SANYA, China (AP) — Race leader Telefonica of Spain stamped its dominance on the Volvo Ocean Race by winning Saturday’s in-port race in China despite having spent the previous two days changing the boat’s rigging.
World sailor of the year Iker Martinez and his crew sat out practice races on Thursday and Friday while his shore team hastily replaced the rigging after they found it failed to reach the correct tension.
With Leg 4 to Auckland in New Zealand approaching and a forecast of gale-force winds and 30-foot waves, Martinez said the team could not afford to take any chances with its rigging, so decided on the eleventh-hour switch.
Telefonica still won the in-port event by 41 seconds over America’s Puma, opening an 18-point lead in the standings.
