Back afloat

movistar follows the ABN AMRO boats back into the water

movistar is back in the water in the port of Melbourne (Australia), where it arrived on 22 January after finishing third in the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. This last week, the movistar shore crew have been in constant action conducting an exhaustive review of the Spanish boat, changing the hydraulics of the keel and repairing the parts that have suffered damage in the 6,100 miles of tough sailing from Cape Town, South Africa.

“Once again, we are back on the established programme," says Pedro Campos, the team's General Manager. "Starting training on Wednesday means that we will have three days to prepare next Saturday’s inshore race. Our objective for this race remains the same: to win as many points as possible and try to reduce our deficit on the two boats that are ahead of us in the overall results”.

movistar has now been weighed in, an operation required by the organisers to check that the boat is still below the maximum authorised weight of 14 tonnes - after the repairs have been done. The added weight of the steel hydraulics that have replaced the titanium ones in movistar has meant that the team has had to reduce the weight of the bulb on the keel to meet the VO70 rule restrictions for the competition.

“At weigh in, we saw that we were 5kg over the maximum weight allowed by the organisers," confessed skipper Bouwe Bekking (there is a 30kg tolerance on the 14 tonne maximum weight. "Such a small amount represents a mere 0.03 percent of the total weight of the boat, so you could say that we have adjusted the weight really well. Anyway, this discrepancy means that we have had to reduce the weight of the boat by another 5kg before putting it back in the water. Once it was readjusted, we were within the limits and we can sail again”.

movistar entered the water of Melbourne harbour around 8 pm local time tonight. Pepe Ribes, bowman in the Spanish VO70, tells us about the operation and about the programme to follow: “The first thing after stepping the mast was to check that the keel hydraulics were working. Early Wednwesday morning, we will conduct a more detailed system check to move the keel before the first training session. The idea is to set off about 11am and sail for about four hours. Basically, we will train for next Saturday’s inshore in the regatta waters, checking sails and that everything is perfect”.

Having several Australians aboard in this race will be an asset for movistar, as Xabi Fernandez pointed out this morning: “Both Spike [Peter Doriean] and Nitro [Noel Drennan] live and sail in Melbourne, so they know these waters well. Their local knowledge will undoubtedly be a great help in the inshore”.

Helping out

Parts of the titanium hydraulics discarded by the team have been in the Pirates of the Caribbean base since this morning, as Fred Barret, manager of the movistar shore team, points out: “They asked us if they could use the parts of the hydraulic arms that we are not going to use, for their hydraulic system, and, of course, we said 'yes'. We are not sure if they will finally be of any good to them, but if they can put them to better use than us, then go ahead”.