Cammas on top of the world

After a tense sprint stage from Lorient to Galway, French first-time entrant Franck Cammas and his Groupama 4 team were confirmed as winners of the Volvo Ocean Race early yesterday morning.

The 500-mile leg ended at 1am yesterday when Chris Nicholson’s Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand collected their only leg win of the race to be quickly followed by Cammas in second place.

The French skipper’s final leg standing was of little consequence in the end; fourth place or better was enough to seal the title.

In doing so, Derrynane watch-leader Damian Foxall realised his lifelong ambition to win this race that inspired him when known as the Whitbread Round the World Race.

However, the final 25 miles of the course across Galway Bay saw the leading four boats duel in an all-out battle that would decide more than just the overall winner.

By Camper placing first for the leg, the joint Spanish/Kiwi team regained second place overall and dropped American Ken Read into third.

Fourth place in the final leg for former overall race leader Iker Martinez on Telefonica meant no hope of even a podium result for a powerful team that was the culmination of three attempts on the Volvo Ocean Race since 2005.

There was further ignominy in the fleet as former Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker on Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing slipped to the back of the pack, reportedly due to unspecified keel problems, while Mike Sanderson’s Team Sanya was fifth.

But the morning belonged to Cammas and Groupama, undeniably the best team despite so much upheaval over the course of the eight-month race.

Between mast problems and boat breakages, only three of the six boats actually sailed the entire route without being shipped on at least one occasion.

Ashore, a massive crowd once again justified the decision to bring the race to Ireland as each of the first four teams was cheered and ‘Olé’d’ to deafening heights.

A gap between the first four and the last two saw the rain-soaked crowd peter down to fewer than 1,000 hardier party-types but sufficient to give Sanderson and Walker something to smile about.

Nearby, the French-led celebrations were under way, though the Spanish Telefonica team struggled to appear anything other than despondent and wondering how the wheels had come off their all-so promising campaign so badly.

On Saturday, the six boats compete for the final In-Port series. Like the final leg, any one of four boats could win the lesser In-Port series.

However, like the last day of term, the emphasis will be on fun.