Deciding the Volvo Open 70 looked like a comfortable place to spend a few hours of downtime, a bat chose to rest its weary wings on Azzam’s big black mainsail.
“He joined us this morning, I think he got blown offshore,” skipper Ian Walker told “He basically attached himself to the mainsail and has survived a few tacks up there. He fell asleep on the reef point, and has been there for five or six hours.”
Despite being locked in a duel with CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand just a mile ahead, Walker said his team would take care of their visitor.
“I think he likes our black sails and Azzam’s falcon,” Walker added. “We will try and deliver him back towards shore tonight.” volvooceanrace.com
Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing have been fighting to close down the leading pack and get back in contention as the fleet negotiate the congested and unpredictable Malacca Strait.
Their efforts were dealt a frustrating blow this morning however when they had to drop their code zero headsail after discovering a mysterious tear in the massive sail when the sun came up this morning.
The sail was quickly pulled to the deck to avoid the rip getting any bigger before a posse of sailors including a concerned looking skipper Ian Walker assembled on the foredeck to assess the damage.
Happily for the Azzam crew the damage could be fixed on deck, without the aid of a sewing machine. After first drying and cleaning the area around the tear, the crew glued patches to both sides of the sail and, after checking for any other signs of wear, the code zero was soon re-hoisted and pulling.
Soon after, bowman Justin Slattery was hoisted up the mast to check on how the repair was holding up and to tidy up a loose edge on one side of the patch.
Walker said he was unsure how the sail had been damaged but suspected it may have snagged on the stiffening battens in one of the other headsails during a tacking maneuver during the night.
At the 1900 UTC position report Abu Dhabi remained in fifth place but had made some inroads on the leaders, reducing their deficit by 4 nautical miles (nm) to 36 nm.
Persico Marine is looking to recruit highly qualified boat builders for its growing activities. Prospective candidates should meet the following requirements:
Minimum of 5 years' experience in prepreg, infusion techniques
Punctual and focused
Ability to contribute to a highly skilled building team
Great attention to detail
Ability to read construction drawings
EU work permit preferred.
Work to be carried out in Bergamo in Northern Italy.
Remuneration package depending upon experience.
Candidates should forward their Curriculum Vitae to marine@persico.com
Alicante, Spain Keep up to date with all the action during the Leg 1 race start. Zinedine Zidane joined the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing team on board their racing yacht Azzam at the start of the Volvo Ocean Race on Saturday, surviving a wet and wild inshore course, with winds gusting up to 30 knots, before jumping off backwards into the Mediterranean. Zidane later joined the team for the start of Leg 1 of the Volvo Ocean Race, which began with a fast and furious race close to the shore, where 60,000 fans were gathered.
... I’m very proud of building such an extreme yacht on a practically impossible time schedule and supplying such a superior quality product. I thank everyone who believed in Persico, particularly Jason and Ian, two highly experienced people who made a great contribution. I thank everyone who collaborated on this project, working nights and holidays to have the best possible entry for the 2011-2012 Volvo Ocean Race. I still experience the feeling of excitement when I think about the final negotiations at Abu Dhabi in August 2010, where it was over 40° Centigrade and we couldn’t even eat or drink because it was Ramadan. I feel a sense of belonging to a team and, when the yacht won the Rolex Fastnet race in August 2011, I felt I was just one piece of the puzzle. There were so many variables, and so many people were responsible for the victory — the designers, builders, suppliers, sailing team and clients. My thanks to all of you.
Persico is proud to have manufactured the boat, which beat 314 challengers in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Congratulations to skipper Ian Walker and the crew of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing´s VO70, Azzam, on their Rolex Fastnet Race win and new monohull course record. They took one hour and 39 minutes off the previous record set by the Farr 100, ICAP Leopard in 2007.After a fierce fight with Groupama 4, the standard-bearer hull of the Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing won the race and the challenge among the boats of the Volvo Ocean Race, setting a new record for monohulls at the Rolex Fastnet Race.Weather conditions with a strong wind and rough sea were ideal for VO70. As soon as he landed, Ian Walker could fully taste the victory in this “race in the race” as well as the new record, but even more he could appreciate the outstanding performance of Azzam, the hull manufactured by the company Persico in Nembro (Bg –Italy). The struggle for victory among the teams of the Volvo Ocean Race was hard from the beginning to the end. The boats faced very difficult conditions at very high sailing speeds, much over 25 knots.
