Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Telefónica hopes of victory on Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race were dashed in the early hours of Friday when they suffered further rudder problems and were forced to reduce speed drastically. At 0300 UTC Iker Martínez’s crew were limping towards Lorient in fifth place almost 50 nautical miles behind the leaders Groupama, who are on course for a triumphant return to their home port as overall race leaders. Late on Thursday, Telefónica had held a one-mile lead over Groupama after making their gybe towards France. That looked likely to seal an incredible comeback after they had successfully managed to fit a replacement after breaking their starboard rudder in winds of 25 knots. However, during that gybe they suffered damage to the port rudder as well, effectively ending their leg hopes. "The situation on board is normal," said Martínez. "But we have to take a lot of care because we only have one rudder and that is damaged." Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Ahbu Dhabi averaging 27 knots.....that's AWESOME! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 and heres a bit more about telefonica A heartbroken Iker Martínez/ESP saw his dreams of a fourth leg win evaporate overnight when during the much anticipated and much feared gybe towards the finish in Lorient, Telefónica damaged their port rudder. As Telefónica limp carefully towards France, Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) have regained the lead and are smoking towards a leg win in in their home port of Lorient, at around 1100 GMT today. At 1800 GMT on Thursday, 14 June, and after fixing the broken starboard rudder, Telefónica regained the lead of Leg 8 from Lisbon to Lorient. As the expected wind shift arrived, around 2000 GMT, Telefónica were the first to gybe, followed by Groupama. Leading the fleet, and with less than 300 miles to Lorient, the Spanish boat landed awkwardly off a huge wave in a seething seaway and suffered damage to the port rudder as well as a breakage in the spare starboard rudder fitted as a replacement on Thursday afternoon. Fortunately, the single effective rudder is the port one needed to sail on starboard gybe towards Lorient. "It's the first time that something like this has happened to me and it will be difficult to accept, but I'll have to worry about that once we reach land and any risk is over. I can't say much more for now. It's a sad day for Telefónica and tomorrow is my birthday. It's the right moment, then, to ask as a present that we are all on land safely," the skipper said. Meanwhile, the race goes on and the new leaders Groupama have changed from survival to racing mode again as they hoist more canvas and fend off attacks from both CAMPER with Emirates Team new Zealand CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS). At 0600 GMT, the breeze had dropped to 35 knots although the waves are still big enough to careen down with only a semblance of control. With 117 nm to go to the finish, Groupama lead PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) by 24.3 nm. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) are just under a mile astern. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) are in fourth place 28.2 nm adrift of Groupama, while Telefónica have slipped to fifth place, now 78.5 nm behind. Completing the fleet is Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) who are 139 nm in arrears. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 GROUPAMA WIN LEG 8 Franck Cammas and his men were cheered by thousands of fans on the Brittany coast after crossing the Leg 8 finish line at their home port at 13:31:02 local, 11:31:02 UTC, earning 30 points and extending their advantage over Telefónica, whose own victory hopes were dashed when they broke a second rudder while leading overnight. It is an impressive comeback for Groupama who dropped to fourth place just two days ago when their mainsail jammed and the team spent a costly two hours with bowman Brad Marsh at the top of the 31-metre mast effecting repairs in storm conditions. But the never-say-die crew fought back to reclaim the lead less than 12-hours before the finish with blistering pace in the North Atlantic low pressure system that packed 45 knots winds and four metre waves. The French team’s victory hopes were bolstered by the misfortune of their arch-rivals Telefónica as the Spanish team were forced to slow to survival speeds after breaking both their rudders on the furious run to the finish. Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez said the damage had effectively ended their chances of overall victory, with Groupama now enjoying a significant lead with just one leg and two in-port races remaining. While Groupama’s crew revel in the warm wishes of French sailing fans, the race for the remaining podium places continues with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand holding a narrow lead in second place over PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are in fourth place, whileTeam Telefónica are fifth and Team Sanya sixth. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Nice work on a second for Camper, well done guys! Link to post Share on other sites
ScottiE 174 Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 shame that Sanya couldn't get past Telefonica at the end - just 19mins in it there. Would have put us outright 3rd with a shot at taking on Puma. Well done to the French - hard imagine them loosing from here. Must be a great feeling to lead into home port on top of Marshy's lead into Auckland! Link to post Share on other sites
JK 28 Posted June 16, 2012 Share Posted June 16, 2012 Good on them all, can't be easy keeping up the intensity in those conditions.10 minutes here or there at the end of any of the legs could have had a big difference on the results table. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Some wrap up videos from leg 8 Link to post Share on other sites
Mothership 6 Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Awesome - just awesome. Watch this in 1080p in full screen and be impressed: Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Credit where credit's due. Well done ETNZ CAMPER. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Indeed, we all know the boat is not the quickest but the crew obviously are. Hang some big balls off the back of the red dog next time its posted! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 must admit the 'Raw Power' video is truely amazing.. talk about rough conditions! Link to post Share on other sites
Adrianp 120 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Yeah, just awesome stuff Link to post Share on other sites
Clipper 343 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Wow. That is AWESOME Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Too little too late for the red dog, now it's down to the green frog machine to hold off the puma cat .....going to be fantastic. Link to post Share on other sites
Fogg 427 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Fantastic video. I think it's laughable that anyone can look at video like that and then make comments that the VOR boats are "flexible". I bet if anyone on this forum subjected their boat to those kinds of loads it would last about about 60 seconds. Link to post Share on other sites
TimB 7 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Looks crazily wet to me. Are open 60's throwing solid water at the helm like that when they are pushing it, or is it a volvo 70 speciality. I thought multis were wet boats but i have never experienced solid water like that even at 20+knots. To me that implies a design failing as they would probably go faster for longer with less water on the boat. Or am I just a softy. TimB Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Heres another video and this makes it sound like Telefonica could possibly loose some points or be slow for the last leg. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Your just a softy, they spend so much time developing hydro dynamic surfaces for the decks as they spend so much time underwater. Link to post Share on other sites
B00B00 310 Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Yes open 60s are as bad, sometimes worse..... The difference is they are very seldom actually driven or trimmed hard. spend most of their life on autopilot with someone in a sheltered cuddy watching. Volvo 70s are a fair bit faster, so this means the water is coming back quicker and the bow digging deeper into the back of the wave at 40kts. Link to post Share on other sites
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