Spain’s Telefonica Blue rebounded after an accident last week to win an in-port regatta on Sunday in Stockholm in the Volvo round-the-world race.
However, the four points it gained are unlikely to be enough to see it snatch second place from US entry Puma Ocean Racing when the event concludes later this month.
The Spaniards can only take the second spot behind overall winners Ericsson 4 in the unlikely event that Puma is forced to withdraw from the 10th and final stage from Stockholm to St Petersburg, Russia, which is worth seven points to the winner.
Sweden’s Ericsson 4 sealed its overall victory on June 15 by finishing third in the ninth stage from Marstrand in Sweden to Stockholm, leaving it with an unassailable lead, and most interest is now focused on who will come second.
Telefonica Blue ran aground on a rock as the yachts left Marstrand on June 14 and resumed the stage three days later after undergoing repairs.
On Sunday, it beat Puma into second place in the in-port regatta, held in glorious sunshine and watched by hundreds of spectator boats.
“I think this has been a victory born of rage,” Telefonica Blue’s co-skipper Iker Martinez said. “We are all very happy after a difficult week.”
Puma Ocean Racing skipper Ken Read said the team was happy to have now virtually secured second place overall in the race.
“We went out there with one goal and one goal only today, to either get ourselves ahead of Telefonica Blue for the day, or finish within one place,” he said. “What that would do is virtually lock up second place overall in the race. For the first time in our lives, getting on the podium wasn’t that important. Being within one place of Telefonica Blue was.”
The Volvo race began in the Spanish Mediterranean port of Alicante in October and the yachts will have covered 10 stages over 68,500km when it concludes in St Petersburg late this month.
The organizers yesterday were set to unveil new rules for the 2011-2012 edition of the event to make it shorter, more competitive and less costly, in order to attract more entries.
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