Telefonica Blue, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) are first through the scoring gate of Fernando de Noronha at 19:58:56 GMT 16/04/09, securing 4 points, on of leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston. Image copyright Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Bouwe Bekking (skipper)
The second time in a row to be first boat at Fernando de Noronha, and it was a little less stressful than last time, when we just pipped ABN AMRO ONE. But the rounding didn't come easy, heavy squalls accompanied us, and 10 miles before the gate the breeze dropped from 23 knots to 3 knots.
[SailRaceWin: Bouwe is referring to the 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race in the paragraph above, when his boat, Movistar, was first to the same gate. Telefonica Blue was fifth at this scoring gate on leg 1 of the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race.]
S"*T was the first reaction, but we made again the right call on the sail choice and soon we were off again. We rounded just before it became dark, in huge rain squall, so visibility was reduced, but we had glimpse of the island.
Just had a short chat with Tom Addis (navigator) to reflect on the first part, and we can't see where we made any mistakes, plus of course the boat has done a good job for us. When it became tight we managed to pull away again. So we are all happy to have beaten Ericsson 4. Let’s see if we can keep going like this until the finish............which is still long away.
Volvo Ocean Race
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