Delta Lloyd during the In-Port Race in Stockholm. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Diana Bogaards
On Sunday June 21, Team Delta Lloyd finished sixth at the In-Port Race in Stockholm/Sweden. The Dutch entry, skippered by Roberto Bermúdez de Castro (ESP), started strongly by rounding the first top mark in third position. However, a few bad maneuvers on the downwind resulted in a last position on the finish line. A more difficult second start, followed by a good gibe set brought the NED 1 in fifth place. Dutch Skipper Bouwe Bekking and his crew did an incredible job by winning the leader board of today's In-Port Races onboard of their repaired Telefonica Blue. Although the weather forecast was not really positive about the wind conditions, the sea breeze of 10-12 knots did fill in.
" We were third at the top mark, but we did a bad hoist and we got in complicated situations with other boats", said André Fonseca (BRA). Telefonica Black rolled the Delta Lloyd and gave them bad air. "We tried to do something different and gibed more, but it was not good. We did some bad maneuvers in the first downwind." Trimmer Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) adds: "That is how we put our tactician Andre Fonseca into troubles for getting the tactics and timing right." A seventh position was the result.
After the second start, Delta Lloyd was battling it out with Puma. Fonseca: "They were a little bit faster than us, so we were sixth at the upwind mark, immediately followed by a gibe set." Delta Lloyd crossed in front of Green Dragon and moved up to a fifth place. "We could have done better, but not much. We need a bit more speed in the range of 10-13 knots of breeze. It is hard on such a short course. Sometimes we just don't have the pace to cross a boat."
Delta Lloyd during the In-Port Race in Stockholm. Image copyright Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race.
110%
Fonseca joined Team Delta Lloyd in Singapore. It was a long road, but especially since the stopover in Rio de Janeiro the crew's performances have improved. Fonseca: "I am happy with our progress. When I started, they had always finished last in In-Port Races. I think we changed a lot and trained more. With our first generation VO70, we need to perform 110 percent to be ahead of the others. We always have to sail perfectly or we need to be lucky. That is very hard, but I am happy. We are constantly fighting and close to the competitors. We are there. We just need a little bit more speed. That makes life a lot easier."
On Thursday June 25, the final starting gun of this Volvo Ocean Race will be fired for the tenth leg to St. Petersburg.
Stockholm In-Port Race Results (Provisional)
1. Telefónica Blue 4.0 points
2. PUMA 3.5 points
3. Telefónica Black 3.0 points
4. Ericsson 4 2.5 points
5. Ericsson 3 2 .0 points
6. Delta Lloyd 1.5 points
7. Green Dragon 1.0 points
Team Delta Lloyd
Volvo Ocean Race
No comments:
Post a Comment