A tough 24 hours for CAMPER

Emirates Team New Zealand Media Update: A tough 24 hours for CAMPER but focused on getting back into the game

30 January 2012

On day eight of Leg Three CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand has had a tough 24 hours as the painful consequences of a tactical error to head inshore in search of breeze mount as the boats further out slowly stretch their lead.

However, CAMPER appears to have now put the worst of the decision behind them and in the last few hours have begun to make small gains on the leading boats as they make the most of better breeze and boat speed.

CAMPER is currently enjoying boat speed and wind speed almost double that of the top two boats and is metre by metre working to claw back the losses from their earlier mistake. The decision to head inshore close to the Malaysian coastline in search of better breeze cost CAMPER dearly with Puma, Telefonica and Groupama further out to sea gaining more than 50 miles over CAMPER and Abu Dhabi who had also pursued an inshore route.

At one stage both CAMPER and Abu Dhabi were entirely becalmed and had to anchor to maintain their position and stop themselves going backwards.

CAMPER Skipper Chris Nicholson says that they are determined to put the mistake behind them and gain back as many miles as possible before the next waypoint of Singapore and an effective restart as the fleet turns into the South China Sea and a 1000 mile beat in challenging conditions to the finish off Sanya.

“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.

“It’s a hard ask to pull in the front runners before Singapore but the long beat up to Sanya offers plenty of opportunities and the sort of conditions that we’re generally strong in.

“We’ll just keep on chipping away and see what eventuates, but it’s fair to say that everyone aboard is completely determined to make up the lost ground. “

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1500h 30 January NZT is in fifth place 35.5 nautical miles behind leader Groupama and is averaging 12.6 knots in a 11.2 knot north easterly.

Pictures of CAMPER, video footage and audio files are available upon request. Further information and race updates will be available on www.etnzblog.com

The latest audio from onboard CAMPER is here http://etnzblog.com/#!2012/01/audio-salty-on-a-tough-24-hours-for-camper

The latest video from onboard CAMPER is here http://etnzblog.com/#!2012/01/video-a-tough-24-hours-for-camper

ENDS

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