FC Barcelona's footballers have Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi, Telefonica's sailors have Iker Martinez and Andrew Cape. Both are Spanish teams with a strong international flavour, and both are currently the measure of all things in their sport. After 12 days and 19 hours, the clever crew of the light blue boat took the second and far more lucrative leg of the third leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, which covered some 3,050 miles from the Maldives to Sanya in China, extending their lead over Camper in the overall standings to 15 points. Telefonica, who were hampered by a crack in the code zero at the start, were able to repair the damage quickly and took the lead before entering the Strait of Malacca. They did not relinquish this lead until the finish, even if the position tracking briefly showed Groupama in front.
The Australian navigator Cape played a major part in the confident performance of the all-round solid Telefonica squad. "It was one of the most difficult legs I've ever had to sail," said the old fox. "Physically it was less tough than a long leg in the Southern Ocean, but mentally it was very exhausting. Anyway, I'm knackered and now I want a beer."
The French team from Groupama challenged the Spaniards to the best of their ability and even managed to engage them in a short windward-leeward match in the Strait of Malacca, but in the end Franck Cammas and his colleagues "only" managed second place, 1 hour and 47 minutes behind. "We were constantly manoeuvring," said Cammas. "We made 24 turns in the last 48 hours, and every single one is very tedious on a Volvo Open 70." But Cammas, who considers Telefonica to be the faster boat in the prevailing conditions, also expressed his satisfaction with his team's improvement. "We made some improvements to the trim of Groupama, so that was good for us."
The New Zealand camper completed the podium at the Chinese stage finish and still holds second place overall, albeit only nine points ahead of Groupama. "We came out of the Straits of Singapore in fifth place and can be happy that it was enough for third place, even though we had hoped for more," said skipper Chris Nicholson, summarising the event.
The tragic heroes were once again Puma, who first got caught up in a fishing net and then blew a potential podium finish with a risky fetch shot that didn't help them except for a diversion. "It didn't work out and I'll take the blame for it. In the end it was my decision," said a disappointed skipper Ken Read. What he didn't mention: Telefonica, Groupama and Camper are sailing fast and solid, which is why Puma feels compelled to take greater tactical risks in order to achieve success. A calculation that has not worked out so far. It doesn't help that Puma achieved the best 24-hour time of all the boats on the third leg with 355.89 miles.
Finish line in Sanya
There's little news at the bottom of the rankings: Abu Dhabi is sailing bravely, but obviously has speed problems with the Farr boat, and for Team Sanya, the grapes will continue to hang very high with the repaired boat of the last generation. But at least they arrived in their "home harbour" yesterday in sixth (and last) place after just over 14 days at sea and were given a festive welcome by a large crowd.
The show continues in Sanya on Friday 17 February with the Pro-Am Race, followed by the In-Port Race on Saturday and the start of the fourth leg on Sunday 19 February, which leads over 5,220 miles to Auckland/New Zealand.
Interim result
- Team Telefonica, 95 points
- Camper with Emirates Team NZL, 80
- Groupama Sailing Team, 71
- Puma Ocean Racing, 48
- Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, 39
- Team Sanya,16 (received 1 point for the unsailed 1st leg and 4 points for the 2nd leg of the 3rd leg)
This article was published on 5 February and has been updated.
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