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The stopwatch for the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race stopped for “Telefónica” on Friday 6^th April at 19:22 UTC with 19 days, 18 hours, 22 minutes and 28 seconds of an intense leg behind them. At that moment, Horacio Carabelli, Technical Director at Team Telefónica set another stopwatch, but this time it's set for a countdown: the time available to the shore crew to get 'the machine' ready.

16 days until the start

Thankfully for the boats, crews and shore crews, the stopover at Itjaí is somewhat longer than the stopover at Auckland (New Zealand), where they barely had a week, and that week included a training race, a Pro-Am, an in-port and the start itself.

In the Brazilian city, from the moment the Spanish boat reached the quayside until it casts off its line for the start of the sixth leg, a return to the Northern Hemisphere, 16 days will pass.

It's a reasonable gap, “one that gives us some time to work on the boat here on shore”, said Carabelli. “The days ahead will be very useful for the repairs we've got scheduled (on the delaminated section of the bow) and some other things, because the boat always suffers”.

This last leg was where the boats took the biggest pounding, with some especially tough conditions, with huge waves. Aboard “Telefónica” the decision was taken to put the safety of the boat and crew ahead of racing.

“We really have just finished a very tough leg, especially with the problem we had 1,000 miles into the leg which we then carried out repairs on at Cape Horn. It was a very tough leg, with very strong winds and big swell”, said Carabelli.

Speaking about the hull delamination, the Brazilian explained that “what happened was that the core of the panel had collapsed, so it completely lost its rigidity”. The repairs, which are underway consist of  “peeling back the entire internal skin of the boat and the core. It is then stuck onto a new core which has been shaped and pre-shaped and the hull's internal skin is relaminated. With that the structure becomes rebonded”.

Mast checks and new stays

Another item on the job-list at Itjaí, as well as general maintenance of the boat, planned in advance for the stopover, is the realignment of the mast on shore, followed by some 'tuning' on the water because as Horacio says, “we have some new stays which we also need to adjust”.

Work on the sails

However, the jobs also extend beyond the boat itself. The Spanish team's sailmakers are also busy at work, although it could have been a lot worse. The main job is working on the J2, one of the jibs which suffered from the blow of a 'Pampero' (a cold front with gusts from Antarctica), which took “Telefónica” by surprise two days before crossing the finishing line, and caused 13 deaths in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, as well as 20 injuries and widespread damage across the city.

The 'Pampero' crept up on “Telefónica” and unleashed winds topping 50 knots when the J2 jib was hoisted. “It took a battering”, admitted the Technical Director, but the Spanish team will attempt to recover the sail and keep it as a reserve. Because thankfully “our sail programme includes a new J2 for this leg”, so although it's not ideal, it could have been worse.

First training session 16^th April

According to the Spanish team's schedule, the first feedback session for “Telefónica” will be on Monday 16^th April, where the team will see how the boat behaves following repairs. Three days later it will be time for the official training race, whilst on Friday and Saturday the Pro-Am and in-port races will be held, in that order. On Sunday 22^nd April, at 14:00 local time (17:00 UTC), the starting gun for the start of Leg 6 will be fired.