01/26/2012 02:16 pm

Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 update

As the second stage of Leg 3 develops, all six boats are fighting for supremacy as they head into the Strait of Malacca.

As this report goes to be published, the lead for Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race has changed hands three times in the past 12 hours while the sailors execute navigation strategies in the race to reach the Chinese island of Sanya.

The first stage of Leg 3 began January 14 with a sprint of 106 nautical miles from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah on the northern coast of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing finished first, winning the first Emirati participants much-needed points on the scoreboard. Only five boats ran that leg, with Team Sanya still sailing up from its repair stop in Madagascar during Leg 2.

On January 22 the second stage launched from Malé, capital of the Maldives, after the fleet was successfully transported through the Stealth Zone designed to prevent pirate interference.

On the first night of the 3,051 nautical mile leg, the current point leaders, Telefónica, ran into trouble when they suffered damage to their largest sail in stormy conditions. The Spanish team hauled the dragging sail back onto the deck and effected repairs overnight, managing to keep their boat in the race.

For the first four days of the second stage the boats tracked a generally eastward course, popping around squalls as they neared Indonesia with PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG leading the pack by a hair.

A series of tacks on January 25 and 26 led to the pole position changing to Telefónica briefly and then to CAMPER, who still enjoyed a slim, but comfortable lead of almost nine nautical miles as of Thursday afternoon.

But the real challenge is still to come in the shape of the Strait of Malacca. The narrow, shallow strait is an infamously busy body of water, congested with shipping traffic from Singapore, and the skippers are all anxious to get there first.

“It’s just a big game of chess as we all set up for the corner at Sumatra,” PUMA's navigator Will Oxley said on Wednesday.

Once through the strait, the teams will turn back to the north, for another 1,100 nautical miles before reaching Sanya, arriving around February 4.

 

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