Volvo Ocean Race - Leg 2 Preview

by Volvo Ocean Race media 14 Nov 2008 14:48 GMT 15 November 2008

All eyes turn towards the East

The second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race starts on Saturday afternoon at 1300 local time (1100 GMT) and today, the eight skippers shared their thoughts on the task ahead at the leg two press conference.

Leg two (4,450 nm) represents a very different type of challenge for the teams than the traditional route into the southern ocean. For the first time, the race is stopping in Asia, with Cochin, India the finish port for leg two. Although the fleet is expected to dip into the Southern Ocean out of Cape Town, the route to India will eventually take the boats north and across the equator for the second time in the race.

Large fishing fleets of small wooden vessels represent as big a hazard here as the ‘liquid Himalayas’ of the traditional southern route. A scoring gate south of Mauritius and along the meridian of 58-degrees east represents a further opportunity to collect points on the leg and keeps the fleet away from known areas of piracy. The scoring gate gives incentive to get east as quickly as possible, but that might not be a winning strategy for the overall leg according to Ian Walker, the skipper of Green Dragon.

“There may well be decisions to make as to how well you want to do at the gate versus how well you want to do at the finish,” he said. “But until we see the weather closer to the time, we won’t know whether passing the gate first is also the best way of finishing in India first. I can see different teams taking different strategies. I can see a team that’s maybe not doing so well on the approach to the gate not worry about the gate and head more directly towards India.”

The weather over this past week in Cape Town has been giving the shore teams a headache, as gale-force winds screamed over the V&A Waterfront, preventing many of the teams from dropping their boats back into the water after maintenance. But, overnight, the weather has turned, with a high pressure system building over the area. Winds have moderated, all eight boats in the fleet are now dockside and the forecast for the start is for much lighter conditions.

“It looks like it will be a tricky start, with a south-easterly blowing tomorrow and it will be interesting to see if it will fill in the Bay here,” explained Telefónica Blue skipper Bouwe Bekking. “We’ve seen in the past there are some areas of 25 knots and then, behind Table Mountain (in the bay), there is nothing.”

The start of leg two is scheduled for 1300 local time (1100 GMT). The fleet is scheduled to ‘dock out’ of the V&A Waterfront at 1145. Live audio coverage begins one hour prior to the start (1000 GMT) on www.volvooceanrace.org , while web tv will begin broadcasting on www.volvooceanrace.tv at 1045 GMT.

At the official leg one prize-giving on Thursday night, Ericsson 4, as leg one winner (and 24-hour record-breaker) walked away with the bulk of the hardware. Skipper Torben Grael paid tribute to his squad, calling the result, “a real team effort from the very beginning, starting with an excellent boat.” He also thanked his crew for pushing so hard.

The media crew member on board Ericsson 4, Guy Salter, was awarded the Inmarsat Media Prize by James Collett, director of commercial solutions at Inmarsat, for his outstanding work over the course of leg one.

“We are entering new territory with the decision that each racing team carries an ‘embedded reporter’. This has never been done before and I know that we have an amazing opportunity in the next nine months to tell the stories that have previously never been told,” said Collett, whose company uses the Volvo Ocean Race to demonstrate the robustness of its Fleet Broadband products, which are fitted on each race boat. Inmarsat will recognise the best media work at each prizegiving over the course of the race.

Leg one prizes:

Best 24 hour run – 602 miles, Ericsson 4
Inmarsat Media Prize – Guy Salter, Ericsson 4
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics Seamanship Award – Martin Watts, Delta Lloyd
Leg One, 3rd place – Green Dragon
Leg One, 2nd place – PUMA Ocean Racing
Leg One, 1st place – Ericsson 4

Overall Leaderboard:

1. Ericsson 4: 14 points
2. PUMA: 13 points
3. Green Dragon: 11 points
4. Telefónica Blue: 10 points
5. Telefónica Black: 7 points
6. Ericsson 3: 5 points*
7. Delta Lloyd: 4 points*
8. Team Russia: 4 points*

* leg one scoring

CREW LIST LEG TWO: CAPE TOWN - COCHIN

DELTA LLOYD

1. Roberto Bérmudez de Castero/ESP – skipper
2. Matthew Gregory/USA - navigator
3. Sander Pluijm/NED -MCM
4. Stuart Wilson/NZL – watch captain
5. Ryan Houston/NZL – watch captain
6. Edwin O’Connor/IRL – trimmer
7. Martin Watts/GBR – trimmer
8. Peter Van Nierkerk/ NED – helmsman
9. Eduard van Lierde//NED – helmsman
10. Ger-Jan Poortman/NED – bowman
11. Morgan White/AUS - bowman

On: Roberto Bérmudez de Castro/ESP – skipper
On: Peter Van Nierkerk/ NED
On: Morgan White/AUS

Off: Ger O’Rourke/IRL – skipper
Off: Bert Schandevyl/BEL – trimmer/helmsman
Off: Stuart Molloy/NZL - watch captain

ERICSSON 4

1. Torben Grael/BRA - skipper
2. Jules Salter/GBR - navigator
3. Guy Salter/GBR - MCM
4. Brad Jackson/NZL – watch captain
5. Stu Bannatyne/NZL – watch captain
6. Dave Endean/NZL - pitman
7. Horacio Carabelli/BRA - trimmer
8. Tony Mutter/NZL - trimmer
9. Joao Signorini/BRA - trimmer
10. Ryan Godfrey/AUS - bowman
11. Phil Jameson/NZL – bowman

No changes

ERICSSON 3

1. Anders Lewander/SWE - skipper
2. Aksel Magdahl/NOR - navigator
3. Gustav Morin/SWE - MCM
4. Richard Mason/NZL - watch captain
5. Magnus Olsson/SWE – watch captain
6. Thomas Johanson/FIN - helmsman
7. Eivind Melleby/NOR – helmsman
8. Martin Strömberg/SWE – trimmer
9. Jens Dolmer/DEN - pitman
10. Anders Dahlsjö/SWE - mastman
11. Martin Krite/SWE - Bowman

On: Martin Strömberg/SWE – trimmer
Off: Stefan Myrälf/DEN - trimmer

GREEN DRAGON

1. Ian Walker/GBR - skipper
2. Ian Moore/IRL - navigator
3. Guo Chuan/CHN - MCM
4. Damian Foxall/IRL – watch captain
5. Neal McDonald/GBR – watch captain
6. Anthony Merrington/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
7. Phil Harmer/AUS – helmsman/trimmer
8. Tom Braidwood/AUS – pitman/trimmer
9. Andrew Mclean/NZL – pitman/trimmer
10. Freddie Shanks/GBR - bowman
11. Justin Slattery/IRL – bowman

No changes

PUMA OCEAN RACING

1. Ken Read/USA - skipper
2. Andrew Cape/AUS - navigator
3. Rick Deppe/GBR - MCM
4. Sidney Gavignet/FRA – watch captain
5. Chris Nicholson/AUS – watch captain
6. Michael Müller/GER – helmsman/bowman
7. Rob Salthouse/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
8. Robert Naismith/NZL – helmsman/trimmer
9. Casey Smith/AUS – bowman
10. Shannon Falcone/ANT – trimmer/pitman
11. Justin Ferris/NZL – helmsman/trimmer

On: Robert Naismith/NZL
On: Shannon Falcone/ANT

Off: Jerry Kirby/USA – bowman
Off: Jonathan McKee/USA – helmsman/trimmer

TEAM RUSSIA

1. Andreas Hanakamp/AUT - skipper
2. Wouter Verbraak/NED - navigator
3. Mark Covell/GBR - MCM
4. Stig Westergaard/DEN – watch captain
5. Nick Bubb/GBR – watch captain
6. Rodion Luka/UKR - helmsman
7. Jeremy Elliott/IRL - trimmer
8. Ben Costello/NZL - trimmer
9. Mike Joubert/RSA - bowman
10. Cameron Wills/RSA – trimmer
11. Oleg Zherebtsov – bowman/pitman

On: Oleg Zherebtsov
Off: Guillermo Altadill/ ESP – watch captain

TELEFÓNICA BLUE

1. Bouwe Bekking/NED - skipper
2. Iker Martinez/ESP - co-skipper/helmsman
3. Simon Fisher/GBR- navigator
4. Gabriele Olivo/ITA - MCM
5. Jonathan Swain/RSA – watch captain
6. Laurent Pages/FRA - helmsman
7. Jordi Calafat ESP - helmsman
8. Xabier Fernandez/ESP - trimmer
9. Pablo Arrarte/ESP Spanish - trimmer
10. Daryl Wislang/NZL - bowman
11. Pepe Ribes/ESP - bowman

No crew changes for leg 2

TELEFÓNICA BLACK

1. Fernando Echávarri/ESP- skipper
2. Roger Nilson/SWE - navigator
3. Mikel Pasabant/ESP - MCM
4. Santiago Lange/ARG – watch captain
5. Gonzalo Araujo/ESP – watch captain
6. Jaime Arbones/ESP – watch captain
7. Maciel Cicchetti/ARG - helmsman
8. Javier De La Plaza/ESP - helmsman
9. David Vera/ESP - trimmer
10. Antonio Cuervas-Mons/ESP - trimmer
11. Michael Pammenter/RSA - bowman

On: Gonzalo Araujo/ESP – watch captain
Off: Francisco Rivero/ESP – bowman