Volvo Ocean Race team Groupama set for second place

by Franck Cammas on 4 Feb 2012 Volvo Ocean Race team Groupama 4 continue to remain in second place, 29.10 miles astern of the leader, on the second stage of leg three at the 1300 UTC report today.

With less than a day from the scheduled finish in Sanya on Saturday morning, the fleet are making straight for the Chinese island in around twenty knots of north-easterly breeze. Groupama 4 has a firm grip on second place and is now unlikely to be able to get past the Spanish leader, but shouldn't have to worry about her three closest pursuers.

The upwind slog in short seas along the Vietnamese coast is finally over. All the crews, with the exception of Sanya, which is still picking her way along the shore with a deficit of nearly 200 miles, have now struck out onto a long upwind tack of nearly 300 miles towards the Chinese port. It is likely the finish will be early tomorrow morning, Saturday, as the pace has picked up thanks to a monsoon system, which is gradually clocking round to the East as getting closer to China. The separation is such between the two leaders that Telefonica is virtually assured of taking her third leg victory (3/3), whilst Franck Cammas and his men are on their way to bagging second place.

In fact Groupama 4 and the other five VO-70s have been sailing upwind since exiting the Straits of Singapore, with a 36-hour beat along the Vietnamese coast! Even though the temperatures are balmy, the atmosphere on board is rather wet and very uncomfortable, especially as it has been necessary to perform a great many manœuvres to protect themselves from the counter current near the Asian shores. All the crews seem to have had to dig deep and this final tack, where they will gradually be able to open their sails, will almost be a release before they catch sight of the Chinese coast.

'It was hard work tacking along the coast: we had to perform around twenty changes of tack and it's a little complicated on these boats. It takes a good ten minutes of considerable energy and the whole crew has to be woken up for it. It's pretty frustrating because, in addition to that, you don't make very fast headway towards the goal when you're zigzagging in this way! We thought all that would come to an end nicely but, in fact, since this morning, we've been continuing to tack in some very shifty winds. The worst of these conditions hit us when we were leaving Vietnam, midway through last night, and heading offshore: against a small, fairly steep swell, we were full-on slamming as we jumped from one wave to the next,' indicated Franck Cammas during a radio link-up with the Volvo Ocean Race HQ.

In these conditions, the gear is particularly under pressure and Groupama 4 broke her mainsheet earlier. Such damage could have caused things to turn very sour but the crew managed to effect repairs very quickly.

'We heard a bang and ten seconds later the mainsheet came away. We replaced it. It could have been very dangerous if anyone had been near the block, but it went fine. We did lose a good five miles in the affair though! Telefonica has a good safety margin: she's very quick upwind and even though we make good speed with sheets eased, they seem to have got too much of a lead for us to be able to worry them. The whole crew is drained as it's been an exhausting leg, one of the most difficult so far for the men. They've demonstrated how fired up they are for this, battling the whole time, and last night everyone really gave their all…'

Early this Friday afternoon, Groupama 4 had just 260 miles to go to reach Sanya, with a 29-mile deficit in relation to Telefonica and a lead of over twenty miles in front of Camper. Though the top two places seem to be set in stone, the third step of the podium is still open with Abu Dhabi just fifteen miles astern of the New Zealanders and Puma, the furthest East, some 25 miles astern. Making an average of fifteen knots on a direct course, the Spanish are likely to make China between 0600 and 1000 hours UTC on Saturday, followed two hours later by Franck Cammas and his crew…

Positions at 1300 UTC on 03/02/2012
1. Telefonica 230.8 miles from the finish
2. Groupama 4 – 29.10 miles astern of the leader
3. Camper – 50.10 miles astern of the leader
4. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing – 65.4 miles astern of the leader
5. Puma - 75.4 miles astern of the leader
6. Team Sanya – 192.7 miles astern of the leader

Groupama Sailing Team website