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With the build of the hull complete in the Spanish shipyard, the boat heads for Alicante to continue her assembly

With 186 days to go until the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 kicks off in Alicante, “Telefónica” has finally come to life. The brand new Spanish Volvo Open 70 left the King Marine shipyard this morning, where it was built over approximately 40,000 hours with a team of over 28 builders and 19 designers in the region of Valencia in Spain.

“All of us who form part of this team are very happy to finally see the boat en route to Alicante. Now we are looking forward to sailing her and to getting everything ready and for the boat to work well as a whole,” said skipper Iker Martínez.

Designed in Valencia by Juan Kouyoumdjian and Spanish built
The Juan Yacht Design studio, based in Valencia and lead by Argentina's Juan Kouyoumdjian, were in charge of the design of the new boat for the Spanish team directed by Pedro Campos.

“Juan K”, as the Argentine is known in the sailing world, has a team of the best specialists in boat design of racing yachts of the highest level. He also has the added prestige of being the designer of the two most recent Volvo Ocean Race winners: “ABN AMRO ONE” (2005-06) and “Ericsson 4” (2008-09).

 “When Team Telefónica got in contact with us about this project we were very happy, as well as eager to see results alongside them,” said Juan Kouyoumdjian. “They have competed in the past and we have always wanted to work with the team, not just because of the team's results, which speak for themselves, but also because, from the outside, we have always had the impression that the projects lead by Pedro Campos and Iker Martínez look very tight. The opportunity to win a third Volvo as designer with a team which shares the same language as us generates a certain pride.”

The Spanish team has trusted in the Valencian King Marine shipyard, based in Alginet, yet again. The same shipyard where “Telefónica Blue” was built for the last edition of the race.
 
The brand new “Telefónica”: key features
The most recent update in the rules of the Volvo Open 70 class has focussed more on 'refining' rather than including any radical changes. The third generation of these yachts may look similar to the previous generations, but their overall performance means that they are faster and even more spectacular.

“This "Telefónica" and the previous boat are two completely different yachts. This is clearly an evolution of "Telefónica Blue" and others and in the end we have tried to take the best features from all of the boats from the last edition and to go a step further. Having seen the boat I can say that it is exactly what we wanted,” pointed out Iker Martínez.

The involvement of the new Technical Director of the Spanish team, Horacio Carabelli, during the entire build process of “Telefónica” has been fundamental. Carabelli, a former Volvo Ocean Race winner on “Ericsson 4” in the previous edition of the race, knows the boat that will be skippered by Olympic champion Iker Martínez to perfection. “The build of ‘Telefónica’ has been totally innovative, with the latest developments in technology. The interior structure design is brand new, with a division of the watertight bulkheads that has been optimised to comply to the new rules and the search to keep the interior structure to a minimum,” said Horacio Carabelli.

Hull and appendages have been a focus for the Juan Yacht Design studio, with many hours spent on them, both in terms of studying the features and on the final design. The result of this intense study means that “Telefónica” has a very different volume distribution to that of the previous generation of Volvo Open 70s, as well as brand new daggerboards and rudders, built based on exhaustive research into finding the maximum balance of boat handling and stability in every situation.

The studies carried out into weight distribution and structure have also thrown up some eye-catching results on the new “Telefónica”, to add to her voluminous bow there is the deck, where the cabin has almost been eradicated.

“Today is one of the big days for our project. The design team and the crew have been analysing every last detail of the boat over the last few months of research, development, innovation and construction, with the aim of optimising the boat and gaining any extra tenth of a knot possible,” said Pedro Campos.

“With the support of our sponsors we have aimed not only for the best design, but also for the best build, crew and preparation possible, whilst opting for Spanish technology and crew,” added the CEO of the Spanish team.
 
First training sessions
“Telefónica” is bound for the port of Alicante to begin the assembly of all her different parts. The most immediate plans for the team are some offshore training sessions this summer between Alicante, the Canary Islands and Galicia.

 
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

VOLVO OPEN 70 “TELEFÓNICA”

Team: Team Telefónica
Country: Spain
Club: Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo and Real Club de Regatas de Alicante
Clubes: Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo

CEO: Pedro Campos
Skipper: Iker Martínez
Technical Director: Horacio Carabelli

Boat: “Telefónica”. Volvo Open 70 – version 3
Sail number: ESP - 1
Designer: Juan Kouyoumdjian
Shipyard: King Marine (Alginet, Valencia)

Length: 21.5 metres (70 feet)
Beam: 5.70 metres
Mast height: 31.6 metres (the equivalent of a ten-storey building)

Mainsail: 175 m2
Jib: 135 m2
Spinnaker: 500 m2 (the equivalent of two tennis courts)

Displacement: 14,500 kg
Max weight: 14,500 kg
Bulb weight: 5,500 kg
Keel weight: maximum 7,400 kg

Swinging keel to 40º angle
Daggerboards:2
Number of sails: 17 total (maximum of 9 on board)
On board cameras: 5
On board microphones: 3
Crew: 10 sailors + 1 media crew member
Wheels (rudder): 2
Grinders: 3
Build: approximately 40,000 shipyard hours. 28 people