Sailing Into
The Unknown
Leg 3 Preview - 15:31 GMT Friday, December 12, 2008. |
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The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is set to sail into the unknown on Saturday when leg three starts from Cochin, India. The finish line is off Singapore and the fleet is expected to take just over a week to get there.
Following the first ever stopover for the race in Asia, the eight teams are preparing to tackle what is expected to be a light, fluky, upwind leg, with plenty of potential pitfalls along the way. |
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Ericsson
4, skippered by Torben Grael from Brazil (pictured) is
interviewed by the media, as they arrive in Cochin, India,
to win the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.
Photo © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg three is the shortest so far in the race at 1,950 nautical miles. It takes the fleet around the southern tip of India and west into the Straits of Malacca, which ranks amongst the busiest shipping channels in the world. As much of the route straddles the equator, light, changeable conditions are expected for much of the leg.
"It’s going to be a tough leg, with more upwind than in previous legs and a lot of hazards along the way, so I think it will be quite exciting," said Torben Grael, the skipper of the race leading Ericsson 4. "There will be a lot of challenges and it could be decided by luck or a cloud."
"I have a feeling that we really don’t have any idea as to what might happen," agreed Ian Walker, the skipper of Green Dragon. "I wouldn’t make any predictions on this leg; we just have to get on it." |
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Green Dragon, skippered by Ian Walker
from UK (pictured), finishes leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean
Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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In addition to the commercial shipping hazard, large fishing fleets made up of small local boats could prove difficult to avoid, while piracy remains a threat on this leg as well. Conditions on board will be extremely uncomfortable, as the equatorial heat and humidity takes its toll on the crews.
For all that, at the skippers’ press conference on Friday, many of the sailors spoke of how much they have enjoyed their brief time in Cochin, a place that few professional sailors expected to encounter in their careers. |
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Skipper Ken Read of PUMA Ocean Racing
addresses the media on the dock after completing leg
2 in Cochin, India.
Photo © Sally Collison / PUMA Ocean Racing.
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"It’s clear that India has taken in this race with open arms and the race has taken India in with open arms," enthused PUMA skipper Ken Read. "It’s been a wonderful experience here. I think we were all looking forward to it on the one hand but felt slight trepidation on the other hand because we’re venturing into the unknown. But so far, it’s proved to all involved that this could be one of the best decisions ever made in boat racing to bring the race to this part of the world."
The race start for leg three is scheduled for 15:30 local time in Cochin (10:00 GMT) and will follow a Parade of Sail as well as a ‘Ceremonial Start’ (at 14:00 local) which will take place in the channel alongside the Race Village. Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to gather along the river banks and in the Race Village itself to send the fleet off to Singapore. |
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Crowds watch as Delta Lloyd is lifted
from the water in Cochin, India.
Photo © Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race.
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There will be live audio commentary of the start on www.volvooceanrace.org, starting at 15:15, local time (09:45 GMT) as well as a start blog featuring written commentary and photos from the build-up to the start.
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news, positions, feature stories, images and video. |
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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. |
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| The official website: www.volvooceanrace.org |
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