Outimage Australia - VOR 2008-2009 - Telefonica Blue Returns to the Race Course - Leg 5 Day 1

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Outimage Publications ocean yacht racing coverage of the VOR 2008-2009.

Telefónica Blue Returns to the Race Course
Leg 5 Day 1 - 23:42 GMT Saturday, February 14, 2009.

Bouwe Bekking’s Telefonica Blue team has resumed racing and started leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race. The team starts the leg in fifth place, after crossing the starting line nearly 19 hours behind the leaders.

Telefonica Blue, Skippered by Bouwe Bekking, undergoes emergency keel repairs overnight in Qingdao before commencing Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, after the yacht hit a rock before the start.

Photo © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.

Telefónica Blue had suspended racing just minutes ahead of the starting gun for leg five on Saturday afternoon in Qingdao (05:00 GMT), after running aground and damaging the keel before the start. Skipper Bouwe Bekking made the difficult decision to suspend racing in order to have the boat hauled out of the water to assess the extent of the damage before starting the leg.

Fortunately for the team, tests showed the damage was not critical. The shore crew worked at a furious pace overnight to fix damage to the bulb and fin and by sunrise in Qingdao on Sunday morning, the boat was ready to be lifted into the water.

Skipper Bouwe Bekking looks at the damgae to Telefonica Blue's keel in Qingdao after hitting an uncharted rock outside Qingdao Harbour prior to the start of leg 5.

Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.

"It could have been way worse," said a relieved Bouwe Bekking. "The good news is there’s no structural damage and I’m just happy that we checked it out. You don’t want to go out on a leg like this where your keel or your bulb could fall off. It’s good news."

With the leading boats in the fleet starting nearly 19 hours ahead, the Telefónica Blue crew will have their work cut out for them to make up for lost time.

"We are going to lose a bit more over the first couple of days, as they’re always in better pressure, but hopefully they park up and we reel them back in."

Telefónica Blue resumed racing at 23:42 GMT on Saturday night (07:42 local time in Qingdao).

Telefonica Blue in Qingdao after hitting an uncharted rock outside Qingdao Harbour prior to the start of leg 5.

Photo © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.

Telefonica Blue in Qingdao after hitting an uncharted rock outside Qingdao Harbour prior to the start of leg 5. Photo copyright Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.

Leg 5 Day 2 - 01:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to leader)

PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) 12356 DTF
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +0nm
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +5nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +29nm
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +169nm
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DNS
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bérmudez / ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS

Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news!

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008 with in-port racing, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race.

Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, stopping at 11 ports and taking nine months to complete, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier yacht race for professional racing crews.

The official website: www.volvooceanrace.org

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