Saturday in Rio de Janeiro was the scene of the fourth coastal regatta in this edition of The Volvo Ocean Race. With barely three hours training in Rio waters, the Spaniards managed to finish in a fantastic second position behind the USA’s ABN AMRO One.

Movistar were especially happy to finish ahead of two of their main rivals for a place on the podium: ABN AMRO Two and Pirates of the Carribbean, which both came in at the tail end of the fleet.

 

Team Director Pedro Campos shared the wheel with Bouwe Bekking on Movistar today.

 

“I am very happy indeed, not only with the great result, but with the handling of the boat as well. We didn’t expect to have a particulary good day’s sailing at all, but we enjoyed sailing with more wind than we had hoped for. This has been a very tactical and technical regatta.”

 

 “On a personal note I think that  Fernando and Stu called some great tactics, whilst Bouwe and I took turns at the wheel. Basically, I took over the downwind stretches, but with a boat like this there isn’t a moment’s peace, and I’ve even done a fair bit of grinding today! HM King Juan Carlos of Spain was the first person to ring us from Spain to congratulate us.”

 

With this fantastic result in the bag, Movistar are steadily closing in on their rivals in the general rankings. The team now find themselves just 0.5 points away from third place Pirates of the Carribean, as well as reducing a previous gap of 7 points down to 5.5 points in relation to second place occupiers ABN AMRO One.

 

Debut for Fernando Echavarri

 

Fernando Echavarri had his debut as part of the Movistar team on the Spanish vessel today. He gave a few comments about the experience, upon his return to the Marina de la Gloria dock in Rio de Janeiro.

 

“I’m really pleased with this result not only because it puts us on a better footing in the general rankings, but also because I think it was the morale boost that was all needed. Finishing in second place is great, especially when you finish ahead of some of the toughest rivals in the race.”

 

“I felt really comfortable on the boat. I think I was able to carry out my work with some ease, although physically it is incredibly draining, and I don’t think I stopped working for even a moment during the entire race. Although it was hard, I can definitely feel the benefits of all the training I had before coming here, and the seven kilos I gained for the event in just one month.”

 

 “The boat handled really well and we definitely called the right tactics. ABN AMRO One was faster even at the beginning, when the wind was much stronger, so much so that they manged to get away from the pack fighting for second place behind them. Once we’d won that battle we just didn’t have the time to catch up with them.”

 

A great day for racing

 

The race began at 13:00 (16:00 GMT) on a windward/leeward type course with eight stages. The Spanish team managed to complete each of the legs in the top positions. “The weather forecast we got was somewhat different to the conditions we found out there,” said Pepe Ribes. “In the end it was a great day for sailing and the race was just spectacular.”

 

ABN AMRO One, Movistar and Pirates of the Caribbean were the three vessels dominating the leader positions in the first three legs, but then things broke up in the fourth leg. Pirates with Paul Cayard encountered problems as they hoisted the Genoa, which gave Movistar room to move in to second place and to concentrate on catching up with ABN Amro One. At this point the regatta split up into two flotillas, with ABN AMRO One and Movistar in one group and then the rest Ericsson, Pirates of the Caribbean, ABN AMRO Two and Brasil fighting for third place.

As they eight legs were completed the lead positions were secured, yet third place was to go to Ericsson, who managed to resist the rival’s threats. At the tail end of the fleet were ABN AMRO Two and Brasil who were desperately trying to catch up.

 

In the end, ABN AMRO One Movistar, and Ericsson took to the podium in that order, while Pirates fell into last place. This allowed the Spanish to practically cancel out their point deficit in relation to the Americans after the fourth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Wellington (NZ) to Rio de Janerio.
 
The show must go on

 

There’s still work to be done, and there’s certainly no rest for the Movistar team. This week they will be finishing off the repairs and getting the boat into ship-shape for the next fleet rendez vous, which will be at the start line of the fifth leg in this race, the race from Brazil to Baltimore (USA). Pepe Ribes comments, “The boat’s behaved well, although we still have a couple of faults in the hydraulics system that need to be smoothed out. Right now we’ve got a tough week ahead, because we’ve still got stuff to fix before we head out for Baltimore.”

 

Results Inshore race Rio de Janeiro
1º ABN AMRO One (HOLLAND)

2º MOVISTAR (SPAIN)

3º Ericsson (SWEDEN)

4º Brasil 1 (BRAZIL)

5º ABN AMRO TWO (HOLLAND)

6º Pirates of the Caribbean (USA)

 

Volvo Ocean Race Overall Standing 

1º ABN AMRO One (HOLLAND), 52,5 points

2º ABN AMRO Two (HOLLAND), 36,5 points

3º , Pirates of the Caribbean (USA),  31,5 points

4º MOVISTAR (SPAIN), 31 points

5º Brasil 1 (BRAZIL), 28,5 points

6º Ericsson (SWEDEN), 23,5 points

7º Brunel (AUSTRALIA), 11,5 points