(Lorient, France)- The Volvo Ocean Race is
in its final week of sailing. Hard to believe, but true. At this
time, just about any of the top four teams can win given the right
combinations of racing. But, the French team led by Franck Cammas on
GROUPAMA will have an unassailable position so long as they average
third in the next three races and could become the first French team in
decades to win this epic around-the-world offshore race, this one being
the longest-ever version with nearly 40,000 nm of sailing under their
boats! Challenging GROUPAMA will be Newport's Ken Read racing PUMA Mar Mostro, hoping his collective experience of winning multiple J/24 World Championships will come into play in the last three "windsprints" left on the schedule. Besides the two in-port "day races", the last offshore leg is just short of 500nm, a "day race" for these ocean-racing greyhounds! It will be tough sailing, in fact more like a monster version of an intercollegiate dinghy race than an offshore keelboat race from a tactical point of view-- everyone will be in view the entire four days of racing!! Good luck to Ken Read and crew on PUMA!
And, not to be left out will be J/80 champion sailor from Spain, Iker Martinez and team on TELEFONICA. TELEFONICA had led for 80% of the race until they broke their two primary rudders in a "chinese gybe" maneuver just before finishing the last leg into Lorient, France. Limping into port on one rudder, the TELEFONICA team are hoping, like Ken's PUMA team, to win a few races and gun for the top of the podium, too! Should be an intense, epic drama un-folding on the high seas off Europe! For more Volvo Race sailing information
