Groupama wins Lisbon Oeiras In-Port Race

As Telefonica bring up the rear for the fourth time

Groupama extended its overall lead to eight points after they won the Volvo Ocean Race's Oeiras In-Port Race today, while closest challengers on the leaderboard, Telefónica, endured another in-port race day they'd rather forget.

Racing was held on Lisbon's Tagus river in a 15 knot southwesterly, with a narrow 11.6 mile long course taking the six VO70s beneath the magnificent Vasco da Gama bridge.

The atmosphere was tense from before the start-gun and as soon as it fired Telefónica and Puma engaged in an aggressive downwind match race. During this the Spanish boat luffed Puma and were penalised after the umpires ruled they had failed to sail a proper course and had to complete a penalty turn.

Meanwhile the fleet took off in a 16 knot southwesterly in flat seas powered by their massive spinnakers. The lead changed three times during the first of the four legs before Groupama rounded the top mark in first place just seven seconds ahead of Camper, 18 seconds ahead of Abu Dhabi, followed by Puma, Sanya and Telefónica.

Groupama continued to lead while Puma edged into second place ahead of Camper, followed by Abu Dhabi, Sanya and Telefónica as the fleet rounded the second mark, where the course was shortened.

Telefónica’s woes continued in the third leg when their masthead halyard broke, unexpectedly dumping their spinnaker into the water, while Sanya intentionally dumped theirs overboard after their halyard lock failed to operate at the top of the mast.

The positions, however, remained unchanged with Groupama cruising to their second in-port victory, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Puma.

“This is a good moment for us,” Cammas said. "It’s above what we expected at the start in Alicante so we’re going to enjoy it. We will try to do the best possible and will just see what happens in the next leg, but for sure we are going to enjoy this moment."

Puma's Ken Read commented: “Groupama aren’t showing too many chinks in their armour right now. They’re sailing very, very well and had a great start. We’ve got to get a little bit better but we’re getting there. But Groupama are not going to be feeling very secure up there, they know there’s a lot of racing left. There’s still a couple of guys crawling around where we are too, so we need to just keep doing well, keep doing the right thing, and hopefully good things will happen."

Once ashore the Telefonica versus Puma contra-tent ended up before the international jury, who concurred with the umpires' ruling. 

The Spanish team's rules adviser Luis Sáenz Mariscal gave his view: “What the umpire is saying is that we infringed Rule 17 which says that if an overlap occurs from clear astern you mustn't sail above your proper course. My conclusion is that the umpires have made a serious error here and confused a leeward tack by Puma to hoist the spinnaker with a luff by Telefónica.

“They say that out on the water they saw a luff by Telefónica which meant that they weren't able to keep clear of Puma, but the reality is that in cases like these, the rules are structured in a very simple fashion. There is a basic rule, which is the windward-leeward rule. Leeward has the right of way over windward. We were leeward and Puma was windward. Puma had to keep clear and they did absolutely nothing to keep clear. Then there are a series of limitations which state that we can't luff too forcefully, that we can't sail above our proper course... but these are exceptions applied in case of doubt and in this case Puma did nothing to keep clear and there was a moment where they did not halt the hoisting of the spinnaker and it touched our shrouds”.

However the jury's decision is final and Spanish team will go back to proving themselves on the water.

Oeiras In-Port Race results:
1st, Groupama sailing team - 6 points, 61:22
2nd, Puma Ocean Racing - 5 points, 61:44
3rd, Camper - 4 points, 62:30
4th, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing - 3 points, 63:08
5th, Team Sanya - 2 points, 64:50
6th, Team Telefónica - 1 point, 65:39

Overall points