Camper claim second in Volvo race after scare

Camper narrowly avoided becoming a fourth casualty in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race on Sunday as part of their rigging broke just before they made it over the line for second place. The Spanish/New Zealand entry had to nurse their boat through winds of 35-40 knots overnight but looked to be cruising home by mid-morning when a piece of the support on their top mast broke. With just over an hour to go to the finish, they were able to crawl past Table Mountain and over the line to take 25 points for the leg and second place behind Telefonica, who completed victory on Saturday. Had the incident happened the previous day with a bigger sail up, Camper might have suffered the same fate as Abu Dhabi and Puma, both forced to retire after dismasting. Another boat, the Chinese entry Sanya, also retired from the leg due to hull damage. All three are racing against time to be ready for the second in-port race on December 10 and the start of leg two on December 11. "They were the roughest conditions I've ever faced in a Volvo Open 70," Nicholson said on Sunday. "Normally, you've got somewhere left to go with your sails but we were starting to run out of options. "At the time, you think it's the worst day of your life but now we're through it it makes you feel a little bit more robust." Nicholson put the breakages down to the punishment the teams give the boats in the current ultra-professional era of the race. "It was pretty tough in the Med," he said. "It wasn't necessarily that windy but the boats are pushed so hard nowadays and that's the thing that's changed over the years. "I know when I heard the bad news about Puma and Abu Dhabi losing their rigs I was lying there in my bunk listening to the boat going over waves and just hoping it wouldn't happen to us too. "But we still sailed our own race. We're very aware of the engineering and the structure of the boat so we were still comfortable." Telefonica lead the overall standings with 31 points followed by Camper on 29. Groupama, the French entry, will have 22 points if they complete the remaining 500 nautical miles to claim third. Abu Dhabi have six points, with Puma on five and Sanya three.