Reverse result. Puma, the winner of the sixth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, is still fourth overall, but only 17 points behind Telefonica, who finished fourth in the leg but remain ahead overall. Between them are Groupama in second place and Camper in third, with any slip-up now doubly painful as there is less and less time to iron out mistakes. The New Zealanders like the fact that they have left the teams ahead of them in the standings behind them on the water. "It's as close as the skippers predicted," explains Camper boss Chris Nicholson. "Hopefully the decision won't be made until Galway."
Ken Read's Puma team, which looked and probably was battered after the mast broke on the first stage, is now in good shape after two consecutive stage wins. "Why not us? That's been the motto for some time now. Why shouldn't we do it?" asked Read rhetorically. "Mentally, this stage was tough, but no one lost it. And that's the best thing about this crew."
And Franck Cammas, who sailed behind the field with the Groupama squad for a long time after the start in Brazil, is even happier because he sailed up to third place with an extreme beat in the Bahamas and also overtook Telefonica, who are only 11 points away in the overall standings. "Physically, this was the easiest stage, but the stress has been at its highest since Alicante," said the Frenchman. "Everyone is close together, everything remains open and the battle continues."
"The fact that the boats behind us were able to close the gap is not so good," said a visibly disappointed Iker Martinez, who seemed almost unbeatable with Telefonica at the start of the race. "We're not nervous, but we have to sail better and simply do everything right." Abu Dhabi remains in fifth place with little prospect of anything more than respectable results and should be looking forward to the return of Sanya, who are sailing more in their price bracket and should be back for the next leg.
The race continues on 19 May with the In-Port Race at 1 pm local time. The start of the seventh leg to Lisbon will follow on Sunday, 20 May, also at 1 pm local time, which is 7 pm CEST.
Stage 6
- Puma 17 d, 01 h, 13 m, 59 s, 30 points
- Camper 17 d, 02 h, 21 m, 24 s, 25 points
- Groupama 17 d, 07 h, 29 m, 03 s, 20 points
- Telefónica 17 d, 08 h, 06 m, 38 s, 15 points
- Abu Dhabi 17 d, 15 h, 57 m, 37 s, 10 points
Overall ranking
- Telefónica 164 points
- Groupama, 153 points
- Camper 149 points
- Puma 147 points
- Abu Dhabi 68 points
- Sanya 25 points
