Three out of three for Team Telefónica

 

Team Telefónica are clearly dominating in this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race and have now bagged three victories in a row in the round the world regatta with a full crew, something which hadn't happened since Sir Peter Blake's Steinlager 2 took a whopping six wins out of six legs in the 1989-1990 edition of what was then know as the Whitbread Round the World Race. The Spanish team, with three skippers from the previous edition of the Barcelona World Race on board: Iker Martínez, Xabi Fernández and Pepe Ribes, were awarded the trophy in Sanya (China) by Executive Vice President of Volvo Group Trucks Joint Ventures, Pär Östberg, who was joined by Caspar Luyten, CEO of Telefónica Asia. 

 

Team Telefónica's victory in this third leg was yet again achieved with brilliance and it showcased the very high level of this Spanish team who, despite there being a lot of racing still to go are becoming ever the favourites for final overall victory. 

 

In Sanya, Xabi Fernández was clearly satisfied with how the race went and with the performance of both the boat and the crew.  Xabi, who came second in the previous edition of the Barcelona World Race alongside fellow Team Telefónica member and skipper Iker Martínez on board MAPFRE, made some comparisons between the two experiences: "The Barcelona World Race has a very significant adventure component to it, whilst the Volvo Ocean Race is more competitive in that you have to push a lot faster as you are with a crew of eleven but there's less of an element of adventure to the regatta.  To be successful in the Barcelona World Race you have to perform well across the board and for us it was a great experience which taught us so many things and made us better seamen. We've been able to apply all of that to the Volvo and to being better sailors".

 

Pepe Ribes was also overjoyed about the leg win and he made some similar comparisons with the Barcelona World Race to Xabi's: "To take on the Barcelona World Race you need to feel able to go around the world without stopping: that's fundamental, whilst in the Volvo, with ten fellow crew members and the stopovers the pressure of the competition is greater. There's also a big difference when it comes to responsibilities on board: in the Barcelona World Race you need to know how to do everything and in the Volvo those responsibilities are divided across specialist members of the crew. In other words any Barcelona World Race skipper could take on a Volvo but not every crew member of a Volvo could take on a Barcelona World Race, just like that. In a Volvo you always work under the pressure that comes with having a crew around you but in the Barcelona World Race with just two of you, the only pressure is the pressure you apply to yourself and when you're manoeuvring you've got the autopilot on. The way you prepare and push the boats is different too: in the Barcelona World Race any damage of breakage is much more serious as it's a three month race and there are only two of you on board, so the boat preparation is very important and then there is also the question of carefully dosing the strain you put the equipment under; in a Volvo the boat is checked over at every stopover and you have more resources on board for repairs. None of the Volvo boats could take three months straight of racing at that pace".