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6 March 2006, 12:02 pm

Movistar Back On Track

Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006

At 0330 UTC this morning movistar was about to be craned back into the water. She is now motoring back down the Beagle Channel and has 34 miles to go before returning to the spot where she suspended racing and her leg can resume. Meanwhile the two Dutch ABN boats remain at the head of the fleet, with Pirates chasing in third.

As movistar suspected, the fairing between the keel and the hull had broken off and this is how the water leaked into the boat. Once the boat was out of the water in Ushuaia, Argentina, the team was able to see that there was also some light damage to the rudder and the hull, which was almost certainly caused by the fairing breaking off. The team has carried out repairs which will get them to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where they will carryout a more rigorous investigation and a repair will be done to bring the boat back up to optimum condition for the next leg of the course.

'We will be sailing with the keel halfway so as not to exert too much pressure around the area until we are able to perform more in-depth repairs,' explained skipper Bouwe BEKKING (NED). 'Obviously, in these kinds of conditions, our speed will be a lot slower than the rest of the fleet, but we should be in Rio by 13 March,' he added.

Movistar Drop Protests

The race office was also informed that movistar has withdrawn both protests against Sebastien JOSSE's (FRA) ABN AMRO TWO and Paul CAYARD's (USA) Pirates of the Caribbean, which were submitted ashore during the stopover in Wellington, New Zealand and one after the re-start in Wellington.

For the rest of the fleet racing towards Rio de Janeiro with just over 1,000 nautical miles to run, it has been another 24 hours of smooth sailing. The dreaded slow passage through the ridge of high pressure yesterday did not materialise and the fleet managed to keep moving. The whole fleet tacked late last night, but the order remains unchanged as they head towards the coast, 700 miles to their west. Mike SANDERSON's (NZL) ABN AMRO ONE continues to sail consistently faster than the chasing pack and has extended her lead to 45 miles, from ABN AMRO TWO in second place.

Position Report At 1000 Hours UTC, 6 March 2006

Team	Nation	Skipper	Latitude	Longitude	DTF	DTL	DTLC	CMG	SMG	VMG	ETA
ABN AMRO ONE	NED	Mike SANDERSON (NZL)	40 29.01S	46 56.01W	1073	0	0	346	15.8	15.9	09/03/2006 - 1800 UTC
ABN AMRO TWO	NED	Sebastian JOSSE (FRA)	41 17.05S	46 48.10W	1118	45	-11	343	13.9	15.7	09/03/2006 - 2100 UTC
Pirates of the Caribbean	USA	Paul CAYARD (USA)	41 23.02S	47 5.02W	1126	53	-4	358	13.9	15.7	09/03/2006 - 2200 UTC
Brasil 1	BRA	Torben GRAEL (BRA)	41 38.02S	46 33.01W	1137	64	-3	355	14.3	15.7	09/03/2006 - 2300 UTC
Ericsson Racing Team	SWE	Neal MCDONALD (GBR)	42 11.04S	45 46.03W	1164	91	-8	348	13.7	15.6	10/03/2006 - 0100 UTC
movistar	ESP	Bouwe BEKKING (NED)	54 54.01S	67 20.03W	2326	1253	-72	101	5.6	12.5	14/03/2006 - 0100 UTC
Brunel	AUS	Grant WHARINGTON (AUS)	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS	DNS

DTF: Distance To Finish
DTL: Distance To Leader
DTLC: Distance To Leader Change; the difference between the distance from the boat to the leader taken at the time of the last six hour poll, and the distance from the boat to the leader at the previous poll
CMG: Course Made Good; the average course steered over the period of the past six hours up to the time of the last poll
SMG: Speed Made Good
VMG: Velocity Made Good; the average velocity of the boat towards the finish over the entire leg
ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival

Overall Leaderboard
(Up to and including Leg Four Scoring Gate - not yet ratified)

Pos	Team	Nation	Skipper	Pts
1	ABN AMRO ONE	NED	Mike SANDERSON (NZL)	42
2	ABN AMRO TWO	NED	Sebastien JOSSE (FRA)	30
3	movistar	ESP	Bouwe BEKKING (NED)	26
5	Pirates of the Caribbean	USA	Paul CAYARD (USA)	24.5
4	Brasil 1	BRA	Torben GRAEL (BRA)	22.5
6	Ericsson Racing Team	SWE	Neal MCDONALD (GBR)	18
7	ING Real Estate Brunel	AUS	Grant WHARINGTON (AUS)	11.5