Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race
It's no use trying to hide it, the fact is we are competitors in the Jules Verne Trophy. If an opening presents itself, it's highly likely that we'll set off in convoy ...
Saturday 23 January 2010, 13:30 GMT
NEWS ROUND-UP
While British pair Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson won the Star World Championships in Rio, there was a lengthy queue of Volvo sailors lined up behind them in the final overall standings.
A record 81 teams, representing 20 countries contested the event on the waters near Guanabara, Rio de Janerio, site of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race port stopover and in-port race series.
Torben Grael, the race-winning skipper on Ericsson 4 in 2008-09, and long time Olympic partner Marcelo Ferreira took the bronze medal behind the Swiss team of Flavio Marazzi and Enrico De Maria.
Grael and Ferreira were team-mates on Brasil 1 in the 2005-06 Volvo while Ferreira was recruited as an in-port specialist by Delta Lloyd in 2008-09.
Grael was delighted with the result. "We are very happy because our goal was to be in the top 10 and third place is an excellent result," he said.
"I am very glad with our performance. It was a wonderful way to get back into the Star with a third at the South Americans and a third at the worlds. There is such a high level of competition locally and it is fun for all of us. The races are always difficult and we are always pushing one another.
"We had very little time to train before the tournament and we grew throughout the competition. We will continue our Star sailing until the Pre-Olympic event in Brasilia, in February, and perhaps participate in the Bacardi Cup in Miami."
Torben secured bragging rights in the Grael family by finishing just one place ahead of brother Lars and crew Ronald Seifert in the final standings. Fellow Volvo veteran Alan Adler (Brasil 1) was fifth with Sweden's Freddie Loof (Amer Sports One, 2001-02, Pirates of the Caribbean 2005-06) and Norwegian Eivind Melleby (Ericsson 3, 2008-09) seventh and eighth respectively.
Further Volvo representation came in the shape of 13th-placed Juan Kouyoumdjian (right), better known as the designer of the successful ABN AMRO and Ericsson campaigns in the last two Volvo Ocean Races.
Spain's Fernando Echavarri (movistar 2005-06, Telefonica Black 2008-09) was 33rd with Horacio Carabelli (Brasil 1, Ericsson 4) in 40th place.
The victory places Percy alongside Torben Grael, Mark Reynolds, Bill Buchan, Jr, Lowell North, and Agostino Straulino as a Star skipper who has won an Olympic gold medal and multiple Star world championship titles.
Groupama 3 counting down
Frenchman Franck Cammas and the crew of the maxi trimaran Groupama 3 are in Brest preparing for a second attempt at the Jules Verne Trophy.
The team's previous challenge was abandoned in November after the boat sustained damage while heading towards the Cape of Good Hope. After repairs in Cape Town, she returned to her home port of Lorient. She arrived in Brest two days's ago.
"Being back in the port of Brest brings back some good memories and, most importantly, it means that we're ready to set off around the world, the start line isn't far off," said Cammas.
"All we have to do now is wait for the right weather window. Last November, the start phase was rather rough, I don't think we could have had anything more muscly to traverse the Bay of Biscay. Let's hope it'll be calmer for this latest attempt."
Several weather windows are opening over the next few days with the chance to hook onto some favourable tradewinds off the Canaries.
"We can then link onto a system which enables us to keep up a good pace once we've crossed the equator," says Cammas.
"There are some opportunities over the next few days, but they're not good enough for the time being, even though the weather situation is evolving quickly right now. There are also some openings next week.
"We're on the lookout, especially as our deadline is looming. We've decided to halt our stand-by period at the start of February."
Cammas is also well aware of the presence of another trimaran straining at her mooring nearby in Brest. Banque Populaire V has been in position for some weeks awaiting the green light.
"It's no use trying to hide it, we're competitors in the Jules Verne Trophy and nobody's really showing their true intentions," he said. It's evident that if an opening presents itself, it's highly likely that we'll set off in convoy."
Cammas will lead a Groupama campaign for the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Yvan Zedda/Groupam