* Over the course of the holidays, the Volvo 70s
managed to sail into the "Land of No Return", the "Twilight Zone", the
"No Spin Zone", the "No Go Zone", the "Stealth Zone" and the "Party
Zone". Whatever. The sailing part didn't work for a lot of teams. The
party part perhaps soothed some severely bruised egos.
Nevertheless, it's pretty clear the hard-charging Spanish team on TELEFONICA led by Iker Martinez
can probably credit their extensive small keelboat racing experiences
on J/80s in Spain against World Champions as critical in keeping them on
edge and on top of the Volvo Ocean Race World.
Ken Read, the J/24 World Champion, has had his share of
hard-luck, first the broken mast and Tristan da Cunha shipping episode,
then having to deal with the Indian Ocean Doldrums and a slow boat going
into Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. We wish our J/Team friends
all well and good luck on the next leg to Sanya, China! For more Volvo Ocean Race sailing information