SAILING VOLVO OCEAN RACE:THERE WERE scenes of jubilation in Rio de Janeiro at the weekend when a third place for the Ger O'Rourke-owned boat Team Delta Lloyd in the Rio de Janeiro In-Port event marked its first podium result after missing the last two-and-half months of the Volvo Ocean Race.
While Spain’s Telefonica Blue banished its recent last place in the marathon 12,300-mile stage from China with an emphatic victory, overall race leader Torben Grael failed to make the stage with a fourth place that leads many to believe his domination of the event could yet be overturned.
That mission could fall to American Kenny Read with Puma Ocean Racing, who scored second on Guanabarra Bay on Saturday, reinforcing his second overall position just three points ahead of Bouwe Bekking’s Telefonica.
However, it was the third place wrestled from Grael by the Limerick-owned boat that is now a wholly Dutch campaign, with a crew led by Spain’s Roberto “Chuney” Bermudez, that was the cause of celebration as the “grand-father” VO 70-footer and outright winner of the 2005/2006 race achieved a podium result.
Ireland’s Green Dragon Team defied a perfect start to place second last of the seven-boat fleet when they had to sail beyond the up-wind course gate by the two Telefonica team-mates and lost ground sailing back to the buoy.
Ian Walker’s team regained some losses, overhauling Telefonica Black, until the final gybe to the finishing-line where the Galway-boat was beaten by a boat-length. But they finished ahead of Ericsson 3 and thus closed the small gap back to fourth overall as Walker’s hunt for a podium result continues.
