I ragazzi sono in giro

[singlepic=539,170,250,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Alicante – Condizioni meteo molto difficili hanno fatto da sfondo alla partenza della prima tappa d’altura della Volvo Ocean Race, frazione che porterà i partecipanti da Alicante a Città del Capo. Davanti all’attento sguardo del Re di Spagna, l’evento ha calamitato l’attenzione di migliaia di spettatori presenti tanto a terra, lungo la spiaggia di un Alicante oggi eletta a capitale della vela, quanto in acqua.
Incuranti dell’avversa situazione meteorologica – vento da nord-est di quasi trenta nodi – gli otto team hanno fatto rotta verso Gibilterra, mettendosi alle spalle anni di fatica e momenti di gioia nell’attimo stesso in cui il Comitato di Regata ha dichiarato aperta la battaglia.
All’ultima boa di disimpegno, raggiunta dai team dopo qualche ora di navigazione, Ericsson 4 di Torben Grael conduceva su Il Mostro di Ken Read e sui compagni di squadra di Ericsson 3, guidati da Anders Lewanders.

Per seguire la regata live clicca qui.

Ericsson 4 lead the Volvo Ocean Race Fleet in thought conditions
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Nor did it dampen the spirits of His Majesty King Juan Carlos 1 of Spain and his two daughters. The Infanta Doña Elena left the dock with her father onboard Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and the Infanta Doña Cristina was onboard Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP). The royal party was then transferred by RIB to the Spanish Navy frigate Principe de Asturias where they joined Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Knut Frostad, to watch the start.
The Bishop of Alicante-Orihuela blessed the fleet in traditional fashion before, one by one, the crews threw off their lines, waved to the huge crowd lining the harbour and departed the basin which has been their home for the past few weeks, to the sound of their team music. Fireworks exploded over the race village, while overhead Spain’s Blue Arrows aerobatic team gave a breath-taking display. Over 900,000 visitors have visited the race village since it opened on 19 September.
As out on the race track, conditions were wild. A strong north-easterly breeze of 25-30 nodi meant a windy start for the fleet which had to sail a short lap of the Bay of Alicante before heading back round a turning mark and out to sea. A simple breakage today could be very costly. Race winner in 1997-98 and second in 2005-06, American skipper Paul Cayard once said: “You can’t win the Volvo Ocean Race on the first night, but you can certainly lose it”.
Waves were breaking over the boats as the teams held them into the wind to hoist their reefed mainsails. Most opted for small headsails, although Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) chose a large masthead genoa.
As the start gun fired from the Spanish frigate, the fleet split, and it was Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) who rounded the windward mark ahead of Puma Racing Team (Ken Read/USA) and Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander SWE) in a surprise third place.
Further down the fleet, the two Spanish boats, Telefónica Black and Telefónica Blue rounded the weather mark fourth and fifth followed by Team Russia. Green Dragon, who had struggled to sail as high as the rest of the fleet with their large genoa, were seventh, and Team Delta Lloyd (Ger O’Rourke/IRL) completed the fleet in eighth place.
The power was on as the fleet hoisted spinnakers and smoked down the leeward leg towards the final turning mark. Torben Grael kept his pole position and led the fleet as they began their sleigh ride towards Gibraltar. Il Mostro maintained second place, while Telefónica Blue moved up to third and Ericsson 3 dropped to fourth. Telefónica Black slipped to fifth place and Green Dragon moved up to sixth. In seventh and eighth places, as the fleet headed off on this 6,500 nautical mile leg to Cape Town, were Team Delta Lloyd and Team Russia.

[flashvideo filename=video/vor/Telefonica_partenza_111008.flv /]
Video courtesy Equipo Telefonica.

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