Below we've been tracking CAMPER's campaign, from the minute she left the build shed on Sunday 10th April 2011, through to the start of her qualifying passage from Lyttelton
You can now track CAMPER throughout the Volvo Ocean Race - Click Here
Monday, 9 May 2011
CAMPER sets sails on 2000 nautical mile Volvo Ocean Race, qualifying passage
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker (second fron left) on board CAMPER with Dean Barker, Chris Nicholson and Kevin Shoebridge
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker (second fron left) on board CAMPER with Dean Barker, Chris Nicholson and Kevin Shoebridge.
The Volvo Ocean Race yacht CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand sailed this morning from Lyttelton on a 2000-nautical mile voyage to qualify for the Volvo Ocean Race.
Wrapping up successful shakedown voyage off the east coast on New Zealand, which included visits and public open days at five ports, the 70ft yacht and crew of 11 are now in “race mode”.
Skipper Chris Nicholson said this morning that the trip will take a minimum of six days. “We are heading north-east from Lyttelton and we’re expecting to be on the wind to Auckland. A large low pressure area is developing in the Tasman Sea and we’re keeping a wary eye on that.
“It could make things very interesting as we get closer to Auckland.” The crew has already sailed CAMPER in strong winds and big seas in the three weeks since it was launched. Rounding East Cape on the way from Tauranga to Gisborne they encountered 35 – 40 knots on the bow with big seas.
Nicholson said he had heard about East Cape’s fearsome reputation and it certainly lived up to that. “We came through that night in really good shape.... it was a very good test of both the yacht and crew. We had a little damage that was repaired next day at Gisborne.”
The crew has a lot of sail testing to complete en-route to Auckland. That means a lot of sail changes and manoeuvres that will involve everyone on deck during daylight.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s meteorologist Roger Badham says the breeze will be soft around New Zealand today but there’s a great deal of breeze coming from the west and it will be all over NZ at the end of the week and into next week.
“From Lyttelton navigators Will Oxley and Andrew McLean have options of heading north-east, north-west (sailing through Cook Strait and out into the Tasman), south-west and south-east. With the gale force winds coming, anywhere to west is not really an option. It’s a 2000 mile qualifier, not a boat breaking exercise,” Badham said.
“Lows in the Tasman make it difficult to find any runway, except going upwind in 30-40 kts. They could head away to the south-east towards Cape Horn and make very good progress – but they have to come back as well!
“So heading north-east is the only real option. It offers a variety of conditions so they can sail test as well as sail the miles. There is a high pressure ridge out to the east and that can hopefully offer both upwind and downwind conditions in a variety of wind speeds from 10 to 20 knots. The aim is to try to be back in Auckland in seven days – so Auckland eta Sunday night or Monday.”
CAMPER spent the weekend at Lyttelton. The yacht was open to the public on both Saturday and Sunday. The rain and chill breeze on Saturday did not deter Cantabrians from visiting the wharf and sailing and shore crews worked hard to make sure everyone got on board.
Sunday dawned fine and warm. The boat was open for six hours and capacity crowds turned up.
For Emirates Team New Zealand the turnout was a welcome endorsement of New Zealand’s return to round-the-world racing for the first time since Grant Dalton’s New Zealand Endeavour in 1993-94.
Having fun at Lyttelton
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
CAMPER is on its way from Wellington to Dunedin and the crew is enjoying a good north-easterly breeze. Progress down the coats has been fast.
The yacht, the Emirates Team New Zealand is ahead of schedule, although the breeze is expected to soften and progress will slow.
The port stop at Wellington was a great success. A large number of people were on the dock – any more and we would have had difficulty hosting them all.
In the afternoon Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club guests went sailing on the VO70 – and the breeze, which had been very soft all morning, died completely, and the rain came in.
CAMPER sailed for Dunedin just before dark, picking up the north-easterly and making progress down the coast.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Rough, tough and an early arrival at Gisborne
A sign of things to come ... Mike Pammenter at the helm.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s Volvo Ocean Race yacht CAMPER arrived at Gisborne from Tauranga 24 hours ahead of a Friday’s public open day.
Skipper Chris Nicholson reported this morning: “We pushed through the night in 35-40 knots head winds. It was a really good test of crew and the yacht. The crew’s OK and the yacht performed really well.
Nicholson said he had heard about East Cape and how rough it could be in a southerly. “It’s all true and the conditions gave us a taste of what we can expect when we race CAMPER around the world.”
“We had planned to do some more testing if we arrived early but it was better to enter Gisborne while we knew we could. We didn’t want to be late for tomorrow.”
CAMPER entered the port under sail and had only 150 metres to get the sails down and the engine started. “That was a feat in itself,” Nicholson said.
Since CAMPER left Auckland on Monday, the boat has been in storm conditions which on land have brought down trees, caused flooding and damaged buildings.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
CAMPER - Extended stay in Tauranga
Two high performance racing yachts have extended their stay in Tauranga because of bad weather.
The racing trimaran Team Vodafone remains on the mooring in front of the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat club today, and the Volvo 70 Camper will remain at Salisbury wharf probably until Wednesday morning.
Camper had a cold arrival in Tauranga this morning and the wild weather is keeping them in the city a bit longer.
Camper, which is on its first voyage out of Auckland, was originally expected to depart for Gisborne on Tuesday evening.
The delay won’t affect the schedule, says Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton.
They made allowances for the weather, and the boat is fast – taking about 11 hours to sail down from Auckland.
The weather also forced cancellation of the Have a Go sailing day on Camper.
Team Vodafone took part in the Auckland Tauranga race and though it took line honours, light winds robbed it of the chance to also take the race record.
Andrew Campbell - Sun Media
Monday, 25 April 2011
CAMPER - arrives in Tauranga
Camper, the new Emirates Team New Zealand VO70 yacht entered in the Volvo Ocean Race, is in Tauranga.
Tauranga is the first stop on its maiden voyage, being taken down the east coast of New Zealand.
Photo at Salisbury Wharf
Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton and Camper skipper Chris Nicholson are with the yacht and are guest speakers at a fundraising lunch being held at the Tauranga Yacht and Power Boat Club.
The voyage down the east coast of the North Island is to reposition the yacht in Lyttelton, Christchurch, for a 2000 nautical mile sail as a qualifier for the Volvo Ocean Race.
This race is a 38,000 mile voyage, starting in Spain in November 5 and discussion about this is expected to be included in the speeches given by Grant and Chris.
The yacht is available for public viewing on Salisbury Wharf, 9-11am.
Andrew Campbell - Sun Media
Sunday, 24 April 2011
CAMPER - due in Tauranga on Tuesday morning
New Zealand’s latest chapter in the ongoing relationship with the Volvo Ocean Race, the VO70 Camper, visits Tauranga on Tuesday.
Camper is due in Tauranga on Tuesday morning.
Emirates Team New Zealand’s managing director Grant Dalton says the Tauranga visit is following a tradition set by New Zealand Whitbread race entries.
“We did it for no more simple reason than to try and involve the public, to let them see what it is like on one of these boats, the conditions that you would be living in over the time that you are at sea,” says Grant.
“I remember my last tour of New Zealand was the end of ‘93 early ‘94 on NZ Endeavour, and we found that people had been to all the boats that had come in the past.
“So there will still be that element of people that have been on all the boats from Ceramco, Lion New Zealand, Fisher and Paykel, New Zealand Endeavour, and now this is the first one since then.
“You get one generation that will just be able to do the full comparison for the lot, like looking at old cars having a series of models: Valiants, Zephys or Cortinas.
“And then you will get another generation because being school holidays, there’s kids who will be seeing one of these round the world boats for the very first time.
“When they see it on TV when the race starts in November this year they can relate to it, they feel part of it. And that’s why we are doing it.”
But things have changed. Grant remembers standing at the top of the gangway charging people $2 to go on the boat, a practice that raised a good part of the funding for the early campaigns. Today it would take an awful lot of $2, says Grant.
The boats have also changed, the Volvo open 70s replaces the earlier open 60 class and are the fastest monohulls afloat, but some things remain the same, says Grant.
“Certain things that led New Zealanders in their love affair with the round the world race were ice bergs, adventure, man against the elements and big waves, storms in the Southern Ocean,” says Grant.
“I have sat many a night with my eyes glued to the radar screen while charging through the Southern Ocean, you get a lot of clutter because the waves will reflect a little bit off the tops of the waves.
“If you dial down the sensitivity to take out the clutter, you take out the small ice bergs you are looking for in the first place.
“If you are going fast in the southern ocean there’s a definite risk, it never changes and that will never change.
“The Southern Ocean is the ultimate playground for the round the world yachtsman.
“And those qualities of the race will never leave it. It’s just nature, and the people who sail the race are still exactly the same type of person, looking for adventure, they don’t mind being wet, cold and not having enough sleep – and a little nervous.
“But those qualities will always be there, what has changed is the boat and really they have just got faster.”
Along with the ability of the boats to stream live high quality video, comes a new crew position this year – the cameraman.
“Under race rules, he can only cook, mop, and get the water out of the boat – and he has to film,” says Grant.
“Let’s say you have a problem, which you have pretty regularly, a sail in the water. Instead of putting his hands in to pull that sail on, he will have his camera pointed at you, and you will see that.
“So that’s a new move in the race. The guy we’ve got is Hamish Hooper, a yachtie out of television, and a gem of a guy. So we are going to get some really good Kiwi imagery.
Camper is expected alongside Mount Maunganui’s Salisbury Wharf about 7am.
It will later move over to the Tauranga Yacht Club at Sulphur Point, from where it will be taking the lucky draw winners sailing in the afternoon.
Grant will be speaking at the yacht club luncheon on Tuesday. It is open to the public at $40 a head.
Camper is expected to set sail for Gisborne about 5.30pm Tuesday.
“Then Wellington, then Dunedin, and back to Christchurch. We wanted to be in Christchurch on a weekend,” says Grant.
Andrew Campbell - Sun Media
Sunday, 24 April 2011
CAMPER, the Emirates Team New Zealand yacht for the Volvo Ocean Race, sailed from Auckland today for sea trials off the east coast of New Zealand.
The yacht left at noon in rain and 20knot north-easterly winds.
The yacht is calling in at five ports – Tauranga, Gisborne, Wellington, Dunedin and Lyttelton – during the next two weeks. While in port, the yacht will be open to the public from 9am to 11am. The itinerary is: Tauranga, Tuesday April 26; Gisborne, Friday April 29; Wellington, Monday May 2; Dunedin, Thursday May 5 and Lyttelton, Saturday and Sunday May 7 and 8.
The yacht is due off each port about 7am on the day and will berth by 8am. Public will be welcome to board the yacht and meet the crew from 9am to 11am.
Yacht club guests will view the yacht from 11am and some will go sailing after the lunch.” The yacht will sail for the next port in the late afternoon.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Friday, 15 April 2011
CAMPER‘s - maiden sail on Auckland Harbour
CAMPER with the Emirates Team New Zealand’s VO70 yacht for the Volvo Ocean Race went for its maiden sail on Auckland Harbour today.
The yacht left the team’s base at Viaduct Harbour in the early afternoon. The sea was calm, the wind a soft breeze – ideal conditions for a maiden sail to give the sailing crew of 11 and the12 designers, engineers and systems experts on board the chance to check the product of more than 12 months’ work.
But the light conditions denied the TV cameramen and print photographers in a chase boat the opportunity to get the action shots they were seeking of the yacht in its dramatic livery.
After 31/2 hours on the water, skipper Chris Nicholson declared himself satisfied with the yacht that he and his crew will race 38,000 miles around the world, starting in Spain on Novembers 5. “We did what we wanted to do today and that is always a plus.”
Even the photographers and cameramen were happy, even though they would have liked more wind. And they might get that before too long. The yacht will undergo further testing off Auckland over the next 10 days – and with luck providing the cameras with some action shots – before embarking on sea trials that will include visits to five east coast ports of Tauranga (April 26), Gisborne (April 29), (Wellington(May 2), Dunedin (May 5) and Lyttelton (May 7 and 8).
On May 9, CAMPER will leave Lyttelton for a 2000 nautical mile voyage to qualify to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race.
CAMPER is the first Volvo Open 70 to launch for the 2011/12 Volvo Ocean Race.
And today was the first opportunity to see the yacht’s full graphic design. Her striking graphics are from by leading British studio Farrow. Their projects have gained worldwide acclaim, and creative director Mark Farrow is considered to be one of the most important graphic designers working today.
The graphic design of a 70ft ocean going yacht is a massive departure for a studio best known for contemporary music packaging.
Mark Farrow says: “This is an amazing project and one of those that, as a team of graphic designers, you dream of being involved in. To be given a canvas of a hundred foot tall masts and a seventy-foot carbon- fibre boat is very, very special! In Camper we have found a creative kindred spirit who has been totally receptive to our ideas and who has pushed us creatively more than most clients, which is refreshing to say the least.”
Part of the inspiration for the design is taken from “‘dazzle painting”, a paint scheme extensively used on battle ships during World War One. Drawing inspiration from abstract artists, a dazzle ships’ paint work was composed of a complex pattern of geometric shapes, interrupting and intersecting each other.
“Everything that you need is within the Camper logo. When you start working with it you instantly start to get a feel of sails… so we started developing patterns for each individual sail using only the Camper Bridge.
“With each sail combination, a different pattern emerges. Hopefully as the boat is sailing around the world you’ll see all these different versions. It will be forever changing and shifting. It is a complicated process to arrive at something that works. I really cannot wait to see it on the water,” he said.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
CAMPER - the final preparation
CAMPER will be sailing on the Waitemata Harbour by the end of the week before setting off for sea trials during which the yacht will call at five east coast ports at the end of April and in early May.
The yacht will leave Auckland on April 25 for Tauranga. Other ports include Gisborne (April 29), Wellington (May 2), Dunedin (May 5) and Lyttelton May 7-8.
CAMPER’s mission is the Volvo Ocean Race, a 38,000 nautical mile race around the world that starts at Alicante, Spain, at the end of October.
Auckland is a stopover port. The fleet will spend three weeks in Auckland in March-April 2012.
Sunday was almost a year to the day that Camper, the Spanish footwear brand, and Emirates Team New Zealand confirmed their entry in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011/12.
CAMPER was designed by the Emirates Team New Zealand design team led by Nick Holroyd with principal designer Marcelino Botin.
Emirates Team New Zealand managing director Grant Dalton: “This is a great day for us as a team. Everyone has worked hard to meet all our deadlines. They have delivered CAMPER on time, just nine months after we first started the build.”
“To be able to stand back and see the amazing job that they guys have done and now see her in her full livery, is quite humbling. I am very excited about going out sailing towards the end of this week.”
For Camper, this is their first foray into ocean racing, and the company’s Founder and Chairman, Lorenzo Fluxá, said:
“This is quite an historic moment for everyone at Camper and the start of a new adventure for our brand. The boat build has been a great experience for all of us, so precise in its execution that all we can do is congratulate all those involved in bringing ‘ the CAMPER’ to life.”
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Launch at Viaduct Harbour
CAMPER, the yacht Emirates Team New Zealand will campaign in the Volvo Race, was launched at the team’s Viaduct Harbour, Auckland, base late this afternoon. Tomorrow, after the yacht’s hydraulic systems, which operate the canting keel, are tested the mast will be stepped and the yacht prepared for its maiden sail later in the week. The yacht was trucked to the team’s base before dawn only on Sunday. For the rest of this week, shore and sailing crews will test yacht systems before the build phase of the CAMPER campaign is over and sea trials start. After a week trialling off Auckland, the yacht leaves for a voyage down the east coast of New Zealand calling at five ports – Tauranga, Gisborne, Wellington, Dunedin and Lyttelton.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Sunday, 10 April 2011
The Christening
Skipper Chris Nicholson's wife, Megan, christens CAMPER.
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand - is trucked to Viaduct Harbour for final commissioning
Emirates Team New Zealand’s new round-the-world race yacht CAMPER left the builder’s yard in Auckland at 4.30am today; just a year after project was announced. The 70ft yacht was trucked to the team’s Viaduct Harbour base where it will be commissioned this week.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand
Sunday, 10 April 2011
CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand - finally leaves the build shed
Emirates Team New Zealand’s new round-the-world race yacht CAMPER left the builder’s yard in Auckland at 4.30am today; just a year after project was announced.
The build started at Cookson Boats in August last year, taking close to 35,000 man-hours. Over the next few days, keel, rudder, dagger boards, mast and rigging will be fitted and electronic, electrical and hydraulic systems will commissioned.
Warren Douglas - Emirates Team New Zealand