CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson says his team are ready to roll after their first training session ahead of the Bretagne In-Port Race and Leg 9 start this weekend went better than expected.
“We had our first day on the water after a break and normally first days back are quite often disjointed and hard to get running smooth, but we had a good day out there,” Nicholson said.
With just three more scoring opportunities left in the current edition of the race, Nicholson said he had no plans to depart from the crew’s normal approach.
“We just have to do our normal thing and see what happens to the other teams,” he said. “Obviously we are looking to step up, but we also need to see whether the other teams step up or step backwards.
“At this stage of the race, with so many things going on there is a lot of tired people in all the programmes, and I think that if you can just keep on doing what you have been doing, that may well step you up against the others."
CAMPER currently sit in third place in the overall standings, tied with fourth-placed Telefónica and five points behind second placed PUMA.
Despite having 28 points to make up on leaders Groupama, Nicholson still believes anything is possible as the race winds up to its closest finish ever.
“We all always thought it was going to be very close,” he said. “At the start nobody could pick who would win this race and now we still do not know who is going to win this race.
“Of course Groupama are looking strong, but we have seen other teams looking strong a different stages of this race, and I think there is still so much to play for here.”
CAMPER have little left in terms of new sails to bring out but Nicholson declared himself happy that their existing wardrobe was in good shape for the Leg 9 to Galway.
“We have a nice variety to choose from, so we will do a more custom approach for this final leg, based on the very latest weather,” he said. “I think most teams will do that, depending on what they have to choose from.
“Making a very specific sail selection based on changeable weather data comes with an added risk, but hopefully we will pick the weather right and come up with a nice selection.
“Pretty much anything windy would suit us. We are pretty much good across the board but we would prefer not to have too much jib reaching. The weather is looking quite unstable right now, so the trick will be to be ready for every eventuality and be prepared to make the call as late as possible.”
Despite moving into the final stages of his first Volvo Ocean Race campaign as skipper, Nicholson said he needed do little to motivate his crew for the final push.
“We are feeling good and we are doing what we normally do,” he said. “I really like the feeling we have within the programme at the minute.
“There’s no need for me to look too hard -- just sit back and let it roll.”
From : VOR
Credit : I.Roman/VOR
“We had our first day on the water after a break and normally first days back are quite often disjointed and hard to get running smooth, but we had a good day out there,” Nicholson said.
With just three more scoring opportunities left in the current edition of the race, Nicholson said he had no plans to depart from the crew’s normal approach.
“We just have to do our normal thing and see what happens to the other teams,” he said. “Obviously we are looking to step up, but we also need to see whether the other teams step up or step backwards.
“At this stage of the race, with so many things going on there is a lot of tired people in all the programmes, and I think that if you can just keep on doing what you have been doing, that may well step you up against the others."
CAMPER currently sit in third place in the overall standings, tied with fourth-placed Telefónica and five points behind second placed PUMA.
Despite having 28 points to make up on leaders Groupama, Nicholson still believes anything is possible as the race winds up to its closest finish ever.
“We all always thought it was going to be very close,” he said. “At the start nobody could pick who would win this race and now we still do not know who is going to win this race.
“Of course Groupama are looking strong, but we have seen other teams looking strong a different stages of this race, and I think there is still so much to play for here.”
CAMPER have little left in terms of new sails to bring out but Nicholson declared himself happy that their existing wardrobe was in good shape for the Leg 9 to Galway.
“We have a nice variety to choose from, so we will do a more custom approach for this final leg, based on the very latest weather,” he said. “I think most teams will do that, depending on what they have to choose from.
“Making a very specific sail selection based on changeable weather data comes with an added risk, but hopefully we will pick the weather right and come up with a nice selection.
“Pretty much anything windy would suit us. We are pretty much good across the board but we would prefer not to have too much jib reaching. The weather is looking quite unstable right now, so the trick will be to be ready for every eventuality and be prepared to make the call as late as possible.”
Despite moving into the final stages of his first Volvo Ocean Race campaign as skipper, Nicholson said he needed do little to motivate his crew for the final push.
“We are feeling good and we are doing what we normally do,” he said. “I really like the feeling we have within the programme at the minute.
“There’s no need for me to look too hard -- just sit back and let it roll.”
From : VOR
