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Volvo Ocean Race 2012
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I feel so sorry for Olympic gold medallist Iker Martínez, skipper of the Spanish boat Telefónica, looking totally physically and emotionally exhausted after they had limped to the finish in Lorient.
He had won the first three offshore legs in the race and was leading the race overall until the leg from Miami to Lisbon. He was leading the leg to Lorient, and was again leading the race overall on the water, when disaster struck… twice !
Trouble first struck Telefónica on last Thursday afternoon when the team broke their starboard rudder in 25 knots of wind, losing 11 nautical miles on the fleet and dropping from first to fourth. His team had to perform heroics in a rough sea to fit a replacement for the broken rudder, but the Spanish team surged back to reclaim the lead within hours.
Unfortunately it was not long before they were scrambling with limited steering again, in that storm which brought us the bad weather last week. During a gybe that was touted as the most crucial move of the leg the replacement rudder broke and the port rudder was damaged. Martínez and his crew worked to ensure the stability of the boat and safety of the crew in gale force winds, before the heartbreaking realisation of the enormity of the situation sunk in.
"We're all fine," assured Martínez, "The mood on board is as good as it can be in circumstances like these, as we have just seen any chance of us winning this round the world regatta slip away. It's like two years' work just disappearing into thin air in a matter of minutes. What a mess!
He now finds himself 28 points behind the leader with only three points-scoring opportunities (and a possible 42 points) to go… the in-port race in Lorient, the leg to Galway and finally the in-port race on Galway Bay.
The present state of play in the race:
Overall leader board after Lisbon to Lorient leg:
Points table:
1. Groupama (France) 219
2. Puma (USA) 196
3. Camper (NZ) 191
4. Telephonica (Spain) 191
5. Abu Dhabi 122
6. Sanya (China) 39
Still very tight for the minor places, but unless they sink… it looks like we may have Kerry sailor Damian Foxall, who is helmsman/trimmer and crew manager on the French boat Groupama, on the overall winner’s podium in Galway on Saturday 7th July.0 -
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One of the papers last week said there would be, but I've seen no further details of what / where / how much as yet.
Always the way ... I checked my emails after leaving boards, and google alerts told me about this:
http://galwayindependent.com/stories/item/2733/2012-25/VOR-visitors-urged-to-Park-and-Ride
In short:
Five-minute frequency from 9am to 11.30pm daily
Park at Ballybrit Racecourse, catch a bus to the bus parking area in Bothar Pairc an Aonaigh (opposite Galway coach station- beside the Fairgreen hostel).
€5 per adult, senior citizens and children are free.
This year, the service will be provided by Bus Eireann
mmm ... off to write my own news article about it
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Since the launch of the class the Volvo Open 70 has proven itself to be the fastest monohull sailboat class ever built.
The power unit is the sails and they are the most technologically advanced ever. The height of the mast is 31.5 metres (103.3 feet), the height of over 7 double-decker buses. The mainsail area is 175 m² and the largest spinnaker on the Volvo Open 70 is 500 m², equal to two tennis courts in area.
Full sail area can produce up to 400 hp and sail faster than the wind at some points of sailing.
The high-tech sails are Kevlar yarns laminated onto Mylar films and save weight by placing fibres only along paths of stress. Sails are strong enough to hold shape under load.. and endure months of sunlight, salt spray and mechanical abuse.
I came across this short video from North Sails on the making of their sails. Their 3DL™ sail technology dominates Grand Prix sailboat racing worldwide. 3DL sails were used on 11 of 12 America's Cup teams and every team racing in the last three editions of Volvo Ocean Race.
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if you can throw up any photos of the areas as they're putting it up, please do.
I'll be down around there again tomorrow as the RNLI are getting their second Atlantic 85 lifeboat that will be based here for the duration of the VOR festival. In the mean time , some shots of the construction of the temporary bridge they are building down at Spanish Arch. Thought this bridge was suppose to be going from the docks to Nimo's Pier ? Doesn't surprise me though as I always thought that would be a hell of a stretch for a temporary bridge. One of the few things that I find a bit of a waste of money. This bridge is not really going to do much as there would very little difference than walking around and over wolfetone bridge.
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Rob A. Bank wrote: »Its less than a kilometer from the Docks to South Park... so I would say it should not take you longer than 10 minutes to do it.
[The average human walking speed is about 5.0 Kilometers per hour (km/h)]
I'll double the walking time so as I'm in a protective boot!
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIgChjTQWqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QElMCBjM9RE
This discussion has been closed.
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