After an eventful few days in the Volvo Ocean Race, team Telefónica have managed to claw back 10 miles on Leg 3 leaders PUMA.
Using the same tactics as in the previous leg, Telefónica’s choice to position themselves to the north of the fleet has started to pay dividends with the team jumping from fifth into third place on Wednesday (25/01/2012).
The leg leaders PUMA remain closest to the first course turning point – the island of Pulau We – which marks the entrance to the restricted waters of the Malacca Strait. However, the PUMA crew cannot relax on their lead as they are approaching the unpredictable wind convergence zone to the north of the strait under constant threat from second placed CAMPER.
However the star performers of the last 24 hours have been team Telefónica. At the 1900 UTC position update they trailed PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG by just over seven miles, travelling half a knot quicker than Ken Read’s team and a knot faster than second-placed CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand.
Telefónica lost more than 10 miles on the leaders early in the leg while positioning themselves to the north, but navigator Andrew Cape was relishing in the fruits of his labour today as his team carved chunks out of PUMA’s advantage.
In the 24 hours leading up to 1900 UTC Telefonica pulled back 9.6 nautical miles on PUMA.
“The [decision to go north] caused a lot of initial pain, and that might have affected other people’s decision not to do it,” Cape on the Volvo Ocean Race official website.
“But we knew we’d get rewards in a day and a half so we’re pretty happy now. Two days down the road it’s paying back.
“If you’re winning you’re not going to throw away miles, and going north when we did was a loss of 10 miles instantly.
“Most people don’t want to do that, but we didn’t’ really mind because we were looking at the long term picture.”
With the winds forecast to go ease in the next 24 hours, Cape said Telefónica’s positioning would reward them as their rivals are forced to tack to make it round the tip of Sumatra.
“That’s where we’re looking to make some gains,” he said. “A mile or two every sched would be great. However we still have a tricky zone ahead with a lot of cloud action and squalls so it will be interesting that’s for sure, keep watching.”
Picture: Diego Fructuoso/Team Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race
