Just 24 hours after her arrival in Melbourne, completing the 6,100 mile journey from Cape Town in South Africa, the Volvo Open 70 movistar is out of the water and undergoing a complete overhaul.

The most urgent job is the replacement of the keel-operating hydraulic systems, a source of trouble throughout the last leg.

Bouwe Bekking mentioned the change on his 16th day report from board: “In Melbourne we will rip these ones out and put our stainless steel ones back in movistar, the ones we used during training before departure from Vigo. We had them changed to improve performance, but greater speed is pointless unless you can push the boat to her limits.”

The stainless steel hydraulic system will arrive in movistar base this week. The old titanium equipment has been removed; and it is expected that the steel system will be in place by the weekend.

While the shore team was working on the boat, the crew had a busy day too: one hour at the gym in the morning, an initial meeting to exchange data and opinions on the last leg, and a second spell at the gym in the afternoon.

After scoring 5 points for third place in Melbourne, the Spanish boat goes up to third place overall in the VOR Round the World race 2005-2006.