ABN Amro One and ABN Amro Two at the strat from Melbourne

photo http://teamabnamro.com

A spectacular fly-by was performed by the RAAF Roulettes and shortly after the start gun was fired by the Minister for Tourism, Mr John Pandazopoulos, from the historic tall ship ‘Enterprize’.

The Spanish entry movistar, skippered by Bouwe Bekking (NED) was the first boat to hoist a spinnaker in the 10-12 northerly winds and take an early lead followed by Paul Cayard’s (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean and five times Olympic medallist Torben Grael (BRA) skippering Brasil 1.

It was a game of cat and mouse as the boats headed down, under spinnaker, to the first mark off Mornington. Pirates of the Caribbean was the first to pick up a gust of wind and shot away doing 20 knots from the fleet, closely followed by Brasil 1, Neal McDonald’s (GBR) Ericsson and overall leader ABN AMRO ONE skippered by New Zealander Mike Sanderson.

As the boats progressed down Port Phillip Bay the wind started to drop below ten knots and the fleet bunched up, spreading out into one long line across the bay. The Farr designed Volvo Open 70s showed good form in the light airs, pulling away from the broader Juan Kouyoumdjian designed ABN AMRO boats.

In the lighter airs, Brasil 1 managed to put her nose out front, commanding a small lead over Ericsson, movistar and Pirates of the Caribbean.

Within two hours of the start, the fleet completely slowed up and at the moment it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top at the Mornington mark which is approximately 8 nautical miles away.

Once the boats manage to get through Port Phillip Heads they will encounter descent winds which will help them on their 1,450 nautical mile journey to New Zealand.

Glenn Bourke, Chief Executive of the Volvo Ocean Race commented : “The gods have smiled on Melbourne today. In return for the wonderful job that they have done throughout the stopover, the sun was shining and there was a beautiful offshore breeze. The fleet charged off the start line with their spinnakers up, as up to a thousand spectator boats flanked these racing machines down Port Phillip Bay towards the Heads and on to Wellington.”

 Mike Sanderson - ABN AMRO One : “We have had a great stop over and enjoyed being in Melbourne but we are now looking forward to the next stage of this race. There are a lot of points up for grabs in this next leg. To get it wrong, if we break on our way to Wellington and struggle to make the restart, suddenly you stand to lose 17 points, which would definitely put us down the pack. We’ve got to get this thing there in one piece, if that means we have to sail conservatively then that is what we will aim for. For sure the forecast could mean a record Record #sailingrecord breaking run at some point but we, and I think most of the other boats, are set up for Rio so we are going to be a bit heavy. That said if it all sets up you will just be on your way. It is going to be interesting as the records have always fallen when there is no one else immediately around but tonight, who knows what will happen when people start pushing hard because there are guys right beside them. Hopefully it won’t be like the first night out of Vigo. The shore crew and the team have all worked hard to get the boats looking as great as they do today so we are now looking forward to getting to New Zealand, for half of us on ABN AMRO ONE we are sailing home.”

 Simon Fisher, navigator on ABN AMRO TWO : “The forecast has been changing constantly. At one stage it was only looking like we would arrive just before the restart. Luckily over the last few days it has settled down a bit but the front that is scheduled to go through tonight is going to be exciting to say the least. There is 20-30 knots forecast and that could easily turn to 30 - 40 our weather experts tell us. Gusts of 40 - 45 knots wouldn’t be any big surprise. So, for us this means that we have to sail sensibly and keep the boat together. We’ll treat this leg more like an inshore than any of the other legs and make sure we are all settled and get there in one piece.”

 Tom Braidwood - Ericsson (AUS) : "It’s been a hard stopover with a lot of work to do on the boat and a bit of disappointment with the in-port race. But we’re certainly happy with the boat’s performance and looking forward to a wet and wild ride to Wellington. Our boat’s a bit of a submarine so I’ll get my harness and my helmet out and see what happens."

 Steve Hayles -Ericsson (GBR) : "The stopover in Melbourne was fantastic, we had a great time. Now we look forward to getting back out there and getting our boat racing. We’ve really got the bit between our teeth now."