Movistar set off on the fifth leg of the Volvo Ocean Race at 17:10 (GMT +1) 13:10 local time in Rio. This is the fifth leg of the RTW race which joins Rio with the American port of Baltimore.
This means 5,000 nautical miles across the Atlantic Ocean including a scoring gate in Fernando de Noronha, on the northern coast of Brazil where the first boat past will get 3.5 points.
Movistar Captain, Bouwe Bekking, dedicated his last words from Rio to his crew.“I would like to thank all of the Spanish community here in Rio for all of their support during our time here. Special thanks must go to Rafael Fernández- Pita, the consul here, who has become a friend, as well as the Ambassador Ricardo Peydró, who was our fifteenth man in the Coastal Race in Rio.
“We have great memories of our time in Rio de Janeiro. The people have been fantastic, and thanks to their support and the help of all of the local tradesmen who’ve worked with us, we have been able to get Movistar into ship-shape for this fifth leg.”
The boats left the quay in reverse order of their positions in the coastal race. Movistar left in penultimate place, at 11:10 local time, thanks to their second place won last Saturday.
From Marina da Glória, the six competing vessels headed for the start line in front of the Navy Academy. The start signal was punctual at 13:10 local time.
Volvo Ocean Race placed a mark at Copacabana beach so that the boats would have to sail close to the coast. From then on it’s 5,000 miles of Atlantic until Baltimore. Bowman Pepe Ribes recalls previous editions of the race.
“There was no buoy then, and we left with quite a lot of wind and the Code zero up until Cabo Frio. The forecast for today is for a slow start, and only 5 knots average wind speeds for the first 500 miles. In fact, forecasts aren’t as useful as they might seem, and what we’ve really got to do is to keep our eyes open and to be prepared for anything.”
This is the first big start for Fernando Echávarri.
”I received a couple of calls wishing me luck yesterday from Anton Paz and Xabi Fernandez. Xabi was definitely the best person to give some advice on what’s ahead. I’ve slept well, and I’m feeling good about this and eager to get out there.”
Movistar’s first aim was to get ahead as they left the complicated Bahía de Guanabara, which they managed with only 4 knots of wind. They fought hard against Ericsson with Kohn Kostecki and Dutch team ABN Two as well as Prates of the Caribbean. They are heading up to the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha on the Northern coast of Brazil. The next significant point is the Equator about 150 miles North. Then it’s all Atlantic Ocean on course for East coast USA.
Dutch boat and leader in the rankings ABN One skippered by NZ’s Mike Sanderson, had some problems with the genoa sail and were at the back of the fleet after thirty minutes of the leg, along with Brasil 1 who had to take the start again after a false one.