Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 Anti-Piracy Plan Kicks into Action
The latest stage of the Volvo Ocean Race’s anti-piracy plans kicked into action on Wednesday, as five racing yachts were carefully lifted onto a commercial ship over the past 24 hours and readied for a transfer across the Indian Ocean to a set-down point off the Sharjah coastline in the northern Emirates.
It is the first time ever that 15-tonne Volvo Open 70 racing yachts have been lifted onto a commercial ship in open waters with their tall masts affixed to the boats.
Upon arrival in Sharjah, the teams will then take part in a one-day sprint to the finish line in Abu Dhabi for the completion of Leg 2, Stage 2, which will see 20 percent of the points in Leg 2 up for grabs.
Earlier this week, Telefónica captured stage 1 of Leg 2 from Cape Town to the secret safe haven port location in the Indian Ocean, adding to the team’s lead atop the overall leaderboard with 61 total points.
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand finished second just under two minutes behind, while PUMA Ocean Racing powered by Berg, Groupama sailing team and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing rounded out the fleet’s arrival into the safe haven port.
After passing through customs, the boats were loaded onto a commercial ship in a carefully-choreographed process that saw all of the team’s shore crews working together as one unit, as each team were only able to have two shore crew members on-site.
Sailors, shore crews and race organisers worked round the clock and completed the risky task when Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam, the fifth and final boat to arrive at the undisclosed safe haven in the Indian Ocean, was the last to be inched into a cradle on board the ship. For many of the crews and shore teams it was the end of two full days without sleep with work starting the moment the teams arrived late Monday.
The Race announced in August that the route for Legs 2 and 3 would be re-drawn because of the increased threat of piracy in the Indian Ocean. The scoring system was modified so that 80 percent of the points of Leg 2 would be based on the race between Cape Town and Safe Haven 1 and 20 percent for the short sprint into Abu Dhabi. For Leg 3, the operation will be reversed, with a short sprint from Abu Dhabi at the start of the leg. The boats will go back on a ship and be transported again to a Safe Haven Port. From there, they will sail on as normal to the Leg 3 finish in Sanya, China.
Throughout the process, Race Director Jack Lloyd and Knut Frostad, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, have worked closely with Dryad Maritime Intelligence plus government agencies including European Union Naval Force Somalia (EUNAVFOR), UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the Maritime Security Centre, Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) as well as the sport’s governing body, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF).?
Piracy is a well-organised and highly lucrative business and it has expanded into a vast area off the coast of Somalia. According to figures from Dryad Maritime Intelligence,1,181 seafarers were kidnapped by pirates in 2010.?Dryad’s Graeme Gibbon Brooks said pirate operations in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean had been significantly restricted.
“This factor, as well as very careful planning has reduced the probability of an encounter to as low as reasonably possible,” Gibbon Brooks said. “But while the probability is small, the impact of an attack when it happens is extremely high.”??
VNR SHOTLIST – ANTI-PIRACY VNR
00:00-00:05 OPEN SLATE
00:05-00:09 Telefónica skipper Iker Martinez boarding ship
00:10-00:15 Barbed-wire protection on cargo ship
00:15-00:19 Crane moving into position
00:20-00:31 Preparing crane for boat lift
00:32-00:38 Telefónica about to be lifted
00:38-00:42 Ship’s loading official
00:43-00:48 Telefónica loading
00:48-00:53 CAMPER shore crew Neil Cox
00:53-01:02 CAMPER loading
01:02-01:08 Positioning CAMPER into cradle
01:09-01:21 Wide shot of three boats in cradle on ship
01:22-01:27 Groupama loading
01:27-01:32 Groupama shore crew
01:33-01:47 Groupama moving into cradle
01:47-01:52 Night view of ship
01:52-02:02 Quote – Alex Nolan, Telefónica shore crew
“Well, the risk of piracy has meant that we have to ship the boats up to Abu Dhabi from our safe haven. So, we have the ship here and hopefully it gets us there safely.”
02:02-02:19 Quote – Neal McDonald, Telefónica
“It (piracy) ranges from people trying to bum cigarettes off you and a bottle of water to ransom. And I think although our lives aren’t worth very much, I think if they see a big sponsors name, which they recognize or which they have seen somewhere else, they might see that as an attractive target.”
02:20-02:41 Quote – Ken Read, PUMA Ocean Racing skipper
“This is the real world. I mean, as crazy as this seems – and believe me, this seems so crazy to the sailors – it’s beyond belief that we are not continuing, not out there sailing tonight. But sometimes the real world gets in the way of our little race. You gotta deal with it. You gotta take measures. That’s life. It’s crazy but that’s life.”
02:41-02:46 END SLATE
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