Team Vestas Wind\u2019s (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) incredible journey to re-join the Volvo Ocean Race was nearing its final lap on Friday when the rebuilt Vestas Wind emerged out of the Persico boatyard ready for the trip to Lisbon (full story below).<\/p>\n
– Rebuilt \u2018wreck\u2019 emerges from Persico yard<\/p>\n
– Skipper Nicholson acknowledges ‘huge effort\u2019<\/p>\n
– Thrilling mid-Atlantic battle to clinch Leg 7<\/p>\n
– Keep up with Vestas Wind’s journey to Lisbon<\/p>\n
– Follow all the action on and off water here<\/p>\n
ALICANTE, Spain, May 22 \u2013 Team Vestas Wind\u2019s (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) incredible journey to re-join the Volvo Ocean Race was nearing its final lap on Friday when the rebuilt Vestas Wind emerged out of the Persico boatyard ready for the trip to Lisbon.<\/p>\n
Australian skipper Nicholson hailed the return to the event as \u2018a modern day miracle\u2019 after the team\u2019s Volvo Ocean 65 smashed into an Indian Ocean reef on November 29 during Leg 2, and was initially considered a write-off.<\/p>\n
In a huge logistic operation managed by GAC Pindar, the boat was skilfully hoisted off the rock and coral reef on to a Maersk Line ship, and transported via Malaysia to Perisco\u2019s yard in Bergamo, Italy, for a rebuild.<\/p>\n
The team had long planned their target to be on the start line of Leg 8 departure on June 7 from Lisbon to Lorient, France.<\/p>\n
It was always, however, a very ambitious goal.<\/p>\n
A full build of a new Volvo Ocean 65 takes around eight months to complete \u2013 the transformation of Vestas Wind from a wreck to a fully-compliant, one-design, race boat for the world\u2019s leading offshore race, has taken four months.<\/p>\n
The boat\u2019s emergence into the Italian sunlight on Friday, ahead of its loading onto a truck for a midnight start to the journey to Lisbon, was witnessed by Nicholson.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good to be on the move. We\u2019re getting out of here. It\u2019s the right time. We\u2019re one day in front of schedule and hopefully we have a faster shipping time, which might actually mean one or two extra days out on the water before our start in Lisbon. So it\u2019s all good,\u201d Nicholson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou think of the journey everyone has been on since the reef and to be here with a boat functioning, ready to go, is a huge achievement for everyone. There were so many things along the way that almost stopped us completely.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s effectively a new boat. There were some old bits from our previous boat \u2013 I\u2019m still not sure what to call it. I don\u2019t know whether it\u2019s our \u2018new boat\u2019 or our \u2018old boat\u2019. I guess it\u2019s going to be a combination of the both.\u201d<\/p>\n
He paid handsome tribute to the workers of Persico for completing the mission of returning the smashed boat to the start line in such a short period of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had sat back at the start and looked at it on paper, you wouldn\u2019t have taken it on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersico were taking on risk to do this project. I take my hat off to them for what they\u2019ve done. They\u2019ve made a modern-day miracle. It\u2019s a huge, huge effort from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout these guys, it wouldn\u2019t have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team plan to transport the boat by ship and truck to Lisbon by midweek in time to reunite with the rest of the fleet, which is expected to arrive in the Portuguese capital around May 27.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in mid-Atlantic, any one of the six boats in the racing fleet could be first into port after the thrilling, 2,800-nautical mile (nm) Leg 7 from Newport, Rhode Island, which has been contested head-to-head so far.<\/p>\n
At 1244 UTC on Friday, Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier\/FRA) held a tiny 0.9nm lead over MAPFRE (Iker Mart\u00ednez\/ESP). Team Brunel (Bouwe Bekking\/NED), Team Alvimedica (Charlie Enright\/USA), overall race leaders Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker\/GBR) and Team SCA (Sam Davies\/GBR) were all right on their heels (see panel above).<\/p>\n
Later on Friday, the fleet faced a key decision on how to deal with the Azores High. Most of the weather models showed that a northern course would pay in terms of more wind, but the southern route was more direct to Lisbon.<\/p>\n
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, protecting a six-point lead over Dongfeng Race Team in the overall leaderboard after six legs, will be tempted to play safe and stay with the main pack.<\/p>\n
via Bon voyage, Vestas Wind!| Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Team Vestas Wind\u2019s (Chris Nicholson\/AUS) incredible journey to re-join the Volvo Ocean Race was nearing its final lap on Friday when the rebuilt Vestas Wind emerged out of the Persico boatyard ready for the trip to Lisbon (full story below). … Continue reading