Det blev Puma som vann i delsträckan som gick i mål i Brasilien på långfredagen. Telefónica seglade mer eller mindre ikapp Puma på avslutningen av Leg 5 inför målgången i brasilianska Itajaí och har ett bra läge för att ta hem slutsegern inför de fortsatta seglingar.
Här är de senaste pressreleaserna från tävlingsledningen:
Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) have the bit between their teeth tonight after making more gains on leaders PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) and are pushing hard for the lead.
“We’re going for them,” said Telefónica’s helmsman Pablo Arrarte as the Spanish upped the pressure today on PUMA. Not exactly music to the ears for PUMA’s skipper Ken Read, but unsurprising nonetheless, given the intensity of the final section of Leg 5 from Auckland to Itajaí in Brazil.
For most of the morning, PUMA had the edge in boat speed and were able to keep the Spanish team at bay. However, since 1700 GMT Iker Martínez and his men, who have maintained their course just shy of 100 nm off the coast, have had better breeze with a faster angle and impressive boats speeds of around 23.3 knots have seen the miles clicking down fast as the team draws closer to PUMA.
At 1900 GMT, PUMA was 320 nm from the final waypoint on this leg at Florianópolis, some 30 miles south of Itajaí and 41.10 nm ahead of Telefónica. The leg winner is expected to cross the finish at 1600 GMT tomorrow.
Meanwhile, there are still 20 points on offer for third place and both Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) would like to claim them.
In a race against time, it looks likely that Groupama, who dismasted on Wednesday and limped to Punta del Este, Uruguay, to fashion a jury rig, will be the first of the two teams to resume racing. While Groupama are hampered by a much smaller sail area, they will have only 580 nm nautical miles to sail to the finish.
CAMPER however, face a much harsher passage from Chile, south around the fearsome Cape Horn and will have 2,800 nautical miles of sailing before they reach Itajaí
A powerful South Atlantic weather system could propel Telefónica to within striking distance of current leaders PUMA in the final 24 hours of racing — as dismasted Groupama attempt to secure the remaining podium position with a makeshift rig.
PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG were within 400 nautical miles of the Itajaí finish line at 1300 UTC on Thursday with a 63 nm lead over Team Telefónica, who have clawed back from a 400 nm deficit after suspending racing on March 31 for 17 hours to repair structural damage.
Local squalls packing gusts in excess of 50 knots have battered both teams, but their attention has now turned to a massive low pressure system in the South Atlantic predicted to travel north and compress the pair to within two miles of each other in then next 24 hours, Volvo Ocean Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante said.
Telefónica watch captain Neal McDonald said his team would do all they could to overhaul PUMA in the final few hundred miles of the leg.
“We’re certainly going to give it a good go,” McDonald said. “It’s going to be in the hands of the weather gods as much as anything else. If we get them in our sights we’ll have a good shot at giving them a run for their money.”
With a photo finish on the cards, PUMA skipper Ken Read said these were tense times for his team as they clung to the lead.
“We’re terrified,” he admitted. “Nobody’s had any sleep in the last day. We’re working our asses off, that’s all we can do. Sometimes the wind gods bless you, and sometimes they don’t.
“Telefónica have had a day and a half shorter journey up from the Horn. There’s nothing we can do apart from work our asses off and hope for the best.”
Just hours after Groupama sailing team dismasted in relatively calm conditions while leading the fleet, PUMA and Telefónica were smashed by storm-force winds.
“Groupama’s dismasting certainly makes us aware that the leg is by no means over,’’ Telefónica’s McDonald added. “That gust we had half an hour ago could have put us finishing in serious jeopardy.
“It’s just an indication that on these legs you get through the bits that are supposedly going to be the most difficult, and all of a sudden you’re in the strongest winds you’ve seen.”
With the podium far from decided, Groupama sailing team were mounting their own comeback today from Uruguay’s resort port of Punta del Este, where they are currently constructing a jury rig as a temporary solution they hope could see them to third place.
The French team suspended racing at 1542 UTC on Wednesday after their mast snapped level with the first spreader, about 10 metres above deck, as they led Leg 5 by 2.2 nm.
Groupama were 59 nm from Punta del Este, and opted to motor to port. The team considered waiting for their spare mast to be sent from the Netherlands before stepping it, but this morning decided to continue under jury rig.
“We will try to keep racing to Itajaí with a jury rig to take the third place,” Cammas said. “It’s a beautiful hope — there are 20 points to take and we are hanging on to that hope. We will do everything to make it happen with the shore team, who are coming to Punta del Este, and find a way to do this.”
Meanwhile, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand were making “exceptional progress” on the repair of their damaged hull and were hopeful of a quick return to the racecourse.
The team suspended racing at 0130 UTC on Tuesday before reaching the Chilean city of Puerto Montt at 2240 UTC that day.
“Progress right now is exceptional,” shore manager Neil Cox said. “We’ve got back to ‘ground zero’, our starting point, and now we’re beginning to piece the puzzle back together.
“The state of the boat was actually a lot better than I’d hoped,” Cox said. “You envisage all kinds of things, and we see the photos sent off the boat, but you don’t know the full extent of the damage.
“The work done at sea was done well enough and tidy enough that it didn’t create any additional work for us when they got here.”
Cox said his six-strong team had worked round the clock to carry out the repairs in the shortest time possible.
“It’s been a 30-hour stretch for the shore team so far and we’re just starting to send guys home to get a shower, get the carbon off them,” he added. “They’ll probably be at home for an hour and a half at the most and then come back in for a full night getting the componentry back in.”
The most recent ETA for the leading pair is 1600 UTC on Friday, April 6.
Foto: Diego Fructuoso/Team Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race.
