‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the age old adage that CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson is swearing by as his team lead the fleet on the Leg 3 charge into “boat breaking” conditions.
Nicholson and his CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew dodged atolls and surging breakwaters on the start line of the 3,051 nautical mile race from the Maldives to Sanya, China to break into the lead.
The Australian skipper said the next few days’ racing was likely to be a straight-line drag-race along the Indian Ocean in monsoon squalls, that would demand plenty of sail changes and put the crew work to the test.
Speaking from on board CAMPER as she clocked up 13 knots in 13 kts of wind just three hours after the start, Nicholson said he had confidence his team.
Nicholson said they had been focusing on crew work and boat speed in a bid to shake a reputation for being always the bridesmaid, never the bride, which they have earned with a string of podium finishes, and not one victory.
“Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being the bridesmaid, they have a good time,’’ he laughed. “But I think we’re in a good spot, crew work wise.
“We’re probably there because we’ve made a few mistakes in the last few sprint legs and we’ve taken it to heart. That’s not our normal characteristic. We spoke about it a lot last week and we’re quite determined not to let it happen again.”
The team’s determination was paying dividends early, as they led their closest rival PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG by 0.1 nm at 1600 UTC. Groupama sailing team were third, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing fourth, Team Sanya fifth and Team Telefónica trailed in sixth by 2.1 nm.
But it is the Malacca Strait that could divide the fleet said Nicholson, with the team who lead the fleet out into the South China Sea expected to fare very well.
“The first 1,000 nautical miles isn’t too bad, there’s just the lighter trade winds as such, that will get up to 15 kts at one stage,’’ he said.
“Then we do the Malacca Strait and at the moment I think they look quite light and quite tricky. Then we’re round a corner to Singapore and it looks like we’re in for a lot of breeze all the way to China.
“It’s the sort of thing that if you can lead out of the Malacca Strait and keep the pressure on I’d say you would be good. But it will be quite boat breaking conditions.”
While many of CAMPER’s competitors have suffered damage -- Abu Dhabi and PUMA breaking their masts and Sanya with a hole in their bow and rigging damage -- Nicholson’s Marcelino Botín designed yacht has remained strong.
Nicholson said the strength of his yacht was the reason why the team had made very few tweaks and changes to anything ahead of the second stage of Leg 3.
“We have our own on board manage systems that we put in place as soon as it gets rough, but as far as changing the boat we haven’t because since this boat has been on the water we’ve been in some terrible conditions and we haven’t had any breakages. It’s the old adage, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
From : Volvo Ocean Race
Credit : H. Hooper/Camper/VOR
Nicholson and his CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crew dodged atolls and surging breakwaters on the start line of the 3,051 nautical mile race from the Maldives to Sanya, China to break into the lead.
The Australian skipper said the next few days’ racing was likely to be a straight-line drag-race along the Indian Ocean in monsoon squalls, that would demand plenty of sail changes and put the crew work to the test.
Speaking from on board CAMPER as she clocked up 13 knots in 13 kts of wind just three hours after the start, Nicholson said he had confidence his team.
Nicholson said they had been focusing on crew work and boat speed in a bid to shake a reputation for being always the bridesmaid, never the bride, which they have earned with a string of podium finishes, and not one victory.
“Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being the bridesmaid, they have a good time,’’ he laughed. “But I think we’re in a good spot, crew work wise.
“We’re probably there because we’ve made a few mistakes in the last few sprint legs and we’ve taken it to heart. That’s not our normal characteristic. We spoke about it a lot last week and we’re quite determined not to let it happen again.”
The team’s determination was paying dividends early, as they led their closest rival PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG by 0.1 nm at 1600 UTC. Groupama sailing team were third, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing fourth, Team Sanya fifth and Team Telefónica trailed in sixth by 2.1 nm.
But it is the Malacca Strait that could divide the fleet said Nicholson, with the team who lead the fleet out into the South China Sea expected to fare very well.
“The first 1,000 nautical miles isn’t too bad, there’s just the lighter trade winds as such, that will get up to 15 kts at one stage,’’ he said.
“Then we do the Malacca Strait and at the moment I think they look quite light and quite tricky. Then we’re round a corner to Singapore and it looks like we’re in for a lot of breeze all the way to China.
“It’s the sort of thing that if you can lead out of the Malacca Strait and keep the pressure on I’d say you would be good. But it will be quite boat breaking conditions.”
While many of CAMPER’s competitors have suffered damage -- Abu Dhabi and PUMA breaking their masts and Sanya with a hole in their bow and rigging damage -- Nicholson’s Marcelino Botín designed yacht has remained strong.
Nicholson said the strength of his yacht was the reason why the team had made very few tweaks and changes to anything ahead of the second stage of Leg 3.
“We have our own on board manage systems that we put in place as soon as it gets rough, but as far as changing the boat we haven’t because since this boat has been on the water we’ve been in some terrible conditions and we haven’t had any breakages. It’s the old adage, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
From : Volvo Ocean Race
