leg 1 start.

 

“I would be lying if I said I was not worried about our mast and rigging, but all the signs are that things should be OK,” Walker said. “The big test will be when we go for the heavy weather jib and two reefs in the mainsail for the first time in anger since stepping this spare mast back in December.”

 

Team Sanya were just over 250nm behind the leg leaders at 1300 UTC having pulled back two nm in the three hours prior to the report.

 

“We would love to pick off a couple of boats and we are always looking for opportunities back here,” said watch captain Richard Mason. “In reality that would mean a breakdown or gear failure on one of the other boats. This morning we had our bowman up the rig checking all the fittings ahead of the heavy weather. There’s a point at which you stop racing and start surviving and that’s about 35 knots.”

 

Team Sanya will receive full Leg 3 points when they finish at their home port, as they were unable to take part in Stage 1 because of a rigging problem, while the other five teams who successfully completed the first stage of Leg 3 will receive 80 per cent of the points for completing the second stage.

[Guest]

The latest from camper with emtnz

 

Hamish Hooper blogs from on board CAMPER….

 

As we were sitting on the stack sailing along last night a couple of the guys thanked me for making a good dinner. As it turned out they both were surprised to hear it was something completely different to what I had cooked, Adam thought it was Honey Soy Chicken, Animal thought it was Beef Teriyaki- I had cooked a Lamb Stir fry.

 

I guess this shows how good a cook I am.

 

While on the topic of food, there has been a bit of unrest emerging again amongst the guys with the unspeakable happening- people have been missing out of their daily ration of biltong. This can only mean one thing- someone is stockpiling.

 

I have my suspicions but am not one to point fingers without having some concrete evidence so I can come down on them with an iron fist. I am subtly investigating, but the fact there is so much unrest about it from everyone I think the culprit has ceased criminal activity- at least for now.

 

I am considering installing 24-hour video surveillance around the food bags.

 

Life onboard is a mixed bag, it’s becoming more comfortable with the temperature dropping, but on the flip side is now becoming less comfortable with the increasing sea swell. Cooking and cleaning in the galley is once again becoming like riding a bucking bronco standing up.

 

I have a sense that the last 4 days of this legs are going to be rather full on.

 

There is big discussion in the nav station about our final route to Sanya. Until a couple of hours ago it looked like most of the fleet were going to take the coastal route, sailing north to close to the Mekong River mouth before tucking into the Vietnam coast and short tacking up there to minimize the effect of the current. Since then it seems Puma has tacked away and opted for a more easterly route, also Telefonica has tacked away, either to come across to our line or also take the easterly route away from the coast.

 

These seemingly late changes in tack may have something to do with the weather, which is looking pretty rough, windy and unpleasant with one local Chinese weather model forecasting up to 48 knots. One line of thinking is it could be too heinous for the fishermen to be out, so less fishing nets to avoid, I don’t really see much comfort in this thought other than it possibly presents a small sniff of opportunity for us on CAMPER.

 

Here’s a fact for you:

 

The Mekong River is 2800 miles long and begins in the mountains of Tibet and flows through China, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam before emptying into the South China Sea.

That’s a big river.

——————————————————————————————————

 

GOLDEN QUOTE: “It’s getting pretty interesting now as the fleet start tacking up the South China Sea, again the question- East or West, which is best?

We expect the fishing fleet of Vietnam to be as numerous as in the Straits of Malacca but the reality is we know far less about this coastline. No body sails there because it’s too rough, that is except for the Volvo Ocean Race.” WILL OXLEY

 

 

and from groupama

 

 

Already 36 hours of upwind sailing to their credit, in a north-easterly breeze which is building the further North and the closer the fleet get to the Vietnamese coast. Though Telefonica, neck and neck with Groupama 4, has opted for the most direct route, the same cannot quite be said of their pursuers, and the Americans in particular, who have peeled right away to the East.

 

The climb up to China isn't proving to be at all restful and the increasingly steep ascent of the waves is now coloured by an avalanche of spray and big waves... The boats are engaged in a full-on sleigh ride and harnesses are very much the order of the day as they attempt to withstand the severe pasting as best they can. Indeed, it's now necessary to hook yourself on before climbing up on deck and you just have to hang on in there so as not to get flattened by a torrent of water. The atmosphere is somewhat reminiscent of a rock climb for the Spanish and French crews, who are leading the way on the tricky ascent via the North face. The structure and rig on the VO-70s are particularly under pressure and the bodies are being bruised by the severe hammering and the violent shakes, which spread like a shockwave throughout the carbon hull. On Groupama 4, the whole crew has gradually prepared itself for the next two-day non-stop luge run, as Charles Caudrelier announced this Wednesday morning.

 

"We're on a tack which will take us towards the South-East tip of Vietnam. The wind is gradually beginning to increase, since we already have fifteen knots and we're expecting a lot more breeze at the end of the day, as it is set to reach over twenty-five knots. Most importantly, the seas are building and we're beginning to really slam now! We've prepared for these conditions as we're going to have a pretty difficult period of sailing for around twenty hours. We've made sure we're well rested as we're not going to get much sleep due to the tack change manoeuvres, which call for everyone to be on deck. We've got out our boots and foulies, which had been stowed away since we left the Maldives. Up till now we've been sailing in a maximum of fifteen knots, in shorts and T-Shirt."

 

 

Bumpy ride ahead

 

After exiting the Singapore Straits, the fleet split into several groups in its bid to extract itself from the archipelagos dotted along the course: Franck Cammas and his men opted for the shortest trajectory of all, accompanied by the Spanish, on a beat to skirt the island of Selia. They were tailed by the Americans, who then broke away level with Natuna Besar, diving due East to end up 130 miles further offshore than the two leaders. Meantime, the New Zealanders and the Emiratis went for an intermediary route, all of which is explained below.

 

"Some of the other competitors, and the Americans in particular, went for a different option, because we were confronted with a more northerly wind than the one forecast. They made the most of these conditions to reposition themselves further offshore, as they were further behind and probably wanted to try to pull a flier rather than going for a straight drag race. We're keen to home in on the shores of Vietnam as quickly as possible so as to avoid the strongest of the general current in the area and play the effects of land with a favourable wind rotation. Things remain pretty tense, since they've made a bit of ground on us. We're hoping to make gains ourselves as the day draws to a close and we're nearer the land. However, the actual weather conditions aren't quite how they appear on the grib files so we're calling ourselves into question a fair bit all the same," explained Charles Caudrelier.

 

It should also be taken into account that Puma dismasted during the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. As such Ken Read no longer has a joker to play should he suffer further rig damage (the same is true for Ian Walker on Abu Dhabi). Above all though, the Americans are more keen to sail on flatter seas and in a more favourable wind, on a direct course towards Sanya, which is exactly what they're doing early this Wednesday afternoon, with around ten knots of breeze coming virtually from due East. In this way they're able to sail nearly 15° higher on considerably smoother seas and are likely to make up some ground over the coming hours if they continue in this vein. However, it remains to be seen whether this will be enough to make up their deficit of over a hundred miles once Puma too reaches the Vietnamese coast with a wind which is set to back round to the North-East? Verdict at noon on Thursday...

[Guest]

Fresh of the press

 

Tonight at 2200 UTC, Iker Martínez/ESP and Team Telefónica were 43 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam, having made small gains on the fleet throughout the day in worsening conditions.

 

The weather has continued to close in on the four boats, which are racing towards the shore. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas/FRA) are now just over nine nm behind, while in third and 42 nm further back, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) has successfully fought of advances from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) who is now 82 nm off the lead. Wind speeds continue to hover around 22 knots, with occasional gusts reaching just short of 30. The boats are slamming and the sailing is wet, unpleasant and extremely exhausting.

 

Although it is windy, it is the sea state rather than the wind strength that usually gives rise for concern among racing crews. Off the coast, there is an adverse current, and the leading pack of four will try to sail on a ledge of between 10 – 50 metres in depth to try to avoid the worst of it. There is very little information available on conditions in this region and the sea state here in the shallower waters is likely to be something of an unknown quantity.

 

In a make or break move, Read and his men on board PUMA’s Mar Mostro are now 127 nm to the east of fourth placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. By staying east, they are hoping to avoid the worst of the weather, as well as the numerous tacks the opposition faces in the race up the coast of Vietnam towards the finish. Instead, Read plans to sail wide and fast and approach the finish in Sanya on a better angle with cracked sheets and a favourable current. While the leading four engage in a tack-fest for the next 130 nautical miles or so, it will not be clear until the final hours of the race to Sanya whether PUMA’s tactic was a winning or losing move.

 

Although 75 nm to the east of the track taken by Telefónica earlier, it is not yet clear which option Mike Sanderson/NZL and sixth-placed Team Sanya will take. Sanya is the team’s homeport and a big welcome will be waiting for them on arrival. While they will push as hard as they can, they are now 266 nm behind and with 820 nm still to sail, they will not want to take any unnecessary chances at this stage.

[Guest Crafty 1]

SC, good effort, but may I suggest a shorter bullet point version. For the people with low interest and time.

 

Cheers mate.

[RushMan 31]

SC, good effort, but may I suggest a shorter bullet point version. For the people with low interest and time.

 

Cheers mate.

 

Crafty... Try a speed reading course

 

Stephen is doing a great job keeping crew.org up to date with the VOR... Keep up the great work

[Guest]

SC, good effort, but may I suggest a shorter bullet point version. For the people with low interest and time.

 

Cheers mate.

 

Crafty... Try a speed reading course

 

Stephen is doing a great job keeping crew.org up to date with the VOR... Keep up the great work

 

The Press releases only come out in the early hours of the morning so thats why they have more words in them. The afternoon and evening updates are a lot smaller and tend to only be a couple of sentences as its what ive thought of the race. The problem that I have with the press releases is that by the time I get the PRs they are out of date but hold information that is nice to know as we've all been asleep while a large chunk of the Volvo has passed. To get around it I throw it out there all at once so its not to irrelevant and I do cut out the ones that are to out of date so its not to boring to read.

[Guest]

Well now its interesting. Look at the different headings on the two different tacks. As Puma stated earlier "the wind is due to swing right later on" and it has. This is great news for Puma who are going to cash in here as they lift possibly all the way to Sanya and will hurt Camper who I will put my money on finishing 4th now.

[Guest]

Well my comments of Puma being able to head straight for Sanya seem to be wrong as the wind is going to go back to the left as it continues to increase, but its gains all the way into the coast for them untill it does. The only question to be asked at the moment is what will the distance be between them and Telefonica when they cross as they were 10nm behind when they tacked away.

[Guest Rocket]

Looks to me like Camper hits higher average speeds and is tracking at least as high as the other two - I think this boat race is still wide open. Camper has sailed 15-20 miles further for the last 24 hour run - and that with the leaders sailing into more pressure.

 

Puma looks to be a bit unlucky - dangers of being in a corner - they are having to wear a quite a lower course coming in on starboard. Having said that if tey do get the same lift as the inshore boats they will have a good lead but the lift might just be geographic...

 

The tracker doesn't seem to understand upwind - wonder how sophisticated the "leader" and "distance to leader" algorithm is?

[Guest]

Looks to me like Camper hits higher average speeds and is tracking at least as high as the other two - I think this boat race is still wide open. Camper has sailed 15-20 miles further for the last 24 hour run - and that with the leaders sailing into more pressure.

 

Puma looks to be a bit unlucky - dangers of being in a corner - they are having to wear a quite a lower course coming in on starboard. Having said that if tey do get the same lift as the inshore boats they will have a good lead but the lift might just be geographic...

 

The tracker doesn't seem to understand upwind - wonder how sophisticated the "leader" and "distance to leader" algorithm is?

 

Great call rocket. it hasnt panned out as well as what puma would have wanted while the leaders have lifted well with camper doing the best. the question that I have is how well will camper go when they have to tack and how much ground will they loose on telefonica...or will they gain?.

[Guest]

The wind is going to be a little all over the place in the next 24 and is going to swing depending on what the boats do. It swinging back north close to land, but its going right the further east they go. What are going to be the options? this could be a great finish to this race and I wouldnt be surprised if theres another lead change.

[Guest]

New blog from Camper and its early....so they must be happy

 

Today is Groundhog Day. Not because today is the same as all of the others, in fact it’s quite the opposite. It’s windy and bumpy as hell.

 

But it actually is Groundhog day, February 2, when all over North America people dress up in top hats and tuxedos gather around and wait for a large ground squirrel to tell them when winter is going to end. The biggest of these get-togethers is in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, at the Gobbler’s Knob – home of Punxsutawney Phil the Groundhog made famous by the awesome movie, “Groundhog Day”.

 

Advocates of the hog believe it has between 75% – 90% accuracy in predicting the end of winter. You’ve got to laugh when the National Climatic Data Centre said is actually more like 39%

 

Lucky for us we don’t have to carry a large rodent on board to give us our weather information. The weather models we get on board are pretty good. Unfortunately though they are telling us that we will be in pretty rough upwind weather most of the way to the finish some 560 miles away. So it’s shaping up to be a hard and tiring slog, and touch wood things won’t be made tougher by the abundance of fishing nets.

 

There are fishing boats all around out here now, even in the 25 knots and short sharp 2-3 metre seas we are pounding into, they are still out hauling in the fish.

 

Often in the rough weather conversation on deck is at its best. This morning we touched on a couple of interesting topics: what is the difference between a se’ (as in South China Sea) and an ocea’ (as in the Indian Ocean)?

 

And irony – which is always a tricky topic.

 

Andy McLean said that it was ironic that today is Groundhog Day because it is unlike any other day we have had all leg – this is ironic.

 

Stu and Mike just started quoting lines from the Alanis Morrisette song, which I don’t think has any good examples of irony. I think the irony of the song “ironic” is that it doesn’t have any good examples of irony in it.

 

It’s never easy to come up with things that are truly ironic.

 

I’m sure you get a picture of how a few of us spent the next hour or so taking our minds off the stinging spray and constant thumping.

 

This race still hangs in the balance, with Telefonica looking like it’s in a strong position, as does Groupama. Things could also potentially come good for Puma who have taken the easterly option.

 

For CAMPER, the guys are plugging away relentlessly, working on doing everything possible to get us into a position we could potentially move up a place on the boats ahead of us. With a few favorable wind shifts and a bit of good luck this isn’t far from possibility.

 

We are not far at all now from the Vietnam coast, once there the tack fest will begin

 

Here’s a fact bit of drivel for you:

 

If it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from it burrow it will leave the burrow signifying that winter will soon end. If it’s sunny and the groundhog sees its own shadow it will retreat back into its burrow and means the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.

 

Why not just listen to the weather readerl on TV instead of a rodent? Great movie though.

 

GOLDEN QUOTE: “ Less than a Sydney Hobart race to go, and feeling a lot like we are in one as we bash our way up wind. On a positive note it’s a lot warmer than the Hoey will ever be.”

 

STU BANNATYNE

[Guest]

I just figured out after months of the volvo happening that I can put links to audio files up. Ill start doing it tomorrow

[Guest]

While camper has gained 11nm on the leader Telefonica on the data tables, their gain is very deceptive as the tracker does not reward movement east as much as movement north. Telefonica had to tack east again to help them move past the Vietnamese coast and have only just tacked back to head north and will have to repeat the process again in several hours. Camper and Groupama are now locked into a battle for second (who would have thought two days ago) and still have to travel east and follow Telefonicas trail untill they pass the coast and will suffer on the data tables next update because of it. From there the game is unknown, but I wouldnt be surprised if they headed east in search of a starboard tack lift all the way into Sanya which should benefit Telefonica as there boat sails better than the rest on a reaching angle.