[Source: Camper]  With around 2,000 miles to the Leg Six finish in Miami, the crew of CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand is pulling no punches as it engages in hand-to-hand combat with two of its Volvo Ocean Race rivals in the Atlantic Ocean.

At 1200 UTC today (Tuesday) the latest position report revealed less than 11 nautical miles separates the leading trio with leg leader Puma followed closely by CAMPER in second place and Telefonica in third. The three boats are continually within sight of each other in a compelling tussle, and the crews are closely monitoring every weather update to decide on sail combinations.

CAMPER has avoided the worst of the Doldrums’ wind holes to overtake Telefonica and cut Puma’s leg lead to just 6.5 nm in an amazing burst of speed in challenging conditions that surpassed all expectations.

“Somewhat bizarrely our best 24-hour run for this leg maybe across the Doldrums; so far we have done 428 in the last 24 hours. Here’s hoping it lasts until we get through into the trades again,” said CAMPER navigator Will Oxley.

However, with average wind speeds dramatically dropping to below four knots, the progress of the leading trio has stalled and the game of cat-and-mouse is set to continue.

Oxley insisted his team would not be too distracted by the close attention of Puma and Telefonica and would very much be focusing on themselves and their own performances.

“At this point all you can do is sail the course that you believe in, we’re not trying to cover any of the other boats. We just trying to stay on a course that will get us there as quick as possible,” he said.

Oxley said he was delighted to be challenging near the front as they look to win a leg for the first time in this race.“Thankfully we are having conditions in which the boat is really strong, and that’s great,” he said.

Media crew member Hamish Hooper predicted a long night ahead as CAMPER looks to pounce on Puma.
“Our fingers are most firmly crossed that we can make it through these Doldrums and into the trade winds again unscathed and in front,”he said. “For this to happen it will be a long night for the guys spotting clouds, and squalls, changing sails and maximising speed whenever we can. 

At the 1300 UTC report the gap between the top three is a mere 2.8nm.

01/05/12 1300 UTC report
1) Puma – 2317 nm DTF
2) CAMPER + 1.8nm
3) Telefonica +2.8nm
4) Abu Dhabi + 81.1nm
5) Groupama + 93.7 nm

[Source: Emirates Team New Zealand] Adam Minoprio is widely regarded as a rising star in New Zealand yachting. Three years ago at just 24 he became world match racing champion the youngest ever and has an impressive string of titles behind him including the Monsoon Cup and New Zealand Sailor of the Year. Adam was only the fourth Kiwi to win the world match racing champs following Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts and Dean Barker to win the prestigious circuit.

In 2010 however, he put his highly successful match racing career on hold and decided to pursue success in a vastly different form of yacht racing – the Volvo Ocean Race. He went from being at the very top of his field in the match racing discipline to a relative novice as the youngest and most inexperienced offshore sailor aboard CAMPER.

Three legs down and with a third of the race done and dusted we caught up with Adam in Sanya to see how he was finding the transition and if being an ocean racer was what he expected…

“In a way it has been what I thought it would be, but then in other ways it has been like nothing I expected. Parts of the change have been incredibly hard work but a lot of the fundamentals are the same so that makes thing easier.

“Then after Auckland it is Cape Horn and the Southern Ocean which for me is what this race is all about. Once I’ve got a Cape Horn rounding behind me I’ll begin to feel like a proper offshore sailor!”

[Source: Emirates Team New Zealand] Leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi has got underway with some complex decisions looming in the first 48 hours.

CAMPER was second out of Table Bay after the inshore aspect of the leg in a steady localised 15 to 20 knot south westerly breeze. However that breeze is expected to soften in the next twelve hours leaving the fleet facing a complex and unstable weather picture over the next few days.

The tactical minefield presented as the boats head south east around the Cape of Good Hope and into the Indian Ocean offers a real headache for navigators, but also the opportunity if picked correctly to cement in an advantage over the rest of the fleet.

With over 5000 miles to go, leg two promises to offer a variety of challenges from the tricky scenario of the next few days to potentially boat breaking conditions as the boats head south east and then the squally and high variable weather associated with the Equatorial region.

It promises to be a tricky 48 hours. Cape Town, 11 December 2011. Photo copyright Chris Cameron / Camper

Skipper Chris Nicholson says that the team is focused and ready to make the most of the complex but potentially rewarding conditions.

“We rate our ability to do well in light and fickle conditions and  are absolutely focused on turning them to our advantage. The weather picture over the next few days is incredibly tricky but we just need to make it work for us.

“The weather models at the moment are suggesting that the first few boats are likely to have a clear advantage in picking up a new solid breeze and then it will be a case of the rich getting richer, so it’s pretty key that we get ourselves into a strong position early on.

 “The guys are in great shape and we’re all determined to turn in a better performance than in leg one. We will be giving it everything we have and I expect this to be a pretty intense leg.”

CAMPER now settles into two weeks of ocean racing with arrival at the undisclosed location of ‘Point A’ not expected until late December.

The route has been redrawn for the second leg because of the threat of piracy in the Indian Ocean, with the teams due to make for an undisclosed safe haven port and then be transported by heavy lift ship to a position off the Sharjah coastline in the northern Emirates. From there they will sprint in to Abu Dhabi for the finish.

[Source: Camper] CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand secures second place on Leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, the team arrived into Cape Town on Sunday lunchtime, crossing the finish line at 10:48:04 UTC (27.11.11). CAMPER now hold 29 points on the scoreboard as they remain in second place overall two points from the lead. A solid performance in the Cape Town In Port race could mean the potential to leading the race as the fleet departs for the second leg to Abu Dhabi on December 11th.

A silver lining to the leg came with news that CAMPER posted the biggest distance of the leg so far in the 24 hours from 1755 UTC on Wednesday as they blasted east through the South Atlantic riding a cold front. CAMPER’s 24-hour run of 554.16 nautical miles may have fallen short of the world record but it could be good enough to take the first IWC Speed Record Challenge trophy. Their distance puts them in contention for the award, which cannot be confirmed until Groupama complete leg one this week.

For skipper Chris Nicholson it was a clear indication of the performance of CAMPER and that there is more to come. “On that day we were in the same breeze, the same weather pattern as Telefonica. We were able to beat them sched for sched, and to me that’s by far the highlight of this leg. The boat is pretty robust in these (fast) conditions. We don’t have a massive job list, touch wood we should get to Cape Town in one pieces, good foundation to be second and we have 8 months or racing left to go.”

Camper cross the finish line of leg 1 in second place. Cape Town, 27 November 2011. Photo copyright Chris Cameron / Camper Emirates Team New Zealand

It’s been one of the most unusual first legs of the Volvo Ocean Race, the weather systems have proved anything but conventional and for some of the teams it has been a war of attrition. From a dismasting in the first 24 hours onboard Abu Dhabi and major structural damage to Sanya, the fleet suffered a final casualty as Puma dismasted in the south Atlantic hundreds of miles from the finish in Cape Town. Three teams now face a race against time to make it to the start line for Cape Town’s In Port Race.

The shore team now have six days to prepare CAMPER for the first practice sail ahead of the Pro Am race on 9th December. Shore manager Neil Cox, “Considering the situation some of the other teams are in, we are lucky to have a straight forward job list. We have some basic maintenance, which is always expected after the boat has been at sea for this many miles, but we feel happy that we’re in good shape and that we’ll be ready to sail from the beginning of next week. The boys have done a fantastic job on this leg and all credit to the designers, the guys at Cookson’s, Southern’s and to the shore team for doing such a great job in the preparation ahead of the start. We can be proud that we have come through the other side and will be ready to go for leg 2″.

For skipper Chris Nicholson, this leg has been frustrating but there are many positives both for him and the crew
“I guess at the end of this leg as I sit back at look at it the majority of things went right. We have good reliability and I’m pretty sure we had really good speed at times. We made a tactical error on the second day out, and we’ve been playing catch up ever since. I think it’s kind of a new experience for most of us normally you have opportunities to correct your mistakes at some stage, and this it just hasn’t been like that on this leg. Reliability wise, unfortunately Sanya broke their bow, and Abu Dhabi and Puma both dropped their rig, so touch wood we’ll still make it to Cape Town without any major structural problems”.

“I was trying to judge it today, last race I came in Cape Town in second, and I was ecstatic, I was over the moon for where we were in the program. For us I don’t think it’s in the same magnitude I think we should have been first, or at least neck and neck pushing for first with the leading boat. We haven’t been in the battle with them, but we tried our best to catch up. It was ‘the rich get richer race’ and we weren’t able to have another go at them. But we have to be content with second. At the end of the day I’m really happy with the points and we will live to fight another day”.

[Source: Emirates Team New Zealand] On day ten of leg one CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand is well and truly in typical trade wind conditions and making solid progress towards the Equator.

CAMPER remains in third place 166 miles behind new race leader Telefonica as they head south in champagne sailing conditions on the verge of entering the fickle doldrum zone.

CAMPER is expected to enter the doldrums which are just north of the Equator in the next few hours.

Skipper Chris Nicholson says that the steady north east trade wind conditions that CAMPER has enjoyed for the last 48 hours are likely to become much more variable in coming days.

The Camper crew enjoying the trade wind conditions. Photo copyright Hamish Hooper / Camper

“The doldrums are characterised by light winds and sudden squalls and the localised weather conditions means that they are incredibly tricky to navigate. We’re confident that we’ve done our homework and can make some gains crossing them but there’s always a good degree of luck involved.

“We are likely to see the fleet compress in the near future and if we can do a better job than Puma and Telefonica in getting out of the doldrum conditions and into the southeast trades it will be game on.

“It is a crucial point in the leg – we just need to back ourselves and hope that we have some luck on our side.”

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1500h 15 November NZT is averaging 19 knots in a 17 knot north easterly.

Camper slows down to fix damaged sail in the middle of the Atlantic

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] Saturday’s Iberdrola In-Port Race marks the start of over eight months of full-on competition and intense rivalry between the six teams – Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, Groupama sailing team, PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG, Team Sanya and Team Telefónica.

And while the Volvo Ocean Race is known as the world’s premier offshore sailing test, teams cannot afford to ignore the shorter form. In-port races take place in all 10 host ports along the 39,000 nautical mile route and deliver over 20 percent of the points. Sailed close to the shore, they provide a spectacle for the millions of people who will watch the race worldwide, while also providing opportunities to climb the leaderboard.

“There’s a lot riding on the in-port races – they are going to be intense,” said CAMPER helmsman/trimmer Adam Minoprio. The 26-year-old New Zealander is a newcomer to ocean racing but will be in his element inshore, having won the 2009 World Match Racing Tour.

“Team New Zealand has a great background with inshore racing and the skillset of the crew makes us a very strong team,” Minoprio added. “This week we sailed the in-port race course which took us an hour and everyone on board was exhausted after it. It works out we have to do a sail change every eight minutes so there will be a lot of hard work on board.”

Abu Dhabi skipper Ian Walker, who won silver medals at the Olympics in 1996 and 2000, said: “Everything is ready and we can’t wait to line up against the other teams. We have spent this week concentrating on inshore manoeuvres and it has gone very well. The forecast is for strong breeze on Saturday so there will be extra pressure on the crew to get it right.”

Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez, who picked up gold at the 2004 Olympics and silver in 2008, has the added boost of having his long-term crew Xabi Fernández alongside him.

Fernández, who fills the role of trimmer on the Volvo Open 70, said: “The boats aren’t designed for this type of race but instead for ocean racing and the quickfire manoeuvres required in an in-port race are very complicated to perform. If you make one mistake you can lose a lot of ground and end up finishing last.”

Ken Read, skipper of PUMA’s Mar Mostro, said he has mixed feelings ahead of the first in-port race.

“It’s very clear how good everybody is so I guess I feel a little trepidation knowing that,” he said. “But we’re as good as we’re going to be and it’s time to get out there and put our money where our mouth is. Every point counts, and if you took the six teams right now and had a tiddlywinks contest it would be a blood match. Every point is huge.

Making his debut in the Volvo Ocean Race, Groupama sailing team skipper Franck Cammas promised his team would put up a fight.

“This is what we are here for, to fight against these teams and these skippers,” he said. “It’s always a great fight because these people sail extremely well. They make very few mistakes and it’s hard to outsmart them but we will put up a fight.”

Despite being the only second-generation boat in the fleet, Team Sanya skipper Mike Sanderson can rest easy over his yacht’s inshore potential. In the 2008-09 race the boat, then raced as Telefónica Blue, placed on the podium in all seven in-port races with four wins.

“As Telefónica Blue, she was great in the inshore racing and a rocket ship upwind or tight reaching,” Sanderson said. “Hopefully we have kept 99 per cent of that and improved her performance for the heavy air stuff.”

[Source: Camper] Well that was a cracker of a night!
 With what seemed a blink of a heavy eyelid, we were all of a sudden from the tiptop of New Zealand, approaching Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.

As I got up, I noticed most bunks were empty- no one seemed to want to miss out of the downwind fun over night. Emerging on deck at sunrise I was warmly welcomed on deck by everyone, “Welcome Hoops, welcome on Deck… What’s for breakfast?” Rice balls & apricots… I can already smell the food from Jess’s kitchen at the base!

Massive smiles a mile wide from everyone as they all took quick turns on the helm. They reminded me of young boys fighting for command over a PlayStation controller for a game of Grand Theft Auto. Nico seems to like burying the bow into the back of waves causing a mass of white water over the deck – like a good Aussie bogun doing donuts in a V8 Holden – or should that be Ford?

Just as well he was putting on such show, as soon after 8am we were joined by a helicopter for some very well timed publicity shots, of which I am sure, and not biased at all, will be some remarkable shots.
 The islands & landmarks on the approach to Auckland appear in sight & disappear behind us in no time, all of a sudden we have Rangitoto in sight & we are back in our picture postcard back yard. It feels fantastic.

Rounding north head: How appropriatet hat get 20 knots on the nose, after the last two weeks we laugh at the coincidence.

The sight of our trusty shore crew lined up on the dock presents a warm welcome. I’m wondering if they are expecting me to be first off at the dock, with gear bag in one hand, letter of resignation in the other. No such chance.

It’s good to be home, but what a privilege to sail on CAMPER with the bunch of guys we have on board. I’m immensely impressed with each of them.

I have no doubt with Nico and Stu, the strong and respected leaders they are, we will be a strong team.

Right now I smell like I have never smelt before. Even my lovely mother is reluctant to give me a hug. Time for what will be one of the best showers of my life.