Emirates Team New Zealand has decided on the South Island in the winter rather than tropical Fiji for the next phase of testing sails, systems and crew training on the Volvo Ocean Race yacht CAMPER.
Skipper Chris Nicholson decided today to withdraw from the Auckland-Musket Cove race which starts at Auckland tomorrow in favour of a voyage to Lyttelton and back.
Volvo Ocean Race yacht CAMPER - Emirates Team New Zealand
Nicholson said the sailing team needed several days of down-wind and reaching conditions to test sails. “We had expected to get that on the way to and from Fiji and we would be able to combine racing and testing. Our weather team says there will be head winds for most of the trip to Fiji and a big chance of head winds on the way back to Auckland.
“We did plenty of up-wind work on the tour of New Zealand in early May and we were on the wind from Lyttelton to Three Kings Islands north of North Cape when we did the 2000 nautical mile qualifier.
“We collected an enormous amount of data over the three weeks and we don’t need to repeat it. We lack data on downwind and reaching so in view of the forecast we are heading south.”
Emirates Team New Zealand
CAMPER will start with the Fiji fleet at noon on Saturday and will peel off towards the Bay of Plenty. The yacht expects to make Lyttelton on Monday where a decision on the direction of the remainder of the voyage will be made in light of an updated weather forecast
Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton, a veteran of seven round-the-world races, was going to race to Fiji on the VO70.
“We wanted to support the Fiji race and advance CAMPER’s preparation for the Volvo Ocean Race at the same time,” he said. “We won’t get the race experience but we will get a lot of testing done.”
Warren Douglas
