{"id":8218,"date":"2012-06-06T17:51:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T22:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/?p=8218"},"modified":"2014-06-27T03:32:28","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T03:32:28","slug":"four-way-fight-in-closest-ever-volvo-ocean-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/2012\/06\/four-way-fight-in-closest-ever-volvo-ocean-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-Way Fight in Closest Ever Volvo Ocean Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Never in the 39-year history of the Volvo Ocean Race have four boats had such a realistic chance of winning with just around 10 days of offshore sailing left to go.<\/p>\n

Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s six-month stronghold came to an end with Groupama taking second in the 3,590-nautical mile race from Miami to Lisbon while Iker Mart\u00ednez\u2019s crew had to settle for fourth.\"\"<\/p>\n

Though far from happy with their position, Mart\u00ednez said his only focus was the overall race result, which will come down to the results of Leg 8 from Lisbon to Lorient, expected to take around a week, and the three-day Leg 9 sprint from Lorient to Galway, as well as the Lisbon, Lorient and Galway in-port races.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truth is that the only thing all of us will remember will be how we end up in Galway,\u201d he said. \u201cWe always said our goal was to be in a position to fight for the race in the final leg. Today we are there so it’s not bad but obviously it’s not as good as we have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although delighted to be in front, it\u2019s the same cautious outlook in the Groupama camp. Skipper Franck Cammas, an offshore sailing hero in France, knows there\u2019s plenty more racing lying between his team and the Volvo Ocean Race trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t expect this when we started in Alicante, so to be in this position with just two legs to go is a dream for us as we are a new entry team,\u201d said Cammas, skippering the first French entry in the race since Eric Tabarly\u2019s La Poste back in 1993-94.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing overall leader is a good moment, but the race is not finished for sure. We are not alone — there are still three or four boats that can win this race. We just need to make sure we have no regrets in Galway. It\u2019s not easy to become leader of this race so it\u2019s important we keep this position.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scoring system for the 2011-12 race ensures there is still plenty of scope for a reshuffle. The offshore legs offer 30 points for first, 25 for second, 20 for third and so on down to five points for sixth. For the in-port races, it\u2019s six points for first, five for second, fourth for third and down to one point for sixth.<\/p>\n

With two wins, a second and a third from the last four offshore legs, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG are serious contenders. Coupled with consistent results in the in-port races, they have scored more points than any other team in the last two months and now sit third in the rankings, 12 points shy of Groupama.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still very confident — we have just beaten two out of our three closest competitors in this leg, and before that we won the previous two legs,\u201d said skipper Ken Read after his team beat CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand and Telef\u00f3nica into Lisbon.<\/p>\n

Had PUMA not lost their mast during Leg 1 they would most likely be topping the leaderboard at this crucial stage \u2013 and navigator Tom Addis said the crew had made it their aim to become the first team ever to win the race without completing every leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we dropped the rig in the first leg it was a mantra of ours that we wanted to win this race with the handicap of not actually completing all the legs,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s funny though \u2013 we really didn\u2019t expect to be here but you keep chipping away, we got a few wins, and here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAMPER\u2019s fifth place finish in Leg 7 means they are now 21 points shy of the new leaders, but skipper Chris Nicholson has far from thrown in the towel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there\u2019s a remotest chance of winning we\u2019ll be there,\u201d he said. \u201cJust look at the different positions we were in in this leg and what could have been\u2026 why can\u2019t that happen again in the next two legs? There\u2019s plenty more to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final scoring opportunity in this edition of the race will be the in-port race in Galway on July 7 — and there\u2019s every chance the race won\u2019t be decided until that Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Courtesy of\u00a0www.volvooceanrace.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Never in the 39-year history of the Volvo Ocean Race have four boats had such a realistic chance of winning with just around 10 days of offshore sailing left to go. Telef\u00f3nica\u2019s six-month stronghold came to an end with Groupama taking second in the 3,590-nautical mile race from Miami to Lisbon while Iker Mart\u00ednez\u2019s crew had to settle for fourth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bwsailing.com\/cc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}