The final miles on the course to Miami aren't giving the fleet a moment's relief as the boats push forth in Caribbean waters. This time it's “Telefónica” that has come up trumps strategically, with the team positioned further north and further to windward than the other boats, which has translated into an exit from the first of the calms in second place.
Over the past few hours “Telefónica” made it very clear that the target in their sights was to overtake “Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand” and the Spanish boat did that in the end by exiting the first light patch with almost one nautical mile on Chris Nicholson and crew.
According to the 16:00 UTC position report, “Telefónica” was notching up better speeds than the New Zealand team. With average boat speeds of 13.5 knots, two more than “Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand”, the crew headed up by Iker Martínez managed to cut the gap down by a mile and move to 27.9 miles from “Puma”, whilst the New Zealanders are 28.8 miles from the top having dropped six miles in the last three hours.
Astern French boat “Groupama” continues to push through the light patch at speeds of 5.1 knots, with “Telefónica” positioned as the second fastest boat in the fleet behind “Puma”. It looks very much like Iker Martínez and his crew could continue to increase their advantage on their most immediate rivals over the coming hours.
PROVISIONAL RANKINGS LEG 6
ITAJAÍ (BRAZIL) – MIAMI (USA): 4,800 miles
Day 13 – 16:00 UTC – 5th May 2012
1. Puma Ocean Racing (Ken Read), 909.9 miles to finish
2. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), +27.9 miles
3. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), +28.8 miles
4. Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas), +89.4 miles
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), +111.2 miles
6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), DNS
Skipper Iker Martínez explains how is the situation on board "Telefónica" and tells us what has happened in the last 24 hours
(On the first broken rudder on Thursday 14th June ...
At 20:00 UTC yesterday, 14th June, having solved the issue of a broken starboard rudder, “Telefónica” was back in the lead of the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean ...
Information at 14.00 UTC. Despite beating the speed record for this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race for the fourth time this afternoon, notching up a 24 hour ...
What a final stretch! As expected, the storm which swallowed up the fleet has also provided the necessary ingredients for a speed record for this edition of the Volvo Ocean ...
The islands of the Azores have now been put astern by "Telefónica" after a night of very hard work in which the Spanish boat took back the lead. As ...
“Telefónica” has been embroiled in a no holds barred battle for the Azores, the obligatory waypoint on this eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race over the past 24 hours. ...
?The first 24 hours of the eighth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race have gone well for “Telefónica” with the boat moving into the lead of the leg with an ...
The eighth and penultimate leg of the Volvo Ocean Race is underway, kicking off today in Lisbon, Portugal at 12:00 UTC with 11 knots of northwesterly breeze. There are ...
19 knots of breeze were blowing in the River Tajo today as the tide began to come in, at the predicted time of 12:00 UTC. That's when the eighth ...
For the first time here in Lisbon we've seen the six Volvo Ocean Race skippers sit down at a table together. This took place in the press conference held ...
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