Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) held a 0.1 nautical mile lead in the final leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 at 2100 GMT tonight, as they enjoyed a terrific scrap with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) starting right from the off.
“No guts, no glory. This is it,” said Ken Read, skipper of PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, previewing the end of the 11th edition of the race. There is a lot at stake and the next 36 hours could decide the winner of the Volvo Ocean Race after nearly 39,270 nm of racing around the world.
Groupama (Franck Cammas/FRA) began Leg 9 with a commanding lead, but so close are the scores that should PUMA finish this leg in first place, and Groupama finish in sixth, their scores would be equal leaving just the Galway in-port race to decide the final outcome. It is the closest racing ever in the 39-year history of the Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race.
Tonight as the fleet made its way up the Brittany coast, 13 nm south west of Ushant, an island at the south western end of the English Channel, marking the north westernmost point of France, the crews were reaching at a steady 19-20 knots, preparing for the wind to pipe up as they leave the coast of France.
At 1930 GMT, in a live report, Tony Rae, helmsman/trimmer on board CAMPER reported that the team were reaching with Telefónica just up to weather and Groupama just behind. PUMA were a little further behind and to weather.
“We would love to win this leg and a podium finish in the whole race would be very, very important to us. We are giving it everything to try to make that happen,” Rae said.
As the crews were settling down for possibly the only full night at sea, dusk had given way to rain and a solid south westerly breeze, which is expected to take the fleet as far as the Fastnet Rock, off the coast of southwest Ireland, late on Monday morning. Read reported that the breeze is yet to increase and is lighter than expected and that the fleet is ploughing through a head sea but at a reaching angle. However, further inshore, Groupama were already feeling the effects of stronger breeze. “We have 21 knots at the moment and we are expecting 25 knots,” said bowman Brad Marsh, as Cammas and his team prepared for a sail change.
At 2000 GMT, the six-boat fleet had split with all but PUMA and Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) taking an inshore course leaving the Île de Sein to port. PUMA had passed the island 3.87 nm to the west with Sanya on the same offshore course. Just 0.9 nm separates Telefónica in first place from Sanya in sixth. Telefónica lead by 0.1 nm from CAMPER, with Groupama a further .70 nm behind.