Tuesday, July 8, 2008

2,000 mile sprint...



Photo Maria Muina/Equipo Telefonica
[VOR] The two Spanish boats in the 2008-09 race have embarked on their 2,000-mile offshore qualification run.

The Farr-designed Volvo Open 70s – Telefonica Black and Telefonica Blue – departed their home base of Alicante with a full complement of crew members on board. Only the Spanish team’s Olympians, preparing for the Games in Qingdao, were absent.

The team’s Technical and Sports Director Bouwe Bekking outlined the objectives they have set for the seven - eight day trip and gave details of the route the boats will follow.

“The idea of doing these 2,000 miles is to meet the requirement of the race organization and also because it is a great opportunity for offshore testing,” Bekking said.

"We will do as much testing as possible. Both boats will be sailing together whenever the conditions will be good for testing. Otherwise we will just sail and meet each other at some point along the way. Read more...