Volvo Ocean Race, gli irlandesi pronti a stupire
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingVelaVolvo Ocean Race 29 Maggio 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=2597,300,204,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Atlantico – Se si ripeterà lo spettacolo dell’arrivo, la In-Port Race di Galway sarà senza dubbio alcuno una delle più spettacolari dell’intera Volvo Ocean Race: ne sono convinti tanto gli organizzatori e quanto gli skipper, ancora frastornati per l’incredibile accoglienza riservata loro da pubblico irlandese, presente in mare nel cuore della notte con oltre 500 imbarcazioni. Molto dipenderà anche dal meteo e dalla sua voglia di tenere fede alle previsioni che, se rispettate, garantiranno condizioni meteo ideali per lo svolgimento della prova sulla boe.
A sentire la pressione dovuta al fatto di regatare davanti al pubblico amico è soprattutto Ian Walker, skipper di Green Dragon: “In questi giorni ci siamo allenati come mai abbiamo fatto in precedenza. La stiamo prendendo molto seriamente: sappiamo quanta gente verrà a fare il tifo per noi e non vogliamo certo deluderli”.
Walker sa di avere in Telefonica Blue l’avversario da battere: Bouwe Bekking si è dimostrato velocissimo tra le boe strette delle varie In-Port Race, decisamente più del leader indiscusso Ericsson 4. Dal canto suo i Blue dovranno guardarsi da Il Mostro, il VOR 70 di Ken Read che li segue a un solo punto e mezzo. Una situazione che potrebbe ribaltarsi nel corso di un solo pomeriggio. Ci credono gli statunitensi, determinati a non darsi per vinti nonostante le previsioni di vento leggero siano favorevoli alle sorti spagnole.
Come sempre, nel corso delle In-Port Race gli equipaggi potranno imbarcare due velisti in più e tutti puntano a rinforzare il reparto grinder per avere più potenza in fase di manovra. Dopo aver sentito Read descrivere i suoi uomini in più, Magnus Olsson, skipper di Ericsson 3, l’ha buttata sullo scherzo: “Niente in confronto al nostro: da noi domani ci sarà un ragazzo danese alto 2 metri e mezzo e capace di alzare 250 chili senza alcuna fatica”.
L’appuntamento per tutti, equipaggi e spettatori, è per le 12.00 GMT, le 14.00 italiane.
VOLVO OCEAN RACE, IN-PORT RACE ON GALWAY BAY PROMISE TO BE SPECTACULAR
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] The sixth in-port race day of the Volvo Ocean Race is scheduled for Saturday afternoon on Galway Bay and it promises to be among the more memorable events of the 2008-09 race. If the welcome the fleet received last weekend at the conclusion of the leg from Boston is any indication, the local crowds will be large, loud, and very enthusiastic.
The weather forecast is for sunshine and light to moderate breezes, which should offer fair racing conditions and fantastic opportunities for race fans to watch the proceedings. The hometown favourites, Ireland’s Green Dragon, will be among seven teams battling for supremacy on a short, inshore racecourse, located just outside the city on Galway Bay.
The local team received a hero’s welcome last weekend, after securing a podium finish on the leg into Galway and their skipper, Ian Walker, knows the pressure is on for another strong performance during the in-port race.
“Within our team, we have made a really big effort this week,” he said at the skippers’ press conference today. “We’ve done twice as many training days here as we have before. We’ve bolstered the crew. We’re taking it very seriously, we know that all of these people are coming and they want to see Green Dragon do well, and we’re going to do our best.”
The action is sure to be closely contested. On the overall race leaderboard, Ericsson 4 has built a 14.5 point lead over its nearest rivals, Telefónica Blue. But the crew on the Blue boat has shown itself to be a force on the in-port races, having won the last two in-port days in Boston and Rio de Janeiro.
In addition, Puma is just 1.5 points behind Telefónica Blue on the leaderboard, in the hard-fought battle for second place.
“The question of the week has been about the fight between Telefónica Blue and Puma,” said Telefónica Blue in-port helmsman Iker Martinez. “But I think the big fight is with ourselves; just to round these marks, get the spinnaker up and down with no problems, that’s already pretty difficult. The goal for us is to have no problems and try to be in the top three.”
“There’s no doubt we’ll know where they are on the race course,” admitted Puma skipper Ken Read, speaking about the rivalry with Telefónica Blue. “As the regatta gets further along, you start to pinpoint your closest competitors so that’s really a normal thing. One problem is that Telefónica Blue has a really nice way of dialling in the weather because these light air days surely are very good for them. That makes it a little bit harder to really go after them if they potentially have speed on you. If it’s light air tomorrow, they’re certainly the boat to beat.”
The teams are permitted to add two additional sailors to their crew lists for in-port racing and there was some light-hearted banter between Ken Read and Ericsson 3 skipper Magnus Olsson over who was adding the most muscle to their team. After hearing Read detail the two ‘grinders’ who would be added to Puma for the race, Olsson joked: “We have a Danish guy on our boat, eight and a half feet tall and 250 kilos strong!”
Racing is due to start on Saturday at 13.00 local time, 12.00 GMT. Two races are scheduled over the course of the afternoon.
The race area is just outside Galway Docks, in the middle of Galway Bay. The racecourse will be visible along the coast from Salthill to Barna. Locally, there will be audio commentary on the water on VHF channel 15 as well as Galway Bay FM. TG4 will be broadcasting the racing live
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