Puma Ocean Racing powered by Berg is in the navigators hands

26 January 2012

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CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand’s navigator Will Oxley helped manoeuvre his team into the lead on day six of the second stage of Leg 3 to Sanya in China, as France’s Groupama sailing team also jumped up the rankings into second.

To the north of the fleet, Andrew Cape was banking on Team Telefónica’s blistering boat speed to propel them to the front of the pack after sacrificing miles to CAMPER in favour of a better wind angle.

Early leg leaders PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG may have surrendered their place at the head of the fleet but navigator Tom Addis’s conservative option right in the middle of the fleet could ensure a prime position from which to launch an attack on their rivals once they reach the Malacca Strait in around 24 hours.

With less than 300 nautical miles to go before reaching the hazardous body of water separating Sumatra and Malaysia, the jury was still out as to which of the strategies of CAMPER, Groupama, PUMA or Telefónica would pay.

“Telefónica do have a lot of leverage over us but it’s taken them several days to get that,” said CAMPER’s skipper Chris Nicholson, celebrating their lead on Australia Day. “The difficulty for them will be converting their leverage into miles. What we’re trying to do is to 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.”

PUMA skipper Ken Read was today backing Telefónica to reach the Malacca Strait first but with less than 10 nautical miles separating the top four boats at 1400 UTC said the intense, neck and neck racing between his Mar Mostro, CAMPER and Groupama could pay for all three teams further down the track.

“Telefónica have done their customary fast sailing in the high lane and will probably come out of this long drag race on top as we enter the Malacca Strait,” said Read.

“CAMPER, Groupama and ourselves have been within eyeball range pretty much since the start of this leg and that doesn’t seem to be changing any time in the near future. It makes it a bit more stressful on the boat, but certainly gives everyone a constant measuring stick, which is a good thing.”

Groupama skipper Franck Cammas added: “We are happy to have a boat to sail with, and happy that this boat is PUMA: they sail fast and are one of the key teams. At times they have been faster upwind but this morning we have been faster so we’re happy.”

Over the last 24 hours Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing lost a further seven miles, putting

them 27 miles behind CAMPER in fifth position. Skipper Ian Walker said he was banking on the thunderstorms and clouds that litter the fleet’s path to the waypoint at Palau We making life tough for the leading pack.

“Tricky is good right now as we need to make some tactical gains to get back in touch with the leaders,” he said. “Life on board is hot but good – we just need to keep ticking off the miles.”

Ever aware of their slight disadvantage at racing a second-generation boat, sixth-placed Team Sanya were biding their time in favour of strong tactics despite trailing the leaders by 39 miles.

“We are quite aware that we have good ability with the boat and strategically, so we just have to keep sailing as well as we can,” navigator Aksel Magdahl said. “For me and the other boys we knew boat speed might be in issue but we are developing ourselves for the long term.”

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