equipo telefonica

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] Bouwe Bekking’s men have completed repairs to their damaged steering system are back on the race track, where overnight, the fleet compressed heading into the Atlantic.The Telefonica Blue crew raised their mainsail at 06:17 GMT and the team proceeded to their last racing position where they resumed racing at 06:53 after serving their minimum 12 hour pit stop penalty."The problem is absolutely fixed, we’re back up and running," said skipper Bouwe Bekking as his...

[Source: Volvo Ocena Race] Telefonica Blue is hugging the coast of Spain after being slowed by steering damage on their Volvo Open 70 soon after the start of the 2008-09 race.Skipper Bouwe Bekking had been jostling for the lead with PUMA and the Ericsson duo as the eight boats left the start line in Alicante Bay in 20-25 knots.Just 20 miles into the first leg to Cape Town as the fleet drag raced to the Straits of Gibraltar, Bekking reported to race headquarters in Portsmouth that they had...

The Telefonica Team has published a 5-minute video from today's race start in Alicante that gives a good idea of the tough conditions that prevail throughout most of the southern part of the Iberian peninsula, from Valencia all the way down to Gibraltar. According to the local unscientific TV weather forecast, crews should expect up to 60 knots of breeze in the Strait. The video is obviously biased towards the two local Spanish boats.

[Source: Volvo Ocean Race] The two Telefónica team boats have been christened by Spanish royalty during a ceremony at the team base in Alicante, Spain, the start port for the Volvo Ocean Race.The Telefónica Blue boat, with a crew led by Iker Martinez, was christened by H.R.M. Elena, while Telefónica Black, with Fernando Echavarri in charge of a predominantly Spanish team, was blessed by H.R.M. Cristina.“We are delighted to have H.R.M. Infantas Cristina and Elena here with us today,” said...

[Source: Equipo Telefonica] The Telefónica team has officially signed up Santiago Lange for the Volvo Ocean Race today. Born in San Isidro (Buenos Aires), the 46 year-old Argentinean has joined the Spanish team that has two boats on the starting line for the first time ever; “Telefónica Blue” and “Telefónica Black”. Lange will be sailing onboard the latter, where he will be carrying out the role of Watch Captain.This won’t be the first time Santiago crosses the starting line in...

The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 Telefónica boats have returned to their Alicante bases following 8 days of sailing to complete the 2,000-mile qualifier, a requirement laid down by the Race organisers.“It’s been a great baptism of fire for the boats and the crews, and it’s turned out to be a great test for us”, commented a satisfied Bouwe Bekking after reaching Alicante.We’ve had eight days of offshore sailing, with both of the boats sailing out to the Gibraltar Straits. From thereon...

[Source: Equipo Telefonica] A few more hours to go and then we have this qualifier under our belt. Not bad for a boat that only 14 days ago went in the water. The wind conditions couldn’t have been better and the nearly full moon made sailing at night with new boat easy.The deck layout is fantastic, everything in the right spot, no changes there and most important we can drag the sails around, without having to lift them, saving our backs. As important, so not more, we have a great bunch of...