Volvo Ocean Race - Another Speed Record Challenge trophy for Camper

by Volvo Ocean Race on 19 Apr 2012 In the Volvo Ocean Race Camper are proving the team to beat in the competition to set the highest 24-hour distance.

Although they have not yet won a leg, Chris Nicholson’s men have scooped their second IWC Schaffhausen Speed Record Challenge trophy in five legs for their 528 nautical mile run on March 23, five days into Leg 5 from Auckland to Itajaí.

It’s not quite good enough to beat the 553 miles they set during Leg 1 from Alicante to Cape Town, currently the furthest 24-hour distance of the entire race, but it will come as welcome consolation to Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand, whose diversion to Chile on April 3 to make repairs to their boat all but ended hopes of a first leg win.

Team Telefónica came close to taking their first IWC Speed Record Challenge trophy with their run of 525 miles, just three less than Camper’s, set on the same day.

A trophy is awarded at the end of each leg to the team recording the greatest distance over a 24-hour period by the Volvo Ocean Race’s Official Timekeeper IWC Schaffhausen.

The overall greatest 24-hour distance over the entire eight months of the race will land all 11 members of the winning crew with an IWC Portuguese Yacht Club Chronograph Edition ‘Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12’.

Ericsson 4 broke the world 24-hour speed record during the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, recording 596.6 nautical miles – a mark that has not been bettered since.

However, the new generation Volvo Open 70s, faster and more powerful than their predecessors, have been widely tipped to break the record in this edition of the race.

Volvo Ocean Race website