the Volvo Ocean Race

Watched them all arrive safely in Cape Town. Team I am "rooting" for TTOP came in 7th, but a great experience for those youngsters who have never done anything like this before. 1m 8secs between Scallywag and them. Look forward to the next leg and hope that maybe TTOP can pull something out of the bag to get up the leader board, but all are deserving in this tough race.
 
A great start to Leg 3 from Capetown to Melbourn, and off in the wilderness of the southern oceans, with the promise of 50kn winds as they enter a depression. There is no "haul out" at Melbourne, as there was at Cape town with only 2 shore crew allowed on board for maintenance. The some of the rookies on TTTOP are now entering the unknown. Exciting stuff.
 
It is indeed. I wish that some of the on shore video editing was better or at least more documentary and less star wars, but its still enthralling to watch. I wonder where Map[fre's obvious small speed advantage comes from given how experienced the other crews are. And I feel sorry for Dee and TTOP who clearly arent quite in the same class.

Beats watching F1 and MotoGP.
 
I think the inexperience of Dee's crew will be showing a bit, but for such a rookie crew, still a credible effort, and there is some way to go currently, but they appear to be lagging a bit at the back again. I don't know what difference an extra 40kg of scientific equip. makes on the progress of her boat compared to the rest which are not carrying such equipment.
Def beats F1 by a country mile. (Never watch it anyway).
 
wotayottie said:
Dee seems to have accepted defeat. She is on Twatter this morning saying "there is no comparison between Mapfre and our boat"
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I think we all accept that the crew on Mapfre are far more experienced, but looking at the dashboard this morning, as they are in the depression, there is a bit of a change in directions. I still hope that TTTOP could shuffle into at least 5th. but their movements do appear to be a bit erratic, in fact I thought the navigator was pissed.;););) Scallywag looks like they're off to Yorkshire!;)
 
Watching the live update, it looks like the front runners in the south are pretty much going to stay fairly glued to the exclusion zone, whether the Northern route teams will be able to make headway, who knows. Akzo Nobel have a nackered main sail which will slow them up, but nobody wants a win off the back of misfortune of another team.
 
Looking at the tracks on you tube, its clear that the best plan was to skim the exclusion zone for the shortest distance towards the destination. Going north as Dee did to avoid that bad weather gained some speed at times but not enough to compensate for the longer distance.
 
wotayottie said:
Looking at the tracks on you tube, its clear that the best plan was to skim the exclusion zone for the shortest distance towards the destination. Going north as Dee did to avoid that bad weather gained some speed at times but not enough to compensate for the longer distance.
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My thoughts exactly, those that gunned it brushing the exclusion zone, made some headway. However the exclusion zone has been dished a curve ball in the form of an ice berg.
 
Looking even more interesting now with Mapfre taking a shorter more northerly route and pulling out a 35nm lead . Rest of the fleet staying south. Someone is wrong but who?
 
The way Mapfre have tailored their routes upto now, tells me they have it bang on. They seem to have been consistent all along. A very experienced team. Not my choice, as I would have liked to see TTTOP do a bit better, but the show is no where near over yet.
 
That Cafari is a very brave woman and a more than competent silor is beyond doubt. But is she a race winner?I had a quick look and couldnt find any trace of her winning in a one design fleet. Or indeed any other.

I think she is more of an "around alone" type. Guts and courage rather than outright speed.
 
The countdown to leg 4 is nearly upon us, as they leave on the 2nd Jan back into the oceans and their race to Hong Kong. I'd quite like to see Dee and TTTOP get one over Scallywag. Whether that happens or not though, is a different matter.
 
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