Thursday, January 29, 2009

Telefonica Blue wins Volvo stage

Telefonica Blue takes a battering in heavy storms
Telefonica Blue survived heavy storms to win its second stage of the race

Spanish yacht Telefonica Blue won the fog-shrouded fourth stage of the round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, which was from Singapore to China.

The severe fog meant skipper Bouwe Bekking had to rely solely on his instruments to reach Qingdao, where the 2008 Olympic sailing events took place.

America's Puma Ocean Racing finished second, with pre-race favourites Ericsson 4 in third place.

Ericsson 4 keeps the overall lead from Telefonica Blue and Puma Ocean Racing.

Three boats had to pull out of the fourth leg, which began on 18 January.

606: DEBATE
BBC Sport's Peter Scrivener

The trio of 70-foot vessels, Telefonica Black, Ericsson 3 and Delta Lloyd, headed to either the Philippines or Taiwan for repairs and they hope to be ready for the in-port race in Qingdao on 7 February or the start of stage five a week later.

That leg is the longest of the race - at 12,300 nautical miles - and will entail the skippers navigating their boats around Cape Horn as they sail from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

The 10-leg race is scheduled to finish in St Petersburg in June 2009.

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