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Puma while leading the race even have time to go fishing :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

Speaking of fishing....im off once this next pr comes through as im up at 5 to go and catch me lunch and dinner with my new lucanus jigs :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

 

Hey SC Hate to burst you bubble but those Lucanus (Ohhh! Luc anus sounds dodgy) are crap which is why if you go into MtSmart marine and look in the fishing section bargin bins (on the left) you will see they are very very cheap.

 

A good mate of mine is a fishing charter operator on the gulf and has consined his to the bin.

 

How come.....and how cheap at mt smart marine? Ive had good results with the lucanus jigs so far when the fish are biting. They didnt go well this morning as there were very little fish around that were biting

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Guest Crafty 1
Puma while leading the race even have time to go fishing :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

 

Speaking of fishing....im off once this next pr comes through as im up at 5 to go and catch me lunch and dinner with my new lucanus jigs :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

 

Hey SC Hate to burst you bubble but those Lucanus (Ohhh! Luc anus sounds dodgy) are crap which is why if you go into MtSmart marine and look in the fishing section bargin bins (on the left) you will see they are very very cheap.

 

A good mate of mine is a fishing charter operator on the gulf and has consined his to the bin.

 

How come.....and how cheap at mt smart marine? Ive had good results with the lucanus jigs so far when the fish are biting. They didnt go well this morning as there were very little fish around that were biting

 

My mate brought quite a few for the boat when the first came out and has not caught one snapps. This guy can catch snapps on a hook with white cloth soaked in his own blood, but not theses lucanus things. He hates them!

 

Then when i was speaking to the guru at my local fihing shop he said he has had nothing but bad comments on them. But he also said the plastics have failed to fire too and Pillies and squid are the only thing working.

 

Then i saw them in Mt smarts specials bin and they were not moving.

 

who knows they might come back and be real winners next week :crazy: it's all spin doctoring anyway :shh:

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I got out fished by one of the jigs and we just through it over the boat and forgot about it while we soft baited. anyway to keep this thread on track ill PM you with the remainder of my questions

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Campers decision to sail lower and faster may come back to hurt them shortly if it already hasnt. They have lost nearly 8nm in windward gauge and have not been able to sail over Puma, but have instead ended up loosing ground on them slightly. Telefonica are in a interesting position and if they can gain a few NM each day they will be looking good (unless the wind changes everything). Everybosy else is playing follow the leader and will try and pounce once this drag race has ended.

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Im off to bed and heres where the boats stand at 12:00am.....still dragging with huge gains to Telefonica.

 

At 1000 UTC today, PUMA’S Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) continued her spell at the top of the leg leaderboard from the hard-pushing team on CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) who are three nautical miles (nm) behind, to lead the six-boat Volvo Ocean Race fleet towards Pulau We, the waypoint that marks the entrance to the Malacca Strait.

 

With just 463 nautical miles to go before an anticipated ‘restart’ at the entrance of the Malacca Strait, the stretch of water separating Sumatra and Singapore, the small gains made over the next two days will be significant, not least in psychological terms, when the fleet enters the second part of this leg in trying conditions.

 

Gains and losses here will not just be about the weather. A narrow channel packed with shipping, ocean debris and the ever-present small craft, often unlit and fishing with long lines at night, the Strait presents traps and hazards that can see a lead built up over days evaporate in hours.

 

“The game is about intricacies," says Nicholson. Minute changes in direction will have important consequences once the fleet reaches Pulau We. “This is really going to be a game of inches,” remarks CAMPER’s navigator, Will Oxley.

 

What might look like easy straight-line sailing is in fact an action-packed time for the six teams, who are constantly trimming, stacking and studying the weather, as well as each other’s performance, in order to make a small gain. “If shifting the stack like that means we gain a mere metre, then it’s definitely a worthwhile exercise,” Nicholson says.

 

In third, just over six nm on the port hip of PUMA's Mar Mostro, the crew of Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) is switching between close hauled and tight reaching, with both the leaders in vision, keeping the crew fully motivated.

 

The crew of the most windward boat in the fleet, Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP), 14 nm to windward of the fleet and in fourth place, is still recovering from the damage to their code zero and deck fitting suffered hours after the start. The team now have the sail hoisted and are working hard to make good the losses and catch the leaders.

 

“I think getting around the top of Sumatra and into the Malacca Strait is going to be a very tricky moment for the race and I think there will be some places to gain and lose there," said watch leader Neal McDonald (GBR) in a radio link today. “We seem to be going very well other than that setback which was a disaster really that the guys recovered well from. It cost us a lot and it put us on the back foot really."

 

The crew of sixth-placed Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) consider the Malacca Strait to be their big opportunity on this leg to their homeport in China. Lacking the speed of the newly constructed Volvo Open 70s, Sanderson will try to use the fluky breeze and other hazards to his best advantage.

 

“We are preparing for sleepless nights on board in the hope that we can take an opportunity to slip past some of the fleet,” wrote MCM Andrés Soriano today.

 

Meanwhile, as the fleet ploughs on, conditions on board are stifling, both on deck and below. Sleep is near to impossible in the sauna created not only by the scorching sun, but also by the generator used to create power on board, usually run at night when it is marginally cooler. Morale, however, across the fleet remains high in anticipation of exciting times ahead.

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Lacking the speed ... Sanderson will try to use the fluky breeze and other hazards to his best advantage.

 

Yeah.... I always need to try and do that too.

 

Hopefully he's got an extra special "fluky breeze and other hazards" naviguesser on board.

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Telefonica are now in the prime seat and have done a great job overnight reducing Pumas lead.

 

There’s no holding back the overall race leader Team Telefónica, with Spaniard Iker Martínez in charge, as they pulled back almost 10 miles on the Leg 3 leaders today jumping two places up the rankings in the process. All afternoon she has been threatening the fleet from her controlling position to windward and, at 1600 today, she rolled Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) to take up third place.

 

Telefónica are this evening just over a mile behind second-placed CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/AUS) who in turn are 6.6 nm astern of the long-time leg leader PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA). Telefónica’s strong position to windward could provide Martínez with the ammunition he needs to translate 14 nm of leverage into distance ahead.

 

Telefónica lost more than 10 miles on the leaders early in the leg while positioning themselves to the north, but navigator Andrew Cape was relishing in the fruits of his labour today as his team carved chunks out of PUMA’s advantage.

 

“The [decision to go north] caused a lot of initial pain, and that might have affected other people’s decision not to do it,” Cape said.

 

“But we knew we’d get rewards in a day and a half so we’re pretty happy now. Two days down the road it’s paying back.

 

“If you’re winning you’re not going to throw away miles, and going north when we did was a loss of 10 miles instantly.

 

“Most people don’t want to do that, but we didn’t’ really mind because we were looking at the long term picture.”

 

Since 1900 UTC yesterday, the team has moved from fifth place, 16.9 nm behind PUMA’s Mar Mostro, to third, and 7.30 nm behind the leading boat. It’s a 24-hour gain of 9.6 nm achieved by averaging a speed of 10.73 knots against PUMA’s 10.26.

 

In the three-hour period between 1600 and 1900 UTC today, Telefónica’s speed continued to impress and she was the fastest boat in the fleet, averaging over a knot faster than CAMPER, her next target. However, between 1600 and 1900 UTC tonight, her speed has dropped and the trend has reversed.

 

As the fleet continues to rattle towards the turning point into the Malacca Strait tonight and clouds and thunderstorm activity come into play, all eyes will be on Telefónica, and what her next move is likely to be.

 

“We still have a tricky zone ahead with a lot of cloud action and squalls so it will be interesting that’s for sure,” added Cape. “Keep watching.”

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Telefonica is flying.

 

They have lost 2nm in the last update, but they took 7nm out of everyone around midnight which was very impressive. They are also 9nm windward of Camper and if the wind doesnt swing left then they are right on course to enter the straights while the others will have to tack. Great work by Telefonica and im sure Camper regret their decisions yesterday.

 

Heres a video as well

 

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From groupama. their distance update is a little of as it was from a while ago, but it still gives the indication of where everyone is.

 

Day 4 - Groupama 4 in the heat of the night

 

 

 

The fleet is already more than three days into the race and still in approximately the same sailing conditions: upwind with sheets slightly eased in a NNE'ly monsoon air flow of around a dozen knots. At the mercy of the wind variations, the deficits are increasing or shrinking a little, but the whole fleet remains bunched within around twenty miles of each other.

 

 

 

Almost 900 miles have been covered since setting out from Malé last Sunday, which equates to an average distance along the route of 300 miles/day at 12.5 knots… Not bad going for a very long port tack, which has only fluctuated very little according to the slow rotations of the monsoon: close-hauled sailing initially, followed by sheets slightly eased and then virtually a reach under Code 0 before the breeze began to ease off again as it switched round to the NNE (25°). Aboard Groupama 4, the aim has been to reposition themselves in the wake of the American leader. Indeed, for the past 24 hours, the delta has been identical (5.4 miles), and the same is true as regards Camper (2.8 miles). However, in terms of trajectories, the New Zealanders have been slipping along nicely over the past few hours, while Franck Cammas and his men have opted for a course enabling them to head up a bit more. The upshot of this is that yesterday's ten mile lateral separation has shrunk to less than three miles…

 

 

Wet and muggy

 

These calm conditions could be favourable for rest before entering what is set to be an action-packed Straits of Malacca. Unfortunately it is proving to be nothing of the sort because the fleet is sailing at 4° North and the equatorial heat is beginning to gnaw away at the bodies making towards Sumatra. There is an intense heat beneath a blazing sun, with no real shade on deck from noon, humidity at full bore, with even a few rain clouds forecast tonight (European time). There is no change of course or speed in prospect, other than in small gradual phases, so there hasn't been a lot to do for the past 72 hours, other than keeping a hand on the sheets to play the trim. Down below, it's like a sauna, even though the crew can get a bit of air through the boat and run the fans a little. The night, which theoretically brings its share of coolness, only serves to reduce the temperature by a few degrees, but this soon rises again once the engine is fired up to recharge the batteries… In short, as the fleet closes on Sumatra the approach must be beginning to weigh on the minds of the sailors and they must surely be planning on a few manœuvres and tack changes to break the monotony of daily life.

 

Though there is nothing really new to add to the programme for the next 24 hours, it is important for the crew to continue to keep a close eye on their rivals who, even though they're just a stone's throw away, don't always have the same wind. In this way the Spanish, who have sought to reposition themselves around ten miles to windward of the fleet, have been able to claw back ten miles or so in the space of twelve hours, thanks largely to a little more pressure. In contrast, the two VO-70s the furthest South (just ten miles away!), Sanya and Abu Dhabi, have lost a bit of ground in a more asthmatic breeze. Clearly concentration is the key word for now then and the trajectories are mightily important in obtaining the best heading-speed compromise. As far as this goes, Groupama 4 and Camper have opted to head up a bit more to reduce the lateral separation with Telefonica, which currently looks to be the most dangerous. However, for now at least, Puma is sticking to her initial strategy, which involves getting to the entrance to the Straits of Malacca as quickly as possible. The fleet is now just thirty hours or so from a point fifty miles out from the Pulau We headland where the beat will sound…

 

Position of the competitors in the Volvo Ocean Race on the third leg from Abu Dhabi - Sanya at 1600 UTC on 25/01/2012

1. Puma 2104.5 miles from the finish

2. Camper – 5.5 miles astern of the leader

3. Telefonica - 5.8 miles astern of the leader

4. Groupama 4 – 6.9 miles astern of the leader

5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – 22.6 miles astern of the leader

6. Team Sanya - 30.2 miles astern of the leader

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The boats still continue heading north and I need to have another look at the weather as im sure they can tack back and make the straight unless I havnt seen something.

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Interesting tactics here. Camper are to the south and telefonica to the north with Groupa and Puma stuck in the middle. Camper have the lead, but they might have to tack again as the wind is going to swing right closer to land and they might not make it. Telefonica are running to an oppersite tactic and are allowing plenty of room, but might loose distance by going to far north. oh and heres the update from volvo

 

The Aussie skipper edged PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG out of pole position around 2140 UTC on Wednesday night and fought off continued attacks from the fleet to lead by more than eight nautical miles 0700 UTC today.

 

The key move by Nicholson was a delayed tack north, with the red boat tending one nautical mile further east and tacking at 2140, while PUMA tacked to starboard at 2125 and lost their lead.

 

Nicholson and his fellow Australian patriot navigator Will Oxley made a second major play at 0540 when they were the first of the fleet to return to port tack.

 

PUMA slipped further to third position by taking a more northern course than Groupama sailing team who have advanced to second place. The pair tacked to starboard almost an hour after CAMPER along with sixth placed Team Sanya, while Team Telefónica in fourth place and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing in fifth were continuing north at 0700.

 

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand’s early starboard course was a major educated gamble said Oxley from his nav-station, where he and Nicholson have been virtually glued overnight analysing weather files.

 

“The navigators are all scratching their heads as the grib files are far from dealing with the present situation," he said. "The winds are 40 degrees out on the current direction.

 

“Everyone is trying to decide when to tack back onto port to head toward Indonesia. If you tack too early you could sail too far south and run out of wind, you wait too long the other boats will tack and you will get there last. The next 12 hours will be very interesting.’’

 

PUMA Media Crew Member Amory Ross said the mental game had intensified overnight as the yachts threw in short tactical manoeuvres to best position them for the entry into the Malacca Strait tomorrow.

 

Ross said skipper Ken Read and navigator Tom Addis were preparing for what was considered to be one of the most crucial moves of the 3,051 nm leg so far, the return tack east. He said everyone on board was alert for the ongoing battle.

 

“Timing for what could be our last tack east is critical: we want to minimise the distance sailed, but maximise our time on the new lifted tack,’’ he said.

 

“Short tacking the last 400 miles of this 'first stage' was not what any of us envisioned, at least not based on the weather information we previously had, but it’s provided some reviving interest among the crew, and a bit of tactical activity to get the brains working again. Sailing in a straight line for three days has a distinct dulling effect.”

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While Camper hold the lead, we will know on Saturday if the decession to remain south of the other 3 northern boats has payed off.

 

CAMPER’s 8.7 nautical mile (nm) lead at 10000 UTC this morning is the result of a frenzy of overnight activity and some very accurate timing.

 

Last night was full of action when the breeze shifted dramatically from north to east at around 2100 UTC. All six boats racing in Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race towards the entrance to the Malacca Strait were forced to tack, resulting in a reshuffle of the pack. While CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand were enjoying the lead this morning, Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) had moved up to second with PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) in third, 10.5 nautical miles behind the front runners.

 

CAMPER is now nicely positioned on the right hand side of the course and the crew is ready to tack back onto starboard the moment the breeze moves right a further 30 – 50 degrees, a change in wind direction which will be caused by a low in the lee of Sumatra. When the move comes, Nicholson will aim to cross ahead of the fleet and lead into the Malacca Strait. However, before this can occur in 10-15 hours’ time, the fleet will have fast reaching conditions, which could play into the hands of Team Telefónica, currently in fourth place.

 

Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) has shown some astonishing boat speed in the past two days. Martínez has been forced to take risks to make gains due to the damage sustained earlier in the course, which put the team on the back foot. His continued move to the north has given the team a great deal of separation, however their superior boat speed could make it a close call for the leading spot in the next 36 hours.

 

“The navigators are all scratching their heads as the grib files are far from dealing with the present situation – the winds are 40 degrees out on the current direction,” said CAMPER’s navigator Will Oxley.

 

At 0200 UTC this morning, PUMA’s Mar Mostro was the most leeward of the fleet, with Groupama 4, CAMPER, and Telefónica all in sight and slightly behind, but by day break the crew found themselves as the most windward boat in a significant right hand shift.

 

All six boats have now tacked back onto port with a lateral separation of 63 nm between Telefónica in the north and sixth placed Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) in the south.

 

Ian Walker and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam are in fifth position. “The bad news,” says Ian Walker, “is that this shift now puts Pulau We, our next waypoint, 340 nm dead upwind rather on our bow. Oh well! Another extra day at sea!”

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In contrast to the port tack beat for the first four days of this leg, the last 24 hours have been nothing short of dramatic. This afternoon at 1600 UTC, Team Telefónica with Iker Martínez was screaming through the fleet, sailing up to two knots faster than the rest and picking off places without remorse. Her final victim was Chris Nicholson’s CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand who, tonight at 1900, also fell prey to Telefónica who are now back at the top of the leg leaderboard as well as leading the race overall.

 

Nicholson, who took the lead from PUMA’s Mar Mostro earlier today after last night’s tacking frenzy, dared not look over his shoulder this afternoon as Team Telefónica gobbled up his hard-earned lead.

 

“What we are trying to do is get over to the Indonesian shore as fast as possible and take a right hand shift. Telefónica’s leverage will be hard for them to use if we can manage that,” said Nicholson earlier today. But it was in vain, and Telefónica is now half a mile in front of the red boat and sailing quicker.

 

Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) too was swiftly relegated to third place at 1600 UTC, only to lose out as well at 1900 UTC tonight to Mar Mostro, who earlier collided with some ocean debris costing the team precious miles as well as causing minor damage to their leeward daggerboard.

 

The boat had immediately slowed after a loud thud was heard. The team scrambled to regain speed and have tacked three times today to set up for what they hope will be the ideal approach to the waypoint at Palau We, which they must leave to starboard. Telefónica is the only boat to windward of Mar Mostro in a lateral separation for the top four boats extending 25 nm to CAMPER in the south.

 

Meanwhile Ian Walker and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing are struggling to keep up the pace. Walker is expecting thunderstorms and lots of cloud activity again tonight, which could again affect the leg leaderboard again.

 

Bringing up the rear is Team Sanya who continue to seek out any opportunities they can to climb up the order and claim some much-needed points. “We have done all we can, despite some frustrating losses to the new boats, and yet we still remain in pouncing distance,” said MCM Andrés Soriano today.

 

By noon tomorrow, the fleet will have arrived at the entrance to the Malacca Strait and the order could be shaken up again during this 500 nm trip through some of the most congested and hazardous waters in the world.

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Im still having trouble to get these videos to embed through my email notifications. i think ill need to sort a new way out of doing it, but heres 4 videos from volvo and Camper.

 

 

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Day 5 - Tackling the tunnel

 

 

 

With less than a day to go till the Straits of Malacca, the fleet had to deal with a major wind shift last night, which has reshuffled the cards a little. The monsoon and its cloud masses cannot always be forecast and Groupama 4 handled the resulting double change of tack pretty well…

 

 

 

“The weather conditions aren't all that steady, aside from the fact that we've been sailing into a headwind since setting out from the Maldives… It's a very fluky breeze: during the light airs of the first section, we had to keep an eye out for wind shifts and now that there's a steadier, albeit moderate air flow, there are some sizeable rotations. You have to remain on the look-out. Today for instance, an error in the choice of tack costs more dearly than poor trimming! Just before daybreak, there was a 40° wind shift, despite there being no sign of it on the grib files: we thought it would only last a couple of hours but ultimately we sailed due North for around a hundred miles… Before tacking, you have to reckon on ten to fifteen minutes, which is the time it takes to restack all the gear down below and the sails on deck,” indicated Franck Cammas at the noon radio link-up this Thursday.

 

Fanning out in the tunnel

 

Indeed there was nothing to suggest there would be this substantial wind shift, which led to a ballet of tack changes for the whole fleet. The runaway winner of this intricate ‘pas de deux' is Camper, which delayed launching into the merry dance until as late as possible, to end up to windward of the fleet whilst the breeze continued to veer (towards the ENE). She was the first to switch back onto an easterly heading, when the air flow returned to its usual orientation in the North-East. As such the New Zealanders have ended up the furthest to the South of the top four boats, whilst the Spanish are continuing to put all their chips on their northerly option as they approach the Straits of Malacca…

 

“Puma was the first to exploit this rotation as she was the furthest South, but she repositioned herself to pull level with us and Camper, then we decided that we too wanted to make the most of this shift and everyone followed suit. I think we tacked at the right time and even this afternoon (local time), we managed to get under way before the Americans, which has enabled us to snatch a few miles from Puma… She is about five miles to windward and Camper is a dozen miles to leeward of us. It's always good to have a crew like Ken Read's within sight, as it's an excellent reference and you don't fall asleep on deck! As regards performance, we're pretty happy with our lot because we've been able to close on Camper, which is very quick in the light airs. I feel that we've made progress over these past four days of racing and we're managing to hang onto them now.”

 

Effects of land

 

This difference of approach in terms of strategy can be partially explained by the fact that there's nothing to say that there won't be another rotation before the fleet make the tip of Pulau We. Remaining on as direct a course as possible reduces the risks involved and above all gives you the chance to reposition yourself should the weather phenomenon be repeated.

 

“It's necessary to anticipate the final approach towards Sumatra: the Spanish have opted to reposition themselves to windward as the breeze will shift round a bit more to the North today, but that strategy seems risky to us as we're still 250 miles from the entrance to the Straits of Malacca! As such they wouldn't be able to make use of a new wind shift… If all goes to plan, the top four boats should remain bunched when we make our entrance into this tunnel. If things pan out the way we hope, the wind will increase to over fifteen knots at the entrance to the passage between Pulau We and Great Nicobar island. We should pass it under heavy genoa (J2) from tonight and there's sure to be one last tack change before we can pass the headland. After that, things will become rather more random with the wind shadows created beneath the islands and the buffering effect in the lee of Sumatra: we'll have to get around these light patches from Friday onwards.”

 

Hot inside!

 

Aboard Groupama 4, aside from the race, which is keeping both body and mind occupied, the main difficulty is withstanding the serious heat which is dominating this equatorial zone. With the atmosphere saturated in humidity, any moving about down below is proving tiresome and it's hard to sleep in the day. This situation should change slightly over the coming hours though, with more wind and hence more action on deck and a bit of cool air in the Straits of Malacca. The crews will have to be in great shape so they can react to the slightest puff of breeze in an atmosphere which promises to be stifling, with a light and very fickle wind…

 

“Our diet adapts to serious spells of heat: we use up fewer calories and we drink more because we sweat a huge amount, particularly down below aboard Groupama 4. Everyone's finding it hard to deal with and the only pleasant time is on deck at night. To get some sleep in our bunks, we're kitted up with little fans and we're lucky to have a white deck in contrast to Puma or Camper, who must be suffering even more down below on their boats.”

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Its a battle between the Overall leader and 2nd place Camper yet again as the teams prepare for the tactical battle that awaits them as they go through the Malaca straights. Sanya and Abu Dhabi have suffered greatly in the last 24 hours, but they are both within range to strike if the boats run into trouble. Does anybody want to suggest if one of the teams will dismast when they head north after the straights?

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So, essentially Telefonica have overlaid, Camper are pinching to make the mark and they're all concertinering (is that a word?) and it'll all get terribly close (can you say "scripted") before Camper once again snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory right at the end.

 

Cynical much??

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