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VOLVO OCEAN RACE

VOR: CAMPER has spectacular welcome to ‘City of Sails'

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After 20 days, 4 hours, 46 minutes and 55 seconds of elapsed time, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crossed the finish line at 1244h local time on Sunday afternoon (New Zealand) to a rapturous welcome from over 30,000 people that had crowded into the Volvo Ocean Race Village in Auckland, New Zealand.
Skipper Chris Nicholson, summed up the arrival into Auckland in one simple word ‘humbling’.
However the team’s arrival into Auckland was nothing if not stressful for Nicholson and his 10-man crew.  For the past 48 hours CAMPER had been match racing with Puma and Telefonica in a three-way battle down the eastern coast of New Zealand.  With valuable points on offer none of the three teams were giving up easily however during the night Puma stole a lead to finish second while Telefonica and CAMPER battled right to the finish line with Spanish New Zealand team finishing just 1min and 33 seconds behind in a spectacular match racing battle right to the finish line.
“You have two emotions. One of disappointment as we were so close to getting Telefonica, but the other is really humbling.  It was an amazing reception for the team.  It was a really good experience,” commented an exhausted Nicholson.
“This was a brutal leg and we sailed an extra 1500 miles just to get here.  We were in bad sea states most of the time - just generally not pleasant sailing.  The only reason you enjoy it is because you enjoy racing against the best people in the world, otherwise you wouldn’t do it.” He concluded.
For Stu Bannatyne, it was his fifth arrival into the City of Sails: “Auckland did not disappoint. The race is back for the first time in 10 years and it shows that the race should come here.  It was a fantastic welcome.  Sadly for us there was not enough race track at the end, but our time will come.”
The teams now have a few days to get the boats prepared for next leg through the Southern Ocean from Auckland to Itajai in southern Brazil.
The 5220-mile Leg from Sanya (China) to Auckland (New Zealand) started on 18 February 2012.

11/03/2012 11:35:00 © riproduzione riservata

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