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Following a night of repairs, “Telefónica” is climbing positions again

The first 24 hours of racing haven't been straightforward for “Telefónica”. The Spanish boat experienced problems with the Code Zero just hours into racing, with Iker Martínez and crew doing their best to recover the sail and above all to keep up the pace of the competition. It seems that they hit the target and as well as having the sail back working at 100%, the Spanish yacht has managed to climb positions to become the fastest entry in the fleet, together with “Abu Dhabi”, according to the 13:00 UTC position report.

The gaps between the fleet are still minimal, as Diego Fructuoso explained in today's log: “All six of us boats can see each other and I think we're going to see very slim differences on this leg and we'll be sailing close together, which makes the time on deck a bit more entertaining as you're always watching the others to see if you're doing well and to see if you need to make any changes.”

The situation is such that “Telefónica”, in fourth place, is just six miles behind “Puma”, the current leader, whilst the entire fleet is keeping the bow to East and are pushing more and more North. By no means for nothing, as the most recent weather reports indicate that the breeze well into the Indian Ocean is made up of pure northerly winds.

For Jordi Calafat it was a successful night: “We had some fast close-hauling at 13-14 knots. Some of the boats are pretty slow in those conditions and we got up to a good pace.” Said and done: the 10.00 GMT report showed “Telefónica” overtaking “Abu Dhabi” and taking back fourth. The sailor from Mallorca in Spain also added: “We're sailing with the main full and the J1 up. We've got 13 knots, true wind angle of 80º and the boat's going at 15 knots. It's fairly gusty. During the night we got some good sleeping conditions so everyone got some rest.”

On board repairs and back up to speed

There's no doubt that the past 24 hours have been marred by the Masthead breakage, although as Jordi Calafat explains: “We didn't exactly break the sail, but the aluminium piece where the sail and the furler are joined.” The “Telefónica” helmsman and Sail Inventory coordinator for the team also added that “the repair was straightforward. The hardest thing was getting the sail inside. It's not the biggest we've got but it is one of them and one of the heaviest. We normally stow the sail on the windward side but we had to bring it down and take it inside. The damage was to one of the sail corners so we sewed by hand. We attached a new piece... and that's that. We had all of the materials that were needed on board so we didn't have to turn back and it wasn't something we even considered. I think that the repair will withstand the leg and we will cross our fingers too that it doesn't cause a problem. You never can tell with these things. Everything else is going well and we are back to full speed.”

The job done by the sailmakers on board, Jordi Calafat and Zane Gills, was excellent and the rest of the crew wanted to congratulate them and did so through MCM Diego Fructuoso's blog: “The Code Zero's been repaired, which wasn't easy. Getting a sail of almost 500 m² inside the boat and fixing it was a new experience for me to see. Jordi and Zane have done a great job and I'm sure it'll give us something to be happy about.”

Picking up the pace

With the first full day of racing out of the way, the Spanish yacht's crew are beginning to ease back into the extreme conditions because, as Diego Fructuoso explains: “After more than 20 days not sleeping on the boat it really takes some getting used to. The worst thing has been the breakages we've had to deal with, which have made things a bit more difficult. That's what it's like in this sport and especially in this race.” The MCM from Cartagena, Spain, also added: “We've started eating freeze dried food today, which is another thing that takes some getting used to. Our breakfast of cereals and powdered milk is rather different to the hotel's buffet breakfast. At least it's a good temperature out here, which makes the trip much more pleasant.”

PROVISIONAL RANKINGS STAGE 2 - LEG 3

Day 2 – 13:00 UTC – 23rd January 2012

1. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), 2,673,6 miles from finish

2. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +1.1 miles from leader

3. Groupama Sailing Team (Franck Cammas), +2.4 miles

4. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +6.3 miles

5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), + 7.1 miles

6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), +10 miles