27 Dec 2011

Camper pipped for honours on leg two of Volvo Ocean Race

7:02 pm on 27 December 2011

After 16 days at sea the Team New Zealand boat Camper has been squeezed out of first place by just one minute and 57 seconds in a thrilling finish to stage one of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The final 24 hours came down to an intense match race between the New Zealanders and Telefonica with the boats sailing in sight of each other and often only 100 metres apart.

The lead was exchanged several times in a back and forth battle but Telefonica scorched into the lead with just eight nautical miles remaining to win.

The Camper skipper Chris Nicholson was dejected but humble in defeat.

Camper takes 20 points for second place in the first of a two-stage leg from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi while Telefonica takes 24 points for coming in first.

The overall leaderboard sees Telefonica top with 61 points, followed by Camper on 54.

Camper were set to protest Telefonica over an incident towards the end of the race where the Spaniards failed to respond as required by race rules to a luffing manoeuvre from Camper forcing them to bear away in order to avoid a collision.

The finish line was set at an undisclosed destination or 'point a' to protect the six-boat fleet from pirate activity.

The boats are being shipped to a point off the Sharjah coastline in the northern United Arab Emirates in time to start a short day-long sprint to Abu Dhabi in early January.