Skipper Chris Nicholson was in a frustrated but positive mood when he arrived in Sanya at 0728h local time this morning. "We thought and expected to do better than third, to be honest, but it's a difficult race... and we are with the best professional teams in the world," Nicholson commented.
CAMPER led the fleet on five separate occasions but the defining moment for the Spanish/New Zealand team came when they navigated the Malacca Straits. Getting stuck in a thunderstorm shortly after entering the notorious Straits, scuppered the team's plans to sail down the Indonesian shore line leaving them trailing in fifth position when the fleet arrived at Singapore.
However, with character, persistance, determination and good, solid sailing CAMPER pulled themselves up to snatch the final podium place.
Quotes from the crew:I’m pretty frustrated to be honest. We have potential to win races but if I think back a few days ago when we left the Malacca Sraits in fifth, we’re pretty happy to come here placed third overall. You’ve got to take the good with the bad.
I actually think we just have to hang with them [Telefonica] a little longer. They only need to be given an inch and they will take a mile. I’ve probably taken a while to form this opinion of how they are. They’re very strong across the board and I think we just have to hang with them, maybe take some losses when you’re not as fast as them, and wait till you’re faster than them.
Tony Rae
Obviously we're disappointed not to win one, but sometimes we were further backk than third and managed to claw our way back and make a decent showing of it. It's a long race and anything can happen. Telefonica are sailing well, very well. They're going fast. But when we are with themm we have to minimise the mistakes, and make it happen. It will happen.
Stu BannatyneI guess it’s still early enough in the overall race that we can’t be too disappointed with another podium. It’s not a disaster and it’s disaster legs that will lose you the race at this point, so we are just in touch. It is very frustrating that we are not quite doing enough to win a leg, but I’m sure our time will come. We’re hopefully keeping it close enough to keep it a tight race.
It was a very challenging leg in so many different ways, certainly physically with such a geographically constrained race course. We had lot of manoeuvres, watch systems often went out of the window for periods of hours, lots and lots of stacks, moving the stack from side to side, which is always hard work. The negotiation of local fish fleets at night, and dealing with all that side of it. Mentally and physically it was very tough.The Malacca Straits wasn’t a calm place for us - we lost a lot there. But the guys showed some character, fought back and we overtook two boats on the way in here. It’s a good sign for us that we can come back from a deficit. We are there or thereabouts, we’re knocking on the door. They (Telefonica) are a fast all round boat that’s for sure, so full credit to them, but we’ll catch them.”
Un mare affollato quello di ieri al largo di San Foca, grazie ad una bella giornata di sole e di vento ‘giusto’, anche per la flotta di ‘Più Vela Per Tutti’, che ha disputato la sua quarta regata del campionato invernale
Spirit of Nerina (ORC A-B), Sease (ORC C) e Ariarace (Rating FIV). Sono questi gli equipaggi che festeggiano al termine della prima manche del 50° Campionato Invernale del Tigullio
Sodebo Ultim 3, il maxi-trimarano francese guidato da Thomas Coville, è salpato il 15 dicembre 2025 per un nuovo tentativo di record sul Trofeo Jules Verne, il giro del mondo senza scalo né assistenza
L’equipaggio di Orofino vince il Trofeo Gaetano Martinelli (ORC), quello di Neri e Cassese il Trofeo Oreste Albanesi (Sport Boat), mentre il team di Fotticchia conquista il Trofeo Paola Martinelli (Gran Crociera)
Grande successo per il Trofeo Fondazione Telethon, la regata destinata a raccogliere fondi a favore della ricerca sulle malattie genetiche rare
Sua Maestà la Regina Suthida di Thailandia scenderà in acqua insieme al Team Thailandia per le regate della Star Sailors League
Più di 100 imbarcazioni provenienti da 16 Paesi hanno confermato la propria partecipazione, a testimonianza di quanto questo appuntamento sia ormai tra i più prestigiosi e attesi del calendario velico internazionale
La vittoria thailandese ha avuto anche un significato storico: a bordo dell’SSL47 numero 6 c’era infatti Sua Maestà la Regina Suthida, in ruolo attivo come tattica e timoniera, alla guida del team di casa nelle acque di Pattaya
La squadra italiana chiude la rassegna iridata con tre medaglie e conquista per il terzo anno consecutivo il Nations Trophy, confermandosi ai vertici della vela giovanile internazionale