Leg Three in Review: from an Indian Ocean Flyer to Malacca Strait Malaise topped off with a tack fest

Leg Three of the Volvo Ocean Race began from the previously secret safehaven of the Maldives and ended over 3000 nautical miles later in the tropical Chinese island of Sanya. In between CAMPER led the fleet on five different occasions, made a major tactical error in the world’s busiest shipping lane that dropped them to second to last, and fought back to a hard earned third place in a draining tack fest up the Vietnamese coast

As skipper Chris Nicholson (Nico) puts it “this was an extremely tough leg both physically and mentally. It wasn’t actually that rough but sleep was at a minimum, watch schedules went out the window, there were endless obstacles on the water to dodge, and I think I lost count of how many times we tacked and had to go re-stack the boat in tropical heat. Bloody hard work is about the only way to describe it.”

Here’s a quick look back at the highs and lows of the 3000 mile plus battle to Sanya

The leg started from Male in the Maldives where the boats had been shipped to from the United Arab Emirates in order to avoid a high risk piracy area. Racing got underway in a light easterly with CAMPER showing impressive speed off the line to lead the fleet out into the Indian Ocean. Ahead lay a 1000 mile drag race primarily on port tack to the first turning point of Pulau We and beginning of the Malacca Strait.

After slipping to second CAMPER kept a tight grip on new leader Puma never falling more than five miles behind and slowly building their position to north and windward of the fleet. This northerly position would soon begin to pay dividends as CAMPER used their windward leverage to slip into first place when the fleet tacked in order to make the turning point.

An intense nautical game of chess then developed as the top four boats battled to be the first into Malacca Strait.After 24 hours Telefonica grabbed the lead with Puma. CAMPER, Telefonica and Groupama all within a mile of each other as the fleet entered one of the busiest waterways in the world.

The Malacca Straits presented a host of challenges for the fleet from vicious tidal currents, to endless shipping traffic, to hundreds of unlit fishing boats and nets. It is an area that can make or break a leg and sadly for CAMPER it was the later.

A tactical decision to head close into the Malaysian shoreline in search of breeze would cost CAMPER dearly. For almost 24 hours they were virtually becalmed as the boats further out enjoyed steady breeze and managed to stretch out an over 50 mile lead.

In the words of Nico, “In the last race heading inshore at this stage paid big dividends, while those boats that stayed out were relegated to the back of the fleet. This time round it’s the opposite. It’s not pretty but that’s sailing. Our game plan didn’t work out and now we have to deal with the consequences.

“None of us are happy with where we are and we all expect better but we need to put this behind us and focus on getting back into the race – there’s still an awful lot of sailing ahead of us in this leg.”

Sitting in second to last and with a large deficit to pull back CAMPER slowly but steadily pulled back the miles as the fleet left the painful Malacca Straits and began the long upwind trip to China. This final stage of the leg involved a 1200 mile beat through the South China Sea into a steadily building breeze and sea state. These are conditions that CAMPER generally enjoys and this time was no different as first Abu Dhabi and then Puma were overtaken and CAMPER moved into third place as the fleet hit the Vietnamese coast.

The boats then faced a torrid time short tacking for over 130 miles in 20 to 30 knot winds dodging fishing boats, sandbars and nets. Each tack meant the crew had to restack four tonne of gear from one side of the boat to another in tropical heat. It was in the words of Nico “seriously hard on the crew’ and despite giving it all they could and one stage pulling in second placed Groupama to just a nine mile lead it wasn’t quite enough.

After 13 days at sea Telefonica led the fleet into Sanya followed by Groupama in second and CAMPER in third some two hours behind Telefonica. It was another podium finish for the team and enough to retain their second overall position but not the result anyone was looking for.

The tactical error in Malacca Strait effectively meant race over for CAMPER and after that only some hard scrapping saw them fight back to a credible third place.

Following some well-earned rest focus will now turn to debriefing the leg, seeing what went well and what didn’t and ensuring that CAMPER comes out absolutely firing for the next leg into Emirates Team New Zealand’s home base of Auckland