Team Puma survived a collision with a tree trunk to move into a three-way battle for the lead yesterday as the Volvo Ocean Race fleet picked a precarious route through the Malacca Strait.
With over 1,500 nautical miles (2,800km) sailed in the second stage of Leg 3 from the Maldives to Sanya in China, just a handful of boat lengths separated overall leaders Telefonica of Spain, the French challengers Groupama and Puma, the American team.
All three were in sight of each other yesterday, as they tried to steer a path through the hundreds of commercial ships and fishing boats in the narrow Strait, as well as pockets of floating debris.
Puma have had the biggest scare so far after a shuddering collision left them with damage to part of the boat but crucially left the rudder intact.
"There's ships everywhere, debris everywhere, as we found when we hit a tree," Ken Read, the Puma skipper, reported.
"There was this bang and we crunched up a dagger board, taking a chunk out. It probably saved us, though, because the tree could have wiped out the rudder."
Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand, who are Telefonica's closest challengers overall in the 39,000nm round the world race, are stuck in the second group of boats after misjudging the breeze. They are around 18 miles behind along with Abu Dhabi.
Team Sanya are trailing way back in sixth with little hope of reaching their home port in anything other than last place.
Abu Dhabi's Azzam, meanwhile, picked up an unexpected passenger off the coast of Malaysia.
A bat decided the Volvo Open 70 looked like a comfortable place to spend a few hours of downtime and chose to rest on Azzam's big black mainsail.
"He joined us this morning, I think he got blown offshore," Ian Walker, the skipper, told volvooceanrace.com yesterday.
"He basically attached himself to the mainsail and has survived a few tacks up there. He fell asleep on the reef point, and has been there for five or six hours."
Despite being locked in a duel with Camper, Walker said his team would take care of their visitor.
"I think he likes our black sails and Azzam's falcon," Walker said. "We will try to deliver him back towards shore tonight."
The leaders have around 200 miles to sail to get out of the Strait and head into a long closing stretch through the South China Sea to Sanya.
The fleet is expected to arrive in China between February 5 and 6.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Honeymoonish
Director: Elie El Samaan
Starring: Nour Al Ghandour, Mahmoud Boushahri
Rating: 3/5
Match info
Liverpool 3
Hoedt (10' og), Matip (21'), Salah (45+3')
Southampton 0
if you go
The flights
Emirates fly direct from Dubai to Houston, Texas, where United have direct flights to Managua. Alternatively, from October, Iberia will offer connections from Madrid, which can be reached by both Etihad from Abu Dhabi and Emirates from Dubai.
The trip
Geodyssey’s (Geodyssey.co.uk) 15-night Nicaragua Odyssey visits the colonial cities of Leon and Granada, lively country villages, the lake island of Ometepe and a stunning array of landscapes, with wildlife, history, creative crafts and more. From Dh18,500 per person, based on two sharing, including transfers and tours but excluding international flights. For more information, visit visitnicaragua.us.
Company Profile
Company name: Hoopla
Date started: March 2023
Founder: Jacqueline Perrottet
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Investment required: $500,000
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Almouneer
Started: 2017
Founders: Dr Noha Khater and Rania Kadry
Based: Egypt
Number of staff: 120
Investment: Bootstrapped, with support from Insead and Egyptian government, seed round of
$3.6 million led by Global Ventures
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
Best Academy: Ajax and Benfica
Best Agent: Jorge Mendes
Best Club : Liverpool
Best Coach: Jurgen Klopp (Liverpool)
Best Goalkeeper: Alisson Becker
Best Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Best Partnership of the Year Award by SportBusiness: Manchester City and SAP
Best Referee: Stephanie Frappart
Best Revelation Player: Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid and Portugal)
Best Sporting Director: Andrea Berta (Atletico Madrid)
Best Women's Player: Lucy Bronze
Best Young Arab Player: Achraf Hakimi
Kooora – Best Arab Club: Al Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
Kooora – Best Arab Player: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al-Nassr FC, Saudi Arabia)
Player Career Award: Miralem Pjanic and Ryan Giggs
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
How to vote
Canadians living in the UAE can register to vote online and be added to the International Register of Electors.
They'll then be sent a special ballot voting kit by mail either to their address, the Consulate General of Canada to the UAE in Dubai or The Embassy of Canada in Abu Dhabi
Registered voters mark the ballot with their choice and must send it back by 6pm Eastern time on October 21 (2am next Friday)
Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier
UAE fixtures
25 April – Ireland v UAE*
27 April – UAE v Zimbabwe**
29 April – Netherlands v UAE*
3 May – UAE v Vanuatu*
5 May – Semi-finals
7 May – Final
UAE squad: Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Avanee Patel, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kavisha Kumari, Khushi Sharma, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish, Vaishnave Mahesh.
*Zayed Cricket Stadium
**Tolerance Oval
Kill
Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat
Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal
Rating: 4.5/5