20 Mar 2012

Camper second as boats take a battering on leg five

6:21 am on 20 March 2012

After a brutal first 36 hours of strong headwinds and pounding waves Telefonica lead leg five of the Volvo Ocean race from Auckland to Brazil with Team New Zealand entry Camper in second.

Overall race leaders Telefónica have a 14 nautical mile advantage over the New Zealanders with Groupama third a further 14 nm back.

Puma is in fourth with Sanya fifth ahead of Abu Dhabi who re-joined the race after having to return to Auckland to repair boat damage.

To ensure the boats are kept clear of the risk of ice on Leg 5 race organisers are using satellite imaging to monitor fleet's likely path and when necessary adjust the position of the waypoints which define the ice exclusion zone.

Overnight satellite images revealed possible iceberg 'targets' outside the exclusion zone and accordingly shifted a waypoint north.

This altered the distance to finish calculation for the fleet but did not affect the leg standings.