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Photo: Hamish Hooper/Camper ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race |
Hooper said the continuing tough conditions made spending time on the wave swept deck an unappealing prospect.
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Photo: Hamish Hooper/Camper ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race |
“I guess they were feeling a bit like me, having mentally left the harsh cold conditions of the Southern Ocean behind last night, but having to continue dealing with them today.”
While the conditions onboard are anything but comfortable skipper Chris Nicholson said they were a good test for the structural repairs carried out by the shore crew at the Chilean port of Puerto Montt earlier this month.
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Photo: Hamish Hooper/Camper ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race |
Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante said the team could expect conditions to ease slightly over the next 24 hours but added the low in the south was likely to give rise to a trough in the South Atlantic and could require CAMPER to make a choice on how to negotiate it.
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Photo: Hamish Hooper/Camper ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race |
“Depending on how quickly the trough moves east, CAMPER could be faced with a decision in the next 24 hours on whether or not they divert west around the trough.”
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Photo: Hamish Hooper/Camper ETNZ/Volvo Ocean Race |
Meanwhile in Itajaí, the shore crews of the three teams who already completed Leg 5 have had to cope with sweltering heat as they work steadily through their jobs lists to get their boats into racing trim as soon as possible.
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Photo: Ian Roman/Volvo Ocean Race |
“It was unloaded off the plane during the night, loaded on a truck and is due to arrive in the middle of the afternoon,” he said. “We are looking forward to getting it in front of our base, unpacking it and putting it together.”
Wright said he was confident the operation to fit out the new spar would be completed in the next couple of days despite requiring some painstaking work.
“It is a first generation mast but there are not many differences,” he said. “We need to go through the process of putting it all together and checking everything over.
“There is a lot of work and a lot of details which just soak up time so it will take a couple of days, but we have that time before the boat goes in the water so there is no rush or panic on it.”
Already in Itajaí ahead of the arrival of their boat by cargo ship, the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing shore crew were today preparing the ground for critical repair work. Latest estimates suggest Azzam will arrive in Itajaí on the evening of April 18, just two days before the Itajaí In-Port Race.
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Volvo Ocean Race Media
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