PUMA Drops to Fourth Place in Volvo Ocean Race

The following is from a press release on the Volvo Ocean Race Web site. 

After a brutal first 36 hours of strong headwinds and pounding waves which forced Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing to suspend racing for repairs, the teams now have to reassess their strategies after race control issued new coordinates for the leg’s ice exclusion zone overnight Monday. 

Ian Walker’s Emirati team turned back to Auckland after tearing out the internal supporting bulkhead for their J4 headsail a few hours into the leg on Sunday.

Some speedy work from their shore crew saw them return to sea around 2300 UTC yesterday when they had to shelter for several hours from winds as high as 60 knots before resuming racing at 0725 UTC this morning.

Having been the first to breakaway from the pack to the east yesterday, at 1300 UTC today overall race leaders Team Telefónica held an 14 nautical mile (nm) lead over second placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand.

Despite a sail fitting failure overnight which cost them miles, Groupama sailing team lay in third a further 14 nm back and three nautical miles ahead of powered by BERG. Team Sanya sat in fifth with Abu Dhabi who re-joined the race a few hours earlier trailing them by 600 nm.

In Abu Dhabi’s absence the rest of the fleet had endured horrendous conditions heading north against fierce winds from an intense tropical depression before turning to the south east and accelerating to average speeds over 20 knots.