Leg 3

[Guest]

as I said last night I have discovered that I can let you guys listen to some audio thats coming of the boat, so here it is.

 

Kelvin-Puma

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... harrap.mp3

 

Will- Camper

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... _oxley.mp3

 

Daryl- Camper

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... islang.mp3

 

Craig- Abu Dhabi

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... hwaite.mp3

 

Ryan-Sanya

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... ouston.mp3

[Guest]

[Guest]

From volvo

 

After two weeks and over 2500 nautical miles (nm) of sailing on the second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya in China, today the top five boats are separated by just four hours as they take on a gruelling 500 nm beat to the finish.

 

Overall race leaders Team Telefónica were the first to reach the coast of Vietnam overnight and this morning began an arduous zigzag along the shore, tacking on average once an hour to avoid the worst of a strong south westerly flowing current.

 

Nine nautical miles behind Telefónica, second placed Groupama sailing team continued to put pressure on the leader, while keeping a wary eye on third placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, who have been making steady gains.

 

A gutsy attempt to sail around the fleet by PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG came to nothing this morning, after they encountered an unexpected light wind zone and an anticipated right hand wind shift failed to materialise.

 

This turn of events now leaves PUMA in a battle with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing for fourth place.

 

Sixth placed Team Sanya continue to make steady progress toward their home port but with over 600 nm to sail they trailed the fleet by some 22 hours.

 

Overnight all the teams were pummelled by 25-knot head winds and steep waves as they dodged floating debris in the South China Sea on the approach to the Vietnam coast.

 

On Abu Dhabi, skipper Ian Walker confessed he would be glad when the upwind sailing was over and told of a collision with an unidentified floating object in the night.

 

“OK I admit it - I have had enough of sailing upwind!” he said. “Sadly we still have another 250 upwind miles or so to go before we can ease sheets and head directly for Sanya.

 

“Something hit our daggerboard and rudder hard in the night and I was pretty glad when Junior (helmsman Andrew Lewis) reported that both were still intact.

 

“Given the amount of tree trunks, crates and other debris we see in the day I consider we got off lightly,” he added.

 

Walker said the Abu Dhabi crew had been monitoring PUMA closely to see how the breakaway move to the east made several days ago would pan out.

 

“It will be interesting over the next 10 hours to see how Puma come out of their far eastern strategy,” he said. “It looks relatively evenly poised between them and perhaps Camper from where I am sitting right now.”

 

On PUMA skipper Ken Read was taking a more pessimistic view of his team’s situation.

 

“The mood on board is very sombre right now I can tell you,” he said. “It was all looking very promising until we got a big header which sent us pointing back towards Vietnam.

 

“Without that we were right in the hunt but with this header it is sending us right to the back of that pack. Hopefully it’s just a blip and it will come back, but every minute is costing us miles right now.”

 

Read said the wind had been less fearsome than expected but the sea state was proving energy sapping for the already weary crew and stronger breeze was expected for the night time.

 

“It hasn’t been brutal from a breeze standpoint but the waves have been awful,” he said. “Short, steep, lousy waves. In these boats it’s never the wind that gets you, it’s the waves. That wears you out a little bit.

 

“We were expecting a little more breeze than we’ve had so far but we’re expecting more to come.”

 

Telefónica Navigator Andrew Cape said the race and leg leaders were feeling the effects of almost two weeks of non-stop racing but were otherwise positive about their situation.

 

“We have got plenty of food but not a lot of rest,” he said. “It’s been quite tough with a lot of tacking and it's not over yet. It’s been hard but everyone sees the light at the end of the tunnel and you know there’s plenty of time to recover then.”

 

Cape said the Spanish team were now sailing their own race but keeping a loose cover on the fleet.

 

“You have got to pick the right place to tack – the right angle’” he said. “If you tack too early you could end up with the wrong current.

 

“At the end of the day you have to go where you think is best and temper that a bit with where the opposition are and modify it a bit. Just to make sure you hang on to what you have got.”

 

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson confessed that since closing on the Vietnam shoreline it had been difficult to pick an obvious way to go.

 

“It’s been one of the most bizarre tactical situations I think I’ve ever seen. Normally you have boats that are on certain wind shifts but these have been progressive shifts based on the geography of Vietnam, mixed in with some current and fishing nets.

 

“It’s been a minefield trying to work out which way to go. I think we’ve done a reasonable job of it but some people are perhaps struggling with it.”

 

Nicholson said he expected a busy time ahead when CAMPER left the coast and headed out into higher winds and the strongest current.

 

“There´s going to be a fair bit going on tonight,” he said. “When we exit the coast we will be exiting the most south east part of Vietnam and it will be like rounding a cape – windy and potential for confused seas.

 

“We’ll have our wits about us for that bit,” he said.

 

According to Nicholson, catching second placed Groupama would now require a mistake from the French team.

 

“That’s a big ask, they’re pretty quick’” he said. “We’re probably quite similar speeds, maybe we’re a touch quicker in this stuff, I’m not sure.

 

“I think there are chances – it could be windy tonight and if you put the wrong sail up you can get caught out and that’s going to cost you miles.

 

“Hopefully we’ll be breathing down their necks, but we’ve also got to keep a close eye on Abu Dhabi and PUMA as well.”

 

Groupama helmsman Erwan Israel said the constant tacking was taking it out of the French crew who were looking forward to some straight line sailing when they head offshore.

 

“We are tacking along the coast waiting for a left (wind) shift,” he said. “It’s exhausting.

 

“We’ve got less current close to the coast, which is why we sailed west of CAMPER. We are hoping to go offshore in a couple of hours.”

 

Israel said despite not being able to see their competitors there was still plenty to look at on their coastal passage.

 

“We have 150 boats in sight. But these are Vietnam fishermen boats. No sign of Telefónica and CAMPER.”

 

At the 1300 UTC position report Telefónica had 438 nm to go to the finish and held a 9.1 nautical mile lead over Groupama. Third placed CAMPER were just under three nautical miles behind with Abu Dhabi 22 nm back in fourth.

 

Team Sanya remained in sixth, 229 nm off the lead.

 

Latest estimations suggest the leading boats will reach the finish in Sanya on February 4.

[Guest]

From Groupama

 

Beating into difficult seas and a north-easterly wind reaching over thirty knots at times, Groupama 4 still has another six hard hours of racing along the Vietnamese coast before she can head offshore again and put in one last tack towards Sanya. In the wake of the Spanish, Franck Cammas and his crew are having to keep a careful eye on the New Zealanders as they make a rather fast comeback close-hauled.

 

 

 

Groupama 4 was in contact with Telefonica as they passed Malaysia, but she's lost a little ground on the Spanish in the long climb up to Vietnam. Neither of them has been able to contain the fine comeback achieved by Abu Dhabi and above all Camper, which is very much at ease in these upwind sailing conditions. Indeed it's worth noting that, two days ago, the New Zealanders and the Emiratis had a deficit of over 70 miles a piece.

 

By the time Telefonica and Groupama 4 were able to put in their first tack near the Mekong River, the New Zealanders had reduced their deficit to 40 miles. Just a few tacks later, early this Thursday afternoon, the deltas in relation to the Spanish had increased to around ten miles, with a lead of just five miles over Camper! As for Abu Dhabi, she was positioned around thirty miles astern, as was Puma…

 

Hundreds of fishermen

 

“We've been close-hauled making our way along the Vietnamese coast for approximately 24 hours, in a fairly strong breeze, which has increased to such an extent that we've just switched back to the storm jib and put a reef in the mainsail. We're expecting the wind to shift round to the North and for now we're short-tacking near the shore. It's exhausting for us because we're having to lug the gear from one side to the other with every change of tack before we can switch onto port tack in a few hours' time to head offshore again. There is a huge amount of fishing boats in the area and we're having to slalom our way through them. We can't see either Telefonica or Camper, even though they're not very far off”, said Erwan Israël at noon this Thursday.

 

It's at the mercy of these changes of tack that the pursuers have managed to make up their lost ground, as each manœuvre costs dearly in terms of boat speed: you have to shift over two tonnes of gear on deck and down below, from one side of the boat to the other, before you can turn the helm. Then you have to begin all over again a few minutes later so as to avoid the sand banks, whilst ensuring you remain close to the coast where the counter current is less strong and the seas aren't so heavy.

 

“Night has just fallen and in these very short, very choppy seas, it's not easy to steer well because there are some wind rotations near the coast, which occasionally force us to sail into the waves. We're also extremely tired, because the race has been intense since the start and so we're frequently taking turns at the helm. The counter current has prompted us to go and play along the coastline: there was a knot and a half of current pushed along by the monsoon on its way down to the South-West. As a result, we're considerably better protected since we moved closer to Vietmam, but we can't get too close to it as there are a lot of sand banks, even up to three miles from the shore.”

 

Double shift

 

It's only at the Padaran headland, which marks the northward curve of the Vietnamese coastline, that Groupama 4 will be able to get offshore in a more northerly breeze, which is still in excess of twenty-five knots due to the monsoon compressing against the land. From then on, the further offshore the French boat gets, the more the breeze will back round to the North-East, easing to 15-20 knots as it does so. It's in this new shift, that the crew will have to tack one last time in order to dive towards the finish. Deciding exactly when to perform this final manœuvre is essential in determining the podium for this third leg! Too early, and they'll have to sail upwind again for several hours in the general oceanic current; too late and that will extend the journey to China. Sanya is likely to appear on the horizon on Saturday afternoon (European time).

 

“We've already performed ten or more tack changes and we still have to perform at least the same amount again! After that, we'll be able to head offshore where we hope we'll cross in front of Puma. Late tonight (local time) or at daybreak, we'll be able to perform a final change of tack in a north-easterly wind: it will be an important moment because after that we'll be on a direct course towards Sanya. It's a lot less hot but the living conditions are worse as we're really getting shaken about upwind and we're finding it really hard to sleep…”

[Guest]

Telefonica have lifted nicely and have gained because of it while Puma have tucked in behind Camper and are on the hunt for 3rd again. Sanya have been the biggest movers gaining 13nm and lifting nicely while in the lumpy stuff. They will have to tack eventually to go further east, but they have gotten the best out of the right hand shift up to the coast and could save themselves some extra time at sea at this rate.

[Guest]

fresh of the camper boat

 

[Guest Rocket]

I am a little surprised they aren't just pinning their ears back and heading for Dodge. 350 miles out and nearly laying the finish why wouldn't you just stay on the making board?

[Guest]

another PR from Volvo

 

 

At 1000 UTC today, Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) led Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) by 27 nautical miles (nm) in the final showdown of Leg 3 to Sanya. Both boats tacked shortly before 0900 UTC and are still upwind but on the layline for the finish, 274 nm ahead. Soon, as the wind shifts to the right, they will have fast reaching conditions ideally suited to both boats.

 

Although possible, it is unlikely that Groupama 4 will catch the leaders now unless the crew of Telefónica crew make a significant mistake or suffer gear damage. To gain 27 miles in 24 hours Groupama would need average around 1.5 knots faster from for the entire period. Overnight the French crew had a scare when, with a loud bang, the mainsheet parted while fully loaded. No one was hurt and 10 minutes later, the repair was complete, but precious miles had been lost.

 

The main battle, playing out 46 nm further back, is between CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS), Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) and PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA). Although CAMPER currently hold third place, the boat’s reaching performance has not been sparkling in the past and both Walker and Read are hungry for a place on the podium.

 

Now out in the open sea, it was an immense relief for CAMPER’s navigator Will Oxley to tack away from the Vietnamese coast for the final time last night. “With poor quality charting, multitudes of unlit fishing vessels and miles of nets, not to mention shallow wrecks from the war, the potential for disaster was high,” he said.

 

Abu Dhabi nearly came to grief last night when they narrowly avoided large steel, unlit and uncharted pillar buoy. Missing it by just a metre, Walker said it didn’t bear thinking about the damage it could have caused to the boat. “I guess a miss is as big as a mile, but this incident served to remind us of some of the unknown risks that lie out here,” he said.

 

Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) in sixth, still has this to face, as well as an area of wind averaging 28-30 knots. They will be expecting to make around 15 tacks over the next 24 hours in order to keep close in to the coast and avoid the worst of the sea state.

 

Across the entire six-boat fleet, the crews are red-eyed and exhausted from the constant tacking and restacking of gear, sleep deprivation and lack of food. The standby watch sleep with one eye open, fully clothed and ready for the call to action as soon as a sail change or manoeuvre is required.

 

The leading boats are expected to arrive in Sanya around mid morning local time (UTC+. For the six teams, this leg can’t end soon enough.

[Guest]

It looks like boat speed and allright tactics trumps all again unless something goes drastically wrong.

 

Leg 3

Report: 03/02/2012 13:02:57 UTC

 

Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica were today on course for their third consecutive leg victory of the 2011-12 edition of the Volvo Ocean Race as they led the six boat fleet on the final miles of the second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya, China.

 

At 1300 UTC today Telefónica were 274 nautical miles (nm) from the finish line and had extended their lead over Franck Cammas’ second placed Groupama sailing team to 29 nm.

 

Almost 31 nm behind, Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand sat in third with a 15 nm lead over Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in fourth.

 

Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were fifth, but had positioned themselves east of the fleet and beginning to make gains on Abu Dhabi and CAMPER.

 

Mike Sanderson’s sixth placed Team Sanya had reached the Vietnam coast and making good progress towards the finish despite having to repair a fitting on their mainsail.

 

Overall race leaders Telefónica finished the first stage of Leg 3 -- a one day sprint from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah -- in fifth, before the fleet was loaded aboard a secure cargo ship and transferred through a high risk piracy zone to the then secret safe haven port of Malé in the Maldives.

 

Martínez’s crew had languished in last place early in the second stage of Leg 3 after damage to their key code zero headsail hours after the start had slowed them down for a full day.

 

By the time the fleet reached the first turning point on the north west tip of Sumatra, however, Telefónica were back to full speed and took the lead after smartly positioning themselves as the most northerly boat.

 

Speaking from the boat today, Martínez put Telefónica’s comeback down to the hard work and resilience of his crew.

 

“Of course I’m proud of them,” he said. “They did excellent work. Everyone did his job well while helping each other.”

 

Despite their healthy lead, Martínez said the Telefónica crew had been unable to back off for fear of losing their lead in the closely packed fleet.

 

“It’s very tight. If anyone does a small mistake, the ranking can change accordingly,” he said. “We were lucky with the wind – we got what we wanted going close to the Vietnam coast. As you can imagine, we are ready to arrive to China now.”

 

After losing miles when their mainsail control line broke overnight, Groupama skipper Franck Cammas conceded that, barring a disaster for Telefónica, the French team would have to settle for second place into Sanya.

 

“The main sheet broke when we were sailing off Vietnam,” he said. “We heard a bang and 10 seconds later it was gone.

 

“We changed all of it. We lost five or 10 miles but we fixed it easily with the spare one. It could have been dangerous but nothing happened.

 

“I think Telefónica has a strong safety margin now. They made gains today and they have such a margin that I have little hope.

 

“It will be very difficult to catch up in 300 miles except if there is a squall, a gust or something unlucky for them and lucky for us.”

 

Behind Groupama, a fierce battle was brewing for the final Leg 3 podium position between Chris Nicholson’s third placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Ian Walker’s fourth placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

 

Walker’s crew won the opening stage of Leg 3 and, if they remain in fourth, will be tied on points for the leg with CAMPER.

 

Both crews expressed relief at being able to get away from the Vietnamese coast after each narrowly avoiding collisions with floating debris and unmarked hazards.

 

CAMPER navigator Will Oxley said the crew had narrowly avoided disaster on more than one occasion and had been slowed by fishing nets on their keel several times.

 

“With poor quality charting multitudes of unlit fishing vessels and miles of nets not to mention shallow wrecks from the war, the potential for disaster was high,” he said.

 

“We had some very near misses and ended up hooking up fishing gear a couple of times.”

 

Abu Dhabi skipper, Ian Walker said that his team had been close to sustaining major damage in the night when they had to swerve at the last second to miss an unlit metal navigation buoy.

 

“We missed it by a metre and for sure it would have made a big mess of our bow,” he said.

 

Walker added he was uncertain if Abu Dhabi would be able to close down CAMPER before the finish.

 

“Whether there will be anymore passing opportunities I am not sure as we are all now set up on starboard, close to pointing at Sanya and the leg finish.”

 

In fifth, PUMA looked to be hoping a final roll of the dice could help them pull back at least one place as they positioned themselves to the east of the pack to benefit first from better winds.

 

At 1300 UTC they remained in fifth but were averaging one knot faster than the other boats.

 

PUMA Media Crew Member Amory Ross said the team were exhausted but resigned to having no chance to rest before they got ashore as they fought their way to the finish.

 

“The strategy from here seems simple: don’t give up too much leverage and play each shift like it’s the last,” he said.

 

“The racecourse has become small enough that any gain is an important one—regardless of its size—and it promises to be a busy 36 hours of hard work fighting for every length of distance on the competition. Anything can happen.”

 

Leaders Telefónica are expected to complete the second stage of Leg 3 in Sanya some time after 0430 UTC (1230 local time) tomorrow February 4, with Groupama, CAMPER, Abu Dhabi and PUMA all expected to finish later that day.

 

Team Sanya are expected to receive a warm homecoming welcome the following day February 5 at around 1300 UTC (2100 local time).

[Guest]

video time

 

 

 

and from volvo

 

[Guest]

A smaller pr from volvo this time

 

At 2200 UTC tonight, the first four boats racing in Leg 3 Stage 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race were screaming towards the Sanya finish in a high-speed chase led by Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP). Groupama sailing team were holding on to second place, 30.20 nautical miles (nm) behind.

 

After an exhausting 13 days at sea, Team Telefónica is on the home straight with 91.2 nm left to run until the team crosses the finish in Sanya in the early hours of Saturday morning.

 

Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas/FRA), in second place, are 30 nm behind, averaging a speed of 14.7 knots, nearly a knot slower than the leaders. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand still keeps third place, 59.9 nm behind, but second place is probably beyond the team’s grasp now.

 

Slightly to the east of the fleet, and with sheets cracked, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) have tonight swept past Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR), the most inshore of the fleet. Read and his men are sailing faster than anyone, averaging 16.1 knots, while Abu Dhabi drops 10 nm and one place to fifth position, 88.6 nm behind the leader.

 

The first four boats are expected to finish sometime after 0430 UTC (1230 local time) on Saturday.

 

Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) has left the coast of Vietnam and has begun to position themselves for the final stretch to the finish, 295 nm ahead. Yesterday the team noticed that one of the top batten cars had broken. The mainsail was dropped briefly and two crew wearing harnesses were hoisted aloft to fix the damage. They replaced the car on the track in less than two minutes as the boat continued to dive off massive waves, after which the mainsail was successfully re-hoisted and a gorgeous sunset lit up the deck.

 

The team is expected to finish Leg 3 on Sunday around 1300 UTC (2100 local time).

 

and thats me done for a while as im off to enjoy this cloudy weather and mabey some lanterns later on tonight.

[Guest]

Telefonica have made it 3/3 and the question is can they be stopped as they clearly have the fastest boat even if while beating.

 

Not since Sir Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2 made a clean sweep of all four legs of the 1989-90 edition of the Whitbread Round the World Race has the event seen such success.

 

Cheers went up from the Telefónica crew, led by Spanish Olympian, as they blasted across the finish line of Leg 3 Stage 2 in Sanya, China, at 0400 UTC to claim 24 points.

 

Coupled with the three points they scored for the first part of the leg, a 100 nautical mile dash from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah, the win hands Telefónica overall glory in Leg 3 and propels them to 95 points.

 

Thousands of people lined the dock and packed the race village to welcome the team into Sanya, the first stopover in the Chinese port in the race’s 38-year history.

 

Damage to the team’s huge Code Zero headsail hours after starting the leg relegated Telefónica to last place but the savvy sailors picked their way back into contention with clever tactics and blistering boat speed.

 

After taking a more northerly course on the drag race east across the Bay of Bengal, Telefónica snatched the front spot from leg leaders PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG on January 26 and despite constant attacks from Groupama sailing team, who at one point were within one mile of the leaders, held off their rivals to take the win.

 

Groupama are expected to cross the finish line around 0358 UTC to take second place and 20 points.

[Guest]

Ive got a surprise that im working on for tomorrow with the volvo that I will be able to post tomorrow. Needless to say im still finding things that my media accreditation grants me

[Guest]

Not since Sir Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2 made a clean sweep of all four legs of the 1989-90 edition of the Whitbread Round the World Race has the event seen such success.

 

I am sure there were more than 4 legs in the 89/90 race.

[Guest]

Not since Sir Peter Blake’s Steinlager 2 made a clean sweep of all four legs of the 1989-90 edition of the Whitbread Round the World Race has the event seen such success.

 

I am sure there were more than 4 legs in the 89/90 race.

 

your right and there was six. Im trying to figure out who has also one three straight legs before, but its harder than I thought

[Guest]

Flyer 2 in 81/82 won all 4 legs into Cape Town, Auckland, Mar del Plata and Portsmouth on line honours while Ceramco won legs 2 and on corrected time.

[Guest]

Flyer 2 in 81/82 won all 4 legs into Cape Town, Auckland, Mar del Plata and Portsmouth on line honours while Ceramco won legs 2 and on corrected time.

 

Awesome. thanks for the info. Where did you find it? my searches still have proved fruitless or to tiring to do what I want

[Guest]

Team Telefónica clinched their third victory from three legs in the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday, as less than nine hours separated the top five teams at the finish of the 3,051 nautical mile (nm) second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya in China.

 

Telefónica, the overall race leaders, crossed the line at 03:58:22 UTC, finishing the second stage in 12 days 19 hours 58 minutes 21 seconds to take 24 points and become the first boat since Peter Blake's Steinlager 2 in 1989-90 to sweep the first three legs.

 

Groupama sailing team came in second, giving them 20 points, while CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand took the third podium place and 16 points.

 

PUMA Ocean Racing picked up 12 points for fourth, with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing coming in fifth and taking eight points.

 

Telefónica navigator Andrew Cape said the second stage of Leg 3 had been full of challenges and one of the most difficult he had ever experienced.

 

“It’s one of the toughest legs I’ve done,” he said. “Mentally it was very difficult, tactically very difficult. Physically it wasn’t as tough as a long southern ocean leg but mentally it was really hard."

 

“I’m feeling really exhausted and I just want to have a beer.”

 

Telefónica’s third consecutive leg win extended their overall lead to 15 points over Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER.

 

Franck Cammas’ Groupama, who crossed the line at 05:45:25 UTC after 12 days 21 hours 45 minutes 24 seconds at sea, remain third overall but are now within nine points of CAMPER.

 

Cammas said the final part of the second stage of the leg had been punishing for the French crew.

 

“We had many manoeuvres all the time. In the last 48 hours we did 24 tacks and each tack on a Volvo Open 70 is very hard. All the crew have to be awake.

 

“The fight was very good with the others. I think Telefónica is very fast in these conditions, so all the time they gain a little bit in distance because of their speed.

 

“It was a good opportunity to test our boat with Telefónica and the leading boats. We improved a lot in the tuning of Groupama so it was very good for us.”

 

CAMPER finished at 07:28:24 UTC with an elapsed time of 12 days 23 hours 28 minutes 23 seconds.

 

Skipper Chris Nicholson confessed to being disappointed with third place after a tactical call in the Malacca Strait saw them lose touch with the leaders.

 

“We thought and expected to do better than third to be honest but it’s a difficult race we’re entered into with the best professional teams in the world,” he said.

 

“We got on the wrong side of a thunderstorm in the Malacca Strait. The other guys went to the Indonesian shore line and we couldn’t get there.

 

“That was pretty much the ball game there and then.

 

“We left the Singapore Strait in fifth so we’re happy to have got back to third. We thought we were a lot better than fifth. To finish third is good, it’s a good positive for us to finish on.

 

Nicholson said his team were looking forward to some rest but would continue to work on improving their performance for the remainder of the race.

 

“There’s still a lot of thought required about how we can start winning legs," he said. “We’re able to match the leaders at certain periods of the race and then we kind of let ourselves down occasionally.

 

“We just have to keep working on that, go back to the designer, see if there’s anything more in regards to how we’re sailing the boat.

 

"We hope to rest up a bit now. It’s been a big exercise in sailing and logistics so a big rest up here is in order so we can come out with good training and attitude for the in-port race.”

 

Ken Read’s PUMA Ocean racing powered by BERG crossed the Sanya finish line at 08:29:13 UTC having taken 13 days 29 minutes 13 seconds.

 

They remain in fourth overall with 48 points.

 

Skipper Ken Read said the key moment of the second stage of the leg had been their breakaway move out to the east in the final few days.

 

“I think, the whole world knows our most defining moment was choosing an easterly course on the last bit from the Malacca Strait to Sanya,” he said.

 

“It didn’t work and I put my hand up for that. At the end of the day that’s my call. I have to look at myself in the mirror over these decisions.

 

“We have to sit down and figure out better ways to handle these situations. I’m not in anyway going to turn my back on these decisions, but at the same time we take calculated risks.

 

“But instead of just saying screw it and quitting, we bowed back into it got back ahead of Abu Dhabi and shouting distance of CAMPER.

 

“Net loss one boat in that whole debacle, so we have to take that for what it is and live to fight another day.”

 

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing closed out the top five, finishing at 11:05:06 UTC after 13 days three hours nine minutes and 59 seconds of racing.

 

Walker said that other than in the Malacca Strait there had been few tactical options during the second stage of Leg 3.

 

“Certainly in the first week and in the last few days there has been a lot of straight line and boat speed sailing,” he said.

 

“A lot of light wind and up wind. We just crossed the miles off and we are glad to be here.

 

“The Malacca Strait is always busy although this time it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. We had one hard night along the Vietnamese coast with a succession of tacks, but other than that I would say it was relatively easy on the bodies.

 

“The margins are very small. The difference between us and Telefónica is one or two per cent.

 

“We sailed pretty well, we just didn’t have the legs to keep up with the leaders.”

 

Despite having had to deal with a problem with their winches earlier today, Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya remained on track to finish the second stage of Leg 3 tomorrow February 5.

[RushMan 31]

Small problem with their winches on Sanya...

 

The winch wanted to be positioned closer to the bow!

 

I would call that a big problem.

[Guest]

Small problem with their winches on Sanya...

 

The winch wanted to be positioned closer to the bow!

 

I would call that a big problem.

 

Heres it happening live