After winning the 1st leg, the in port race in Cape Town and the 2nd leg, the Spanish boat, built by King Marine, leads the VOR.
January 4th was another great day for the Spanish Volvo Ocean Race team. With a win in the second leg between Cape Town and Abu Dhabi, “Telefónica” has strengthened her lead in the overall standings by increasing the gap with second-placed “Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand” to eight points in the overall standings for the regatta. A first-place finish on the first stage of the leg, -some 5,000 miles in length- and a second-place finish on the final 100 mile sprint from Sharjah to Abu Dhabi, “Telefónica” has now taken the overall victory in the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race, a leg which originally kicked off in Cape Town (South Africa) on the 11th of December.
The second stage of Leg 2, was a sprint between the city of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi (UAE) with 98 miles to cover. Right from the very first miles, the Spanish boat fought mile by mile with the rest of the fleet to maintain a privileged position which was only just taken over by French boat “Groupama”, a slim 52 seconds on the final 5 miles to the finish.
This first place in the leg means a fourth victory for Iker Martínez and co. so far in the round the world regatta. It also means that “Telefónica” wins the leg with five more points than New Zealand boat “Camper” and ten more than American entry “Puma”. “Groupama” finished the leg in fourth place, 11 points from “Telefónica” and “Abu Dhabi” was 19 points behind the Spanish boat, in fifth place. "Sanya" has yet to complete the first stage of Leg 2, so no official points have yet been awarded for the boat.
The next test will be the regatta Etihad Airways In-port to be held in Abu Dhabi on January 13th. On January 14th, it will be held the third stage, between Abu Dhabi and the Chinese port of Sanya.
PROVISIONAL OVERALL STANDINGS.
1. Team Telefónica (Iker Martínez), 66 points
2. Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson), 58 points
3. Groupama Sailing Team (Franck Cammas), 42 points
4. Puma powered by Berg (Ken Read), 28 points
5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker), 19 points
6. Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson), pending results
In early December, King Marine relocated a portion of its work force to the Artemis Racing operations base, near Gothenburg, Sweden, to begin the construction of the team's AC72 catamaran designed by Juan Kouyoumidjian. Artemis Racing, Challenger of Record for the 34th America's Cup, represents the Royal Swedish Yacht Club / Kungliga Svenska Segel Sällskapet (KSSS).
"We arrived a week ago from Sweden to check on the operations, test the new oven, coordinate logistics and explain the quality standards and storage system of King Marine to the local team of builders," said Gabriel Mariani, CEO of King Marine.
A group of 50 specialists from King Marine & King Composite (led by Pablo Santarsiero and Guillermo Ponzinibbio respectively), together with strategic partners Sinergìa Racing Group, will build the AC72 in three different locations: Valencia, Cartagena and Sweden.
Everything is going according to schedule under the direction of Naval Architect James Muller who has worked with King Marine on the build of the TP52 Azzurra 2011 and the modification of Orma 60 for Artemis Racing.
Richard Gillies, Build Manager for Artemis Racing, "will control our work as builders, contribute ideas and solutions as well as share his invaluable experience with us."
Richard has a career as long as the composite life itself. He ventured before anyone into CNC mould building so it’s great to have him on our side.
"The action gets underway, but promises to be exciting from the technical and logistical point of view " assures Gabriel Mariani. "I am grateful to Artemis Racing for trusting us to take on this project, enthusiastic to build once again a JYD design and glad to have a team that gives me peace of mind about their commitment and quality."
The hull of the new TP 52 Azzurra has already been mounted. The deck is 70% advanced at the facility in Alginet, Valencia, almost ready for painting process.
King Marine´s manager, Pablo Santarsiero was confident in saying: - "We are on schedule for the pre-season, the class has a fleet of quality and we trust that there will be a good circuit for 2012."
