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VOLVO OCEAN RACE

VOR: determined CAMPER targets second place overall

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The CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew set off from Lorient for the ninth and final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday hoping for a strong finish in Galway that could see them clinch second place.

Chris Nicholson’s men may have not won a leg, but their consistently solid performances have garnered enough points to keep them in the hunt for a podium place.  The Spanish/New Zealand entry is in third place on the overall leaderboard after their second placed finish in Saturday’s Bretagne InPort race. CAMPER has 196 points, two more than fourth-placed Telefonica (194 points) but four fewer than Puma who currently hold second place (200 points).

Groupama is on 225 points with only two more scoring opportunities left (the final leg and the Galway in-port race), and the likelihood is the French team will claim the trophy. But the race for second place will be fiercely contested with three teams: Puma, CAMPER and Telefónica – separated by just six points. Thirty points goes to the winner of the final leg, 25 to second place, 20 to third place, and so on. The Galway InPort race offers six points for first place, with points decreasing by one for the next placed boat.

Bowman Daryl Wislang believes the CAMPER crew is more than capable of taking second place overall.

“Everyone sees the leaderboard and we are a couple of points ahead of Telefónica, and four points behind Puma, so it really comes down to who beats who in this leg, and it’s going to be difficult to pass someone in the last InPort race, so it’s vital we get a good result into Galway,” he said.

“We’re still fighting hard for second place and it’s still well within our grasp. If we sail a good leg then it’s right there for us. That’s what we’re all pushing for.”

The six-boat fleet set off on this tricky leg in almost perfect 15 knot winds.  The first half hour of this 36-hour leg saw a short 7nm inshore course setting the boats up for one of the trickiest legs of the whole race.  A penalty turn at the start put CAMPER slightly on the back foot after being penalised by the umpires for tacking too close to Telefonica.  However, Nicholson galvanised his team and, by the departure mark in Lorient Bay they had pulled themselves back into third place, chasing down Puma in second spot.

Helmsman Tony Rae said the final leg would be an intense affair with no respite.

"This is a sprint leg - it’s going to be all on,” he stressed. “There won’t be too much chance of separating from the rest of the fleet. There will be small gains and losses with the corners, obviously we’ve got this 400-mile reach from the island down here to the Fastnet and then we’ve got the corners, then we reach Galway Bay. All this can change placings pretty radically.”

When asked what he was looking forward to most about reaching Galway, he replied: “Can’t wait to have a Guinness!"

The six boat fleet is expected to complete the short 550 nautical mile leg in less than two days, with an estimated arrival time in Galway between 0100 UTC and 0500 UTC on Tuesday, July 3.

01/07/2012 16:49:00 © riproduzione riservata

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