Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 - Start

Team Sanya sail past thousands of spectators at the start of leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race © Marc Bow / Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race leg 5 start © Paul Todd / Volvo Ocean Race

Team Sanya led the fleet out of Auckland and into a likely battering from the weather en route to the Southern Ocean, as Leg 5 to Itajaí got underway with the second half of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 completely open.

Auckland skipper Mike Sanderson enjoyed a dream start to the leg as his underdog Sanya outfit led the fleet around the inshore course on his home waters.

Sanya smoked their five rivals off the start line, enjoying better breeze in a commanding position to round the first mark ahead of Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG followed them around the televised section, followed by Team Telefónica, CAMPER with Emirates Team Zealand and Groupama sailing team.

With 6,700 nautical miles of ocean racing ahead of them, no team will be placing any significance on the leaving positions, especially with such a trial by the elements in prospect.

According to race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante a low pressure system to the north east of Auckland is set to intensify as it moves towards the colder waters of the Southern Ocean.

"It’s a heat machine right now," Infante said. “As it interacts with the cooler air off New Zealand it could generate some big winds -- 30 knots up to maybe even 50 or 60 knots."

PUMA skipper Ken Read said keeping the boat and the crew in one piece was the top priority, with gales likely in the first few days.

Read added: "It’s going to be boat-breaking and person-breaking weather, and I think the smart will prevail."

As the leg goes on, the fleet will sail through the notorious Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties where the winds consistently blow above 40 knots and conditions are more than capable of breaking boats.

Three new sailors have been added to the crew lists in Auckland. Anthony Nossiter from Australia is joining Abu Dhabi to replace the outgoing Justin Ferris, while just for this leg Finnish Olympic gold medal winner Thomas Johanson takes over from injured Kelvin Harrap on PUMA and Danish Olympic gold medallist Martin Kirketerp steps in on Sanya for Ryan Houston who has a kidney infection.

With the weather forecast to batter the fleet in the opening day of the leg, it will be a baptism of fire for the new crewmembers.

"Right now all our focus is on the weather forecast, which looks absolutely diabolical for the first 36 hours,” said Ian Walker, skipper of fifth-placed Abu Dhabi. “We just have to prepare our boat and our people as best we can.”

Despite having three leg wins and two in-port victories under their belt, Iker Martínez’s Team Telefónica sit just 15 points clear at the top of the overall leaderboard, with less than 40 points separating the top four boats and fifth-placed Abu Dhabi still determined to fight their way back into the reckoning.

And as the 39,000 nautical mile race hits its mid-point with Leg 5 to Itajaí in Brazil, with more than half the points still to be awarded, it is anyone’s to win.

“The door has always been open for any team to win,” Martínez said. “The teams are very close and there will be some more boats winning legs for sure.”

CAMPER, currently ranked third overall behind Telefónica and Groupama, started the leg riding the high of victory on home waters in Saturday’s In-Port Race.

And with just 18 points separating them from the leaders, skipper Chris Nicholson said his team were still very much in the race.

“It’s still well and truly game on,” he said. “I see the future for the overall podium results for this leg as wide open -- as wide open now as they were in Alicante.”

“I’ve been watching this race since 1981 and never before got this far and not really known what's going to happen going forward,” added Sanderson whose sixth-placed Sanya are showing their best form of the race.

After second place finishes in Leg 4 and the Auckland In-Port Race, PUMA are also on a roll – but skipper Ken Read, who skippered PUMA to third place in the Southern Ocean leg of the 2008-09 event, said keeping the boat and the crew in one piece was the top priority.

“Quite frankly this is not a leg to be talking about wins and losses right now,” he said. “It’s pretty easy to talk tough but the reality is this is not the most hospitable part of the world and we have to make sure we’re smart.”

Leg 5 is expected to take around 18 days to complete.

Position report:

www.VolvoOceanRace.com

'This is what we signed up for' says Abu Dhabi's Khalid ahead of demanding Southern Ocean crossing (from Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing)

Emirati outfit hoping to re-energise campaign in legendary Volvo Ocean Race leg

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Adil Khalid - the first Gulf national to take part in the global sailing odyssey, the Volvo Ocean Race – said Sunday’s legendary 6,700 nautical mile Southern Ocean crossing from New Zealand around Cape Horn would be ‘a life defining moment’.

The three week Leg 5 sees man and yacht pushed to the limit – and sometimes beyond – as the crews face mountainous seas and howling winds racing from Auckland, New Zealand, to Itajaí, Brazil. Yet despite the daunting task ahead, the 23-year-old Emirati Olympian, who has already made history in the 39,000 nautical mile race, believes crossing the Southern Ocean is ‘why sailors sign up to Volvo Ocean Race’.

“Whenever you hear anyone talk about the Volvo Ocean Race, it’s the images from the Southern Ocean that pop into your mind. This is the race at its very best and most extreme. It is why we sign up; it is the sailor’s rite of passage,” said Khalid, who represented the UAE in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

“Make no mistake, it’s really scary and my stomach is going round and round. There is a real subdued feeling here in Auckland. You know there is going to be a lot of action ahead of us, and we are in some of the most hostile and remote environments on the planet. If things go wrong, there isn’t a lot anyone can do to help you. But this is the essence of the race, and we are ready.”

On Leg 5, the six-strong fleet will be further from civilisation than ever before, including passing Point Nemo, the world’s most remote spot, more than 2,000 nautical miles from land in every direction.

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing is hoping the traditionally downwind leg will help the team revitalise its Volvo Ocean Race campaign, playing into the strengths of its state-of-the-art Volvo Open 70 race yacht, Azzam (determination).

Sailing through the notorious Roaring Forties and the Furious Fifties where the winds consistently blow above 40 knots and conditions are more than capable of breaking boats, skipper Ian Walker is more than aware of the task ahead.

Having pulled the mast rigging out of the water over the weekend to make sure it was “bullet proof”, Walker - who navigated the team to a fifth place finish in the Auckland In-Port Race on Saturday – said that the first few days of Leg 5 could be make or break for the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority-backed team.

“I have to say our focus and attention is all on the weather forecast for the next 36-hours which is absolutely diabolical. We have to get through some atrocious conditions before we can get our teeth stuck into some downwind sailing. We have to prepare Azzam and our people for that as priority one,” said the 42-year-old double Olympic medal winner.

“This is it, crunch time. We have a lot to prove and where better to stake our claim than in the Southern Ocean.”

Leg 5 starts on March 18 at 0500 UAE Time (0100 UTC). Featuring the classic Southern Ocean high speed sleigh-ride sailing for which the event is most renowned, it is the longest passage in the race and one of the most legendary.

The threat of ice breaking off from Antarctica has forced race organisers to implement an ice line to stop the fleet sailing too far south into dangerous waters.

And after taking all the Southern Ocean can throw at them the fleet must round Cape Horn, one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world, where millions of tonnes of ocean are forced through a 400-mile wide gap between the South American continent and Antarctica.

Leg 5 underway as PUMA heads into the Southern Ocean (from PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG)

PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG team departed Auckland, New Zealand, on Sunday, March 18, for the start of Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. After rounding the buoys during the in-port loop in Auckland, PUMA’s Mar Mostro sailed past Rangitoto Island and began the 6,705 nautical mile journey through the Southern Ocean and on to Itajaí, Brazil.

"I think we're optimistic,” said skipper Ken Read. “We're communicating well onboard, we're sailing the boat a little better, we improved our speed a touch. Hopefully we're on a roll and can sort of ride the momentum.”

Leg 5 takes the fleet through the formidable Southern Ocean and around Cape Horn with the trip to last around 17 days. Gale-force winds are expected during the first two days, blowing 30-40 knots with big seas.

“The forecast into the Southern Ocean looks like it’s going to be pretty full on for a long period of time,” Read said. “We’re going to have to be respectful of where we’re going, but at the same time we’re in a race. It’s a tough mix. But, there’s not a sailor in this race that is not going to treat this leg with a lot of respect.”

Thomas Johanson (Espoo, Finland) will sail in place of helmsman Kelvin Harrap (Napier, New Zealand) onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro for the leg from Auckland to Itajaí. Harrap will take a break due to carpal tunnel syndrome in both arms as well as bursitis in his elbow. Johanson sailed as a member of the Ericsson 3 crew during the 2008-09 edition of the race and won the leg through the Southern Ocean.

Leg Five underway as fleet prepare for storm force conditions (from CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand)

Leg five started today with an armada of boats filling Waitemata Harbour in Auckland to wave goodbye to the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. A punishing 6,700 miles await the crew onboard CAMPER where they will experience freezing temperatures, huge seas, icebergs and fast downwind sailing conditions on the sleigh ride south into the Southern Ocean, before rounding Cape Horn and making the turn north to Itajai in Brazil.

But before the sleigh ride begins, what can only be described as heinous conditions await the crews over the next 36 hours. Winds in excess of 30 knots are predicted to batter the fleet tonight and tomorrow, as they tackle a low pressure system off the north east coast of New Zealand. Little sleep can be expected for the crew onboard CAMPER as they work hard to keep the boat and each other in one piece.

Speaking on the dock skipper Chris Nicholson commented, “Yeah I think we’re going to get bashed a bit over the next 18 to 19 days. You have to go into it with the mentality that it’s going to be rough and hard, and if it’s anything other than that then you have been lucky!”

After an empathic win during the InPort race yesterday, CAMPER are hoping to create momentum as the race moves into the halway stage. The next leg will be punishing for the team, “I think the first few days are more about making sure that everyone stays in one piece. When we’re in heavy running we’ll have the hammer down, we are expecting it to take 18 to 19 days at the moment, but we just want to get there as fast as we can.”

One of the most iconic sections of this race will see the fleet head south into the Southern Ocean. Considered one of the most challenging places to sail in the world, it has the ability to deliver the best and worst of experiences.

"The Southern Ocean is fun mixed in with a certain level of stress but like anything in life you don’t get anything for nothing. How to describe it? The good and the bad, the good being surfing down real Southern Ocean swells, you don’t see them that often and they are magnificent. Full body swells at pace on these boats, totally in control and at speeds that people can only dream about, on boats that people dream about, with the best of teams. If all of those things work you’ll handle it, if one of any of those things lets you down then you’ll be left floundering hundreds of miles behind. The flip-side of all that is seeing the worst of it, when we almost sunk on Movistar coming into Cape Horn, boats breaking, destroying sails, all sorts of things that you’d never let your children go out and do when they get older. I guess that’s how you sum it, would you want your children to see the best days in the Southern Ocean absolutely, would I want them to see the bad stuff, absolutely not," skipper, Chris Nicholson.