Yachting: Camper breaks free from weather trough

A frenzy of action aboard Camper as they escape a weather trough. Photo / Camper

Camper has finally broken free of the grip of a weather trough that has been frustrating progress for several days during leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race.

On day seven Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand is now on the hunt for northerlies and aiming to make some solid ground north.

After escaping the trough Camper had to continue to head east cross a small area of high pressure before tacking and beginning the long march up the Indian Ocean.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE TRACKER

Camper is currently in third place only half a mile behind second placed Puma, but 214 miles off leading boat Sanya.

Sanya has chosen to take a much more high risk northerly route than then rest of the fleet which while paying dividends in the short-term may pose problems in the future.

Camper skipper Chris Nicholson says that with all the fleet now out of the trough the race has effectively restarted.

"We've got Sanya and Groupama taking extreme options to the west and east of the fleet and they're both pretty high risk options which may or may not pay off when it matters. Sanya is going to have a lot of heavy air and the challenge of the exclusion zone to deal with, while Groupama has a lot of light air to contend with," he said.

"We're relatively happy with our positioning and think we've made some good ground to the east. It's a huge relief to be out of the trough line and our focus now is really on getting the most out of the boat and beating the three guys around us not those flyers either side.

"There's an awful lot of this race left to go in some pretty challenging conditions including a doldrums crossing so there's plenty left to play out. With ten or eleven days or racing at least still ahead of us who knows exactly what will happen.

"The way these conditions are shaping up there's every chance that the leg may not be decided until the last few hundred miles.

Camper in the latest position report at 1400h 19 December NZT is averaging 11.8 knots in a 13.4 knot easterly.

- HERALD ONLINE