Yachting: Camper slipping down the charts

Camper skipper Chris Nicholson is confident that they can recover the lost miles. Photo / ETNZ

Emirates Team New Zealand boat Camper has slowed in tricky conditions as the Volvo fleet heads to the Azores.

After making a strong start out of Lisbon, overnight (NZT) Camper has slowly slipped down the leaderboard as the fleet encounters conditions forecast to persist until the fleet hits the Azores High some 48 hours away.

Camper was up to one knot slower than the leading boats so the focus was on minimising the damage until conditions became more favourable.

Camper skipper Chris Nicholson said that while the next 48 hours would be painful, the team were confident that they could recover the lost miles in the Azores High.

"It's definitely not enjoyable but we're certain there's plenty of opportunities down the track both around the Azores and heading back to Lorient.

"We just can't match the other guys speed-wise on this angle so we just need to take our medicine and bide our time until the conditions present themselves to allow us to get back into things.

"If we can get to the Azores parking lot with the deficit to the leaders limited to 20 miles or so then I'm confident we have a good chance of pulling them in. If we can then get through the high in good shape we can more than hold our own in the strong running conditions predicted for the stretch into Lorient."