ITAJAI, Brazil, April 6 (Reuters) – American Ken Read
secured one of the greatest wins of his long career by edging
out Olympic gold medallist Iker Martinez by only 12 minutes in
the treacherous Volvo Ocean Race fifth leg on Friday.
Five of the six-strong fleet had to make repairs during the
7,500-nautical mile leg and nearly 20 days of sailing, including
Martinez’s Telefonica which needed 17 hours on Cape Horn to
patch up a damaged hull.
The Spanish boat, though, still closed to within striking
distance of 50-year-old Read’s Puma.
Despite seeing his lead over the Spaniards whittled down
from more than 400 nautical miles to just a few metres over the
last 24 hours, Read kept his nerve to collect 30 points in the
leg from Auckland to Itajai and Puma now lie second overall.
The victory marked an extraordinary comeback for the skipper
after his boat suffered a broken mast in the first leg in the
middle of the Atlantic and forced his boat out of that stage
from Alicante (Spain) to Cape Town.
“I’ve never done such a tough offshore leg in my life. We
ran out of food a day and a half ago,” said Read after winning
by 12 minutes 38 seconds.
“It’s been pretty intense. Our hearts go out to the crews
who have suffered damage. We know what that’s like and it’s even
worse when it’s in a place like the Southern Ocean.”
The fifth leg through the Southern Ocean and around the
notoriously unpredictable Cape Horn lived up to expectations
that it would be the toughest of the 39,000-nautical mile,
nine-month marathon, with 90kph winds and eight-metre waves
pounding the fleet.
Long-time leg leaders Groupama of France joined a lengthy
casualty list when their mast snapped after crashing off a giant
wave with 650 nautical miles left.
Continued…
