Volvo Ocean Race - Cape Town Stopover
| Decision time looms |
| Thursday, 10 November 2011 10:24 |
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Team Groupama have had a good night, extending their lead on paper, but if one looks at the fleet-tracker, there is still very little in it. The crew enjoyed some champagne sailing last night, but it will still be nervous time for skipper Frank Cammas, above. “A full moon, no cloud, temperature of 20 degrees. Downwind between 10 and 15 knots - a delight,” said media crewman Yann Riou in an overnight blog. “We might have less fun if the others get 200 miles ahead of us, but right now, we are enjoying it.” Whether Groupama’s gamble pays off depends on whether they can break away from dying wind corridor close to the shore and find the stronger, more consistent tradewinds, before their rivals do. Team Telefonica, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand all opted to punch west into the Atlantic in search of stronger breeze. Riou said the Groupama team had big decisions ahead of them that could prove vital to their success in the leg. In other news, Azzam is on the go again. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing left Alicante yesterday evening following a round-the-clock effort to rig and fit their spare mast to their bruised Volvo Open 70 Azzam. Walker, who skippered the Irish/Chinese entry Green Dragon in the 2008-09 race, said his crew would take “one step at a time” and would not be able to fully test the mast until daylight – but promised Azzam would “soar again”. Team Sanya are preparing to ship their yacht to Cape Town, it is currently on a vehicle being driven to the departure port, where it will go aboard a Maersk cargo ship. They are expecting it to arrive in Cape Town on November 28th, where a team will be on standby to begin work. |
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Volvo Ocean Race Podcast
Jeff Ayliffe had an exclusive chat to PUMA Ocean Racing's skipper Ken Read today. When they last chatted, Ken was hoping to be back for the Volvo Ocean race 2011, but they had not confirmed. The team are are not only back, but have experienced a transatlantic victory aboard the new boat 'Mar Mostro', and Read told Jeff he was delighted to preparing for Alicante and the start of Volvo Ocean race action
- Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town
Team Camper’s South African crewman is Michael Pammenter, who sailed with Telefonica Black in 2008. Michael caught up with Jeff Ayliffe just after the boat Was being transported to New Zealand.
- Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town
Puma Ocean Racing’s Jono Swain is the 2nd of 3 South Africans in this years Volvo Ocean race. He chatted to Jeff Ayliffe about sleeping patterns and life aboard a Volvo open 70
- Volvo Ocean Race Cape Town
Capetonian Paul Wilcox is part of Abu Dhabi Racing in the Volvo Ocean Race, and he was chatting to Jeff Ayliffe shortly after the team pulled off a win in the Transnet after a close battle with Groupama.
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