CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson could afford to be positive after his team clawed their way back from fifth to third in the latter stages of Leg 3 – but the Australian admitted there is still work to be done if the team is to start converting podium places into victories.
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand crossed the Sanya finish line at 07:28:24 UTC to take third place and a combined total of 18 points for the leg from Abu Dhabi to Sanya.
“We thought and expected to do better than third to be honest but it’s a difficult race we’re entered into with the best professional teams in the world,” Nicholson said.
“We left the Singapore Strait in fifth so we’re happy to have got back to third. We thought we were a lot better than fifth. To finish third is good, it’s a good positive for us to finish on. However there’s still a lot of thought required about how we can start winning legs.”
Despite leading the fleet on five separate occasions during the 12-day leg, Nicholson said the defining moment for CAMPER came while navigating the Malacca Strait, the narrow band of water between Sumatra and Malaysia.
“We got on the wrong side of a thunderstorm in the Malacca Strait,” he added. “The other guys went to the Indonesian shore line and we couldn’t get there. That was pretty much the ball game there and then.”
With six more offshore legs and seven in-port races left, Nicholson said his team would rally to eke out every last bit of speed from their boat – but not before some much needed rest.
“We’re able to match the leaders at certain periods of the race and then we kind of let ourselves down occasionally,” he said. “Everyone does it – all the teams do it. I guess I’m a little more conscious of it than most. We just have to keep working on that, go back to the designer, see if there’s anything more in regards to how we’re sailing the boat.
“We hope to rest up a bit now. Even though we haven’t done a lot of miles in the last month it’s been a long month what with the Abu Dhabi stopover, the sprint legs and the shipping to the Maldives. It’s been a big exercise in sailing and logistics so a big rest up here is in order so we can come out with good training and attitude for the in-port race.”
