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Leg One updates


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Since im going to be giving regular updates on the Volvo I have decided to make a separate thread for each of the legs so we dont end up with one that is over 500 pages long. Hopefully it will make it a bit easier to track. I will put a few photos in here but other wise I they will will there own thread. Chuck up what ever you think over the next 20 something days as we track who has the early advantage in what condition's.

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What a start from Camper. Theres only one thing to say about their start and that is WATCH IT on a replay. The start had everything from camper smashing the pin end and smoking while groupama parked it with 30 seconds go before the start and it only got better from their. Their were sail troubles, penalties, position changes and even a protest. Ill post more of a race start summary once ive had some sleep and can add more detial to the VOR race updates.

 

also a note from Volvo Ocean Race. For anyone wondering where the tracker is, we are in the process of switching from Virtual Eye to 2D - the first position report will be at 1600 UTC (1700 Spanish time)

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Anyone know if I can get coverage without Peter Lester?

 

Not to worry, he was all good. Far better than the AC stuff he did.

 

Yea only 3 hourly updates. (how often did the fiji race update? Im sure that was every 20 mins or so... So is 3hrs a decision so the boats don't know where each other are the whole time??)

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A nice two and a half minute video that sums up that start, as well as a Volvo PR release

 

!

 

CAMPER SHINE AS TEAMS HEAD OUT TOWARDS TROUBLE

 

 

Alicante, Spain - CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand enjoyed the best of a fast and furious inshore course today before the most evenly matched fleet in Volvo Ocean Race history blasted out towards brutal sea conditions at the start of Leg 1.

 

A crowd of 60,000 watched as Spain’s Crown Prince Felipe fired the gun to set the six boats on their way at 1300 GMT (1400 CET). French soccer legend Zinedine Zidane joined Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing on the inshore course, making it a gala start to the first ocean leg, which will take the fleet over 6,500 nautical miles to Cape Town, South Africa.

 

Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER were the slickest of the six away, as winds gusting up to 30 knots greeted the fleet. CAMPER increased their lead over PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG to 1 minute 39 seconds at the Alicante leaving mark at the end of the eight-nm course, with Team Telefónica another 36 seconds behind.

 

Abu Dhabi came next, followed by Groupama sailing team, who took a voluntary two-turn penalty after a collision with PUMA’s Mar Mostro just before the start, and Team Sanya.

 

“Our skills are offshore for sure,” said Cammas, skipper of the first French team to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race in 18 years. “We are in this race for the first time so we need to learn a few things. It’s important to finish the first 24 hours in good shape because the race is very long and we don’t want to break anything early on. The first night could be the hardest of the whole leg.”

 

Emotions were running high on the dockside prior to the departure ceremony as the sailors said tearful goodbyes to their loved ones, who they won’t see until they reach Cape Town around three weeks later.

 

A huge crowd turned out to enjoy the excitement pulsing through the docks. Even the most hardened competitors were caught up in the moment as the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, the 11th edition of the race, took up a journey that will take the fleet over 39,000nm around the world, finishing in Galway, Ireland in July.

 

For Sanya’s Mike Sanderson, the race’s most experienced skipper and winner of the 2005-06 edition, it is the first time he has competed in this race as a father – and there was no hiding the emotion for the New Zealander.

 

“Today feels different to any race I have done,” said Sanderson, whose wife Emma competed in the 2001-02 edition on Amer Sports Two. “There are more emotions when you leave for a Volvo Ocean Race and even more so when you have to say goodbye to kids. I’d be lying if I said it was just business as usual. It means so much more.”

 

Following the traditional “kiss and cry” moment the teams were introduced to Prince Felipe. The Prince, a keen sailor, visited the Volvo Ocean Race with his wife Letizia when the Princess of Asturias was named godmother to Telefónica last month.

 

Zidane heralded the race as “beautiful” before joining the Abu Dhabi team. He might have added that it was extremely wet, after he jumped backwards off the boat at the end of the inshore course.

 

Professional big-wave surfer Laird Hamilton, who was on board PUMA´s Mar Mostro, was doubtless more accustomed to leaping off. He said he had “incredible respect” for the crews.

 

With the boats departing to their team songs blasting out across the Race Village, the spotlight turned to the racecourse where hundreds of spectator boats had gathered to get up-close and personal with the six Volvo Open 70s.

 

Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing had drawn first blood in the event’s curtain-raiser, the Iberdrola In-Port Race, sailing to a 14-minute victory to claim six points and the top spot on the leaderboard heading out to Cape Town.

 

Leg 1 sees the teams take on the unpredictable Mediterranean, the tidal bottleneck of the Straits of Gibraltar and the strong northeasterly trade winds of the North Atlantic before facing the Doldrums, a constantly-moving area of high pressure found a few hundred miles either side of the equator, notorious for being one of the toughest regions on the planet to sail through.

 

Once through the Doldrums the teams will search out the southeasterly trade winds close to the Brazilian shore, hoping to pick up the meteorological slingshot effect that will fire them through the South Atlantic to Cape Town.

 

The teams will have to face a baptism of fire in the first 24 hours of the race, with head-on winds of more than 25 knots forecast and choppy seas – potentially boat-breaking conditions.

 

“The conditions at first will be ideal for these boats – fast sailing in fresh breeze,” said Gonzalo Infante, the Volvo Ocean Race’s chief meteorologist. “But within about 12 hours, as the boats race into the night, they will have to punch upwind into winds around 25 knots and confused seas. These boats will be slamming around and it will be very wet on deck.”

 

Rounding positions and provisional times at the Alicante leaving mark: 1. CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand 39 minutes 44 seconds, 2. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG +1 min 39 sec, 3. Team Telefónica + 2:15, 4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing + 2:55, 5. Groupama sailing team + 3:57, 6. Sanya +7:38.

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Typical the tracker in not insync with the dashboard.

 

I was looking at that and getting annoyed just before. The tracker hasnt received the latest update and its frustrating. Nice work by camper in the last several hours to claim the lead back. I wonder what happened to groupama?

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Some more info into what happened Abu Dhabi when their mast broke.

 

Just six hours and 85 nautical miles into the 6,500-nm leg from Alicante in Spain to Cape Town, South Africa, Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam has dismasted and has suspended racing.

 

The crew is unhurt. The boat is returning to Alicante, where a replacement mast will be stepped.

 

Azzam was beating into strong northwesterly headwinds of around 30-35 knots when the accident happened. Sailing at 12 knots in a steep four-metre seaway, the boat was dismasted just 20 miles off the Spanish coast, 30 miles southwest of Cartagena. None of the crew was injured.

 

The crew has successfully salvaged the mainsail and J4 headsail. In a violent seaway and pitch darkness, crewman Wade Morgan was put in the water to cut away the top of the mainsail at the headboard car. The mast is broken from the first spreader upwards and is now secured to the port side of the boat.

 

Speaking from the boat, Ian Walker said, “Our situation is now stable. We are motoring towards flatter water at Cabo de Palos where we hope to lift the top section of the mast aboard. We have no injuries and have retrieved or secured all equipment. Our mast broke into three pieces when landing off a big wave in 30+ knots of wind. We were sailing under a J4 and 2 reefs. We do not as yet know the cause. Our intention is to return to Alicante under motor to repair any damage and step our spare mast.”

 

Meanwhile, the remaining five boats are pressing on towards the Straits of Gibraltar, 7.5nm off the Spanish coast where the winds have decreased to 20 knots.

 

CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS), leads the field from Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP). Franck Cammas, who has opted to take Groupama 4 further offshore into the stronger breeze, lies third and PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA is fourth but in centre pack.

 

Mike Sanderson and Team Sanya are closest inshore just 7.5 nm off the Spanish coast.

 

and from their shore team

 

Alicante, Spain - Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are putting a major repair operation into effect after their racing yacht Azzam suffered a broken mast in rough weather, forcing her to suspend racing just over six hours into Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12.

 

A spare mast is being rushed to the Spanish port of Alicante where Azzam and the rest of the six-strong fleet had begun the first offshore leg of the 39,000-nautical mile race in front of cheering crowds of 60,000.

 

British skipper Ian Walker said the crew was unhurt and the team were now motoring back to Alicante. The boat remains in the race, the toughest offshore event in sailing which will not finish until July 2012 in Galway, Ireland. Azzam won the first in-port race of the event in Alicante last Saturday and leads the standings with six points. The winner of the first leg will reap 30 points.

 

At 1915 UTC/GMT, Abu Dhabi told race management Azzam had suspended racing after the mast was broken. The boat was 30 nautical miles south of Cartagena on the Spanish coast.

 

Walker later reported at 2053 UTC/GMT: “Our situation is now stable. We are motoring towards flatter water at Cabo de Palos where we hope to lift the top section of the mast aboard.

 

“We have no injuries and have retrieved or secured all equipment. Our mast broke into three pieces when landing off a big wave in 30+ knots of wind. We were sailing under a J4 and two reefs. We do not as yet know the cause.

 

“Our intention is to return to Alicante under motor to repair any damage and step our spare mast.”

 

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad said he felt “desperately sorry” for twice-Olympic silver medallist Walker and his team.

 

“The team are extremely professional and I know they will do all they can to get Azzam back in the race as quickly and safely as possible,” he said.

 

Team media crew member Nick Dana told how crew member Wade Morgan had made a courageous attempt in waves of up to 3.5 metres to rescue the rig.

 

“The boat's mainsail and J4 were retrieved successfully along with various other parts that we will hope to re-use.

 

“We put a man in the water (Morgan) to cut away the top of the mainsail at the headboard car. Wade was able to make several attempts at cutting. However, a very violent sea state made it extremely dangerous for him to remain in the water.

 

“The crew retrieved him promptly and were able to get the mainsail off the lock - allowing it to slide down the rig and be pulled from the water.

 

“The mast from the first spreader up is now secured to the port side of the boat. About three or four metres protrude from behind the boat. A spider web of lines is keeping the operation intact. The crew are deeply disappointed.”

 

Cartagena search and rescue organisation have been informed and are on standby to assist if necessary.

 

Volvo Ocean Race control is in constant contact with the team while establishing the full extent of the damage so that the crew are given full support to enable them to deal with the situation.

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Interesting move from camper and puma in the last two hours as both have decided to tack earlier than the rest and go closer to shore where there could be less pressure (and easier sailing?) than the other three. Looks like the old Sanya boat is going to struggle to make its goal of not finishing last in every leg unless things go wrong on other boats like Abu Dhabi as it has been dragging the rear of the fleet since they left for the Med.

 

heres a look at the last tracker update and you will have to use the zoom to look at it properly.

post-10945-141887190496.jpg

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First tactical blood to Puma in the tacking duals? would anyone else agree?. They went a little bit later than camper on tacking onto port, but when they returned on starboard they were the only boat and stayed out of sync with the rest of the fleet to gain at least 6 odd nm.

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This is going to be interesting to see when we wake up in the morning who reached the straight first. We finally have a decent amount of separation between the boats and tactics are finally being played. Camper has continued on starboard and leads because of it with groupama to leeward while Puma, Telefonica and Sanya went closer into shore. Time will tell to see who comes out ontop of this first little skirmish.

 

Once again you will need to use the zoom feature on the photo to see it properly.

 

post-10945-141887190522.jpg

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Another one bites the dust.............

 

Team Sanya's entry in Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 suffers hull damage!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Aksel Magdahl, navigator on board Team Sanya, reported at 0834 UTC on Sunday that they had suffered hull damage on the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, which began yesterday in Alicante.

 

Skipper Mike Sanderson has confirmed to Volvo Ocean Race control: "The situation is very much under control, everyone is obviously disappointed but in good spirits as all are safe on board.”

 

The boat was approximately 30 nautical miles SE of Motril, on the coast of Spain. The wind was blowing 43 plus knots and the waves were around 10.5 metres (ummmmm. Surely the Volvo media guys have gotten this wrong as 10m waves does not sound right considering that Ian walker stated that their mast broke in 1-2m waves, when Volvo stated it was 3-4m)

 

The watertight doors had already been closed as a precaution due to the prevailing conditions and the boat is making its way to Puerto de Motril. After entering flat water, Team Sanya have suspended racing.

 

Volvo Ocean Race control is in constant contact with the team while establishing the full extent of the damage so that the crew are given full support to enable them to deal with the situation.

 

Team Sanya’s shore team are working on a recovery plan to ensure the yacht can rejoin the Volvo Ocean Race as soon as practically possible.

 

Further information will be issued as it becomes available.

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Heres the full press conference with Ian Walker about what happened to Abu Dhabi when they broke their mast. Sorry about the pics and what knot. I couldnt put any effects on it and the quality isnt that great other wise I would have been awake till 3 waiting for it to save and upload. Hope you enjoy it.

 

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