SailingPR - Sailing & Regatas

Hi all

Yesterday, when dawn came, we saw a navigation green light to our port side, and we realised that it could not be no other than our friends from TELEFÓNICA BLUE. And there they were. We were sailing a very interesting internal match-race to the gate, and in the next position report it came out that we had gained 14 miles to the waypoint ahead of them!

It was a very nice time, sailing beam-to-beam no more than two miles away from one another. And, as dawn came, they had sailed a bit northward of us, probably because they are with a different sail, and with different strategy. We still want to go a bit east-southeast, and we will see what happens when heading north with the expected gybe ahead.

Apart from that, everybody onboard begins to feel a bit tired, as there has been four days now of intense sailing in rough conditions, but happy anyway for the position. We enjoy every wave, but as Javi Plaza says, ‘it is time for a bit of sun bathing and relaxing, isn’t it?’

And, hopefully, we will have our Maciel ‘Cicho’ Cicchetti trimming on deck in a couple of days, eager as he is to recover completely. We have to tie him up to make him rest! Ha ha!

Now it is lunchtime, so let’s go for the ‘Serrano’ ham.
All the best.

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

Hi There,

It still seems that the days are passing very quickly. Perhaps it is because we are headed east and night falls a little earlier each day or maybe it is the pace of life onboard.

Right now life is busy onboard, some would even say chaotic, with sail making, sickness and injuries, everyone’s day is full keeping the boat in one piece and headed down the track.

It has been a tough last 24 hours. We have struggled once again to keep in touch with the fleet in the windy downwind conditions. Everyone has slowly extended on us leaving us somewhat frustrated and left behind. Hopes of a good score at the waypoint gate seem to be slowly slipping away but with many, many miles to go before we arrive in India, I am hopeful that we can pull off a good overall result in this leg. This is what I am trying to focus on to stay positive.

Lighter conditions will no doubt suit us better and a return to the sunshine and warmer climes will no doubt raise the spirits of everyone onboard. Right now, it is cold and grey outside, cool and damp inside. It would be fair to say that the thing everyone looks forward to most at the moment is the inside of a warm sleeping bag!

Up on deck, things are kept interesting by the passing of squalls fairly frequently taking the breeze from 25-35 knots in a matter of minutes and changing the sea state from tolerable into a nightmare as our wet ride continues. However, even this looks likely to stop soon with the breeze now forecast to drop over the course of the day. Perhaps this will be a good thing; with change afoot as the scoring gate approaches, it might offer a little window of opportunity to take a few points off the guys ahead…. Here’s hoping…

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - navigator

Had a very tough 24 hours, whatever we have done went wrong. It was like fixing a fuse, which didn’t want to click on.

The Black boat sailed right passed us last night. We changed sails, but still slow, reefed main in /out several times, still slow and, worse of all, we ripped the main, not too badly, but we had to wait until daylight to fix it.

We sent Daryl Wislang/NZL up the mast with a halyard and two security lines, and he fixed it as though the sail was lying on the flat floor. Now, all of sudden, the boat is going again, very, very strange.

I don’t know how many times we checked the keel to see if there was something on it, but couldn’t see anything. Another mishap is that Laurent Pages/FRA) is out of the watch. He got smashed into the wheel protection and has hurt his shoulder. He was clipped on, but not in the right spot, he was washed back the length of his safety line, and he had enough pace to do the damage. He can move his arm, so that is at least a good thing. Keeping him in bed is the best we can do right now. We will check him once he is up again.

So, we are all in a bit of a moody feeling, as all the other boats sail faster and we have to make sure we hang in there. A tough day in the life of Volvo sailor.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

Greetings from the monster hospital ward. And the hospital is not necessary
humans. Just for our beautiful boat.

At 0430 GMT this morning, we flew off yet another nice little wave and came down to another loud crack. This time not from the bow section, but in the main section of the boat. Just behind the keel frame. Three of us were having breakfast at the time and there was a bit of a stare into each other’s eyes.

“That didn’t sound good,” said Justin (Justin Ferris/NZL).

“Nope,” I said.

Nico (Chris Nicholson/AUS) added, “maybe it was just an unloaded sheet snapping up on deck?”

Justin looked down and said: “or maybe it was this large crack splitting the
main longitudinal frame?” The master of understatement, old Justin is.

So we are busted. Again. This time a bit more serious. After final analysis on the first break to the longitudinal frames in the bow a couple days ago, it took 7 hours and about 56 miles to fix. Sounded like quite a bit at the time, but we had enough pace to keep up with the leaders after the fact, and still were in a reasonable position for the scoring gate and the leg.

This one may be a bit tougher to work around though. Not only is this break in the central structure for the entire boat, but it will take quite a bit longer to put a fix on- maybe as long as 24 hours - and this time the actual fix may be a bit more of a band-aid rather than the fairly solid splint that we could put on the broken front longitudinals.

If the fix takes as long as we think, we have to re-route to Cochin. Missing most of the points that we could have gotten at the scoring gate and having to bypass the next low coming our way. Simply put, this is not good.

Capey (Andrew Cape/AUS navigator) and I are hard at work trying to see if there is a tactical solution around this in order to stay remotely in the race. We shall see. First priority is the safety of the boat and crew and because of that, we are looking to get away from the next low pressure that is coming in from behind. Which doesn’t give us many options while trying to get through the high pressure to the north.

The whole reason for riding down into big breeze in the Southern Ocean was to hook up with that second low pressure and getting around the high. With our current situation, we may be forced into the high. If that is the case, it is time to start talking about rationing food!

Not only is this a bummer for the team, but a letdown for all who have worked on the programme so far. Please understand though, that we have not given up hope onboard. Stranger things have happened. We have thousands of miles to go. And we have the most resourceful guys aboard and on shore trying to figure out the best way to tackle our situation.

There are a couple of bright spots. It has been reported from the bow area of the boat that using the toilet while going this slow is a much more pleasurable experience. Also, Ricky (Rick Deppe/GBR MCM) got a hot cup of coffee into several of us, which was a very nice treat. Especially considering the fact that for the first time in days, I didn’t spill it on myself or burn the crap out of my mouth.

And finally, the boys on deck report tons of huge Albatross circling around the boat giving a fantastic show for all.

Just hope that Albatross are not the vultures of the high seas.

Will report more soon.

Ken Read - skipper

In our historical weather analysis we haven’t had any route leading us so far east, but to be honest, we enjoy it, even with the little adventures we had. It’s a clear sign to the race organisers: give us back the Southern Ocean legs!

Rodion Luka/UKR has developed into being a great driver in all conditions. He has a very smooth style, keeping the boat planing constantly, great to have him on board (as all the other guys). Just sometimes, I have to remind him that even though ‘Kosatka’ means Orca, she is not supposed to jump out of the water and nosedive back in.

It’s full thermals again as we are the southernmost boat in the fleet, enjoying a solid mid-twenty knot breeze, maybe tomorrow, we will start slowly climbing back to the north slightly. On the race to the scoring longitude, we are in fifth position and starting to look already how to overtake the next two guys. But, we also need to keep an eye on the time after, when we start pointing bows towards India.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

Not giving up

Four days into leg two and the Southern Ocean is living up to its name. One broken steering system, one Chinese gybe, one broken boom and now three knockdowns, but we are still charging along for the scoring gate at longitude 58 east.

I have to confess to being slightly nervous about our predicament, but the forecast is good and we will soon be heading North (ish).

We seem to have the boat going pretty well, but we are vulnerable to being knocked down in the frequent squalls as we are fairly committed to carrying a full main and there is no easy way to ease it.

It is also setting very full and this affects the balance of the boat. It wasn’t an easy night for the guys on deck - and the temperature is falling fast. Down below everything is sodden as we have several leaks (one of which is the hole we drilled in the side to jury rig the steering!). We also have a leaking daggerboard case, which has split.

I feel a bit like the Black Adder TV character that refuses to be beaten and keeps on fighting as his arms and legs are cut off one by one by his adversary.

We now have about 400 miles to the scoring gate and we lie in third position (in terms of easting) with a slender 25-mile lead over Puma and about 40 miles over the Russians. Our aim is to defend this as best we can and, over the last 12 hours, we have done just that.

One of our challenges is going to be gybing. We are still discussing how we are going to do this - if at all - maybe we will granny round. We are also trying to sort out how we can reef if we need to. Tom Braidwood is itching to get going on fixing the boom, but for now, we are focusing on sailing fast to the scoring gate.

This focus on racing hard is great for moral and everybody is determined to make the best of what we have. For now then, we are hanging on in there waiting for the wind to drop and shift to allow us to gybe and head back North. Our aim is to get as many points as we can at the scoring gate before worrying too much about how we will get to India. It still looks quite a long way away on the chart!

Oh yes - I don’t wish to sound like a whinging pom but as if things can’t get any worse, I should also mention that somebody has brought a bug on to the boat and half of us now have sore throats and head colds - I suspect it won’t be long before we all do - Joy!

Ian Walker - skipper

Been weird for me onboard today as it was the first day I have felt like I have been onboard. Had a fever and sickness for the first couple of days (courtesy of my 18 month old daughter)and I’m only just coming out of the other side.

It’s strange for so much to be going on and not even noticing it. We had a broach yesterday (apparently!) and also damaged one of our headsails, which Ryan Godfrey swiftly repaired. All I have noticed is the odd slide forward in the bunk when we plough into the back of a wave – it’s a little like climbing into the sack before heading down the bumpy slide in days gone by.

On deck, the conditions were very similar to our record-breaking run except for one element - the waves - and it’s amazing to see just what difference they make. Also had a couple of Albatross giving us the flyby, I think one went between the bowsprit and the stay - I thought we had run the poor thing over until it came out of the other side. It’s bad luck to harm these giants as rumour has it they are the spirits of late sea-farers and we don’t want to upset any of those.

Guy Salter - MCM

Estocolmo, Suecia (18 de noviembre, 2008) - La segunda etapa de la Volvo Ocean Race ya está en su cuarto día y los dos barcos de Ericsson Racing Team están empleando una estrategia que les posiciona en el Sur lo cual les puede hacer llegar a la meta volante como los dos primeros barcos.

En el informe de posiciones de las 1300 GMT de hoy, el Ericsson 3 de Anders Lewander estaba en cuarta posición, a 20 millas náuticas de los líderes de la flota, Telefónica Azul y Puma, que estaban a 3.513 millas del final de etapa. El líder de la general, el Ericsson 4 de Torben Grael era quinto, a 28 millas de los líderes.

Una clara dicvisión se ha producido en la flota, con un paquete más al norte y otro más al sur. Los barcos de Ericsson lideraban el paquete del sur y separaban el norte y el sur por unas 14 millas. Su posición significa menos distancia hasta la meta volante situada en la longitud 085E, pero significa también más distancia hasta el final en Cochin, India, comparados con los barcos más al norte, que están a unas 80 millas.

“Ericsson 3 parece un poco mejor posicionado a largo plazo. Ericsson 4 se ha ido un poco demasiado lejos al sur y podría trasluchar detrás de Ericsson 3 en algún momento,” dijo Chris Bedford, meteorólogo de Ericsson Racing Team. “Existe incluso la posibilidad de que Ericsson 3 lo haga un poco mejor aquí y venza a Ericsson 4 en la línea de puntuación en algún momento manana por tarde. Las próximas 36 horas serán decisivas.”

La elección de los barcos de Ericsson Racing Team les ha posicionado para sumar los puntos en la meta volante y ponerse al este de la flota para coger los trade winds del Índico y tener buenas condiciones hacia el final. El plan no se podrá comprobar hasta dentro de unos cinco días, cuando la flota haya pasado la meta volante y se dirija al norte.

Las condiciones de navegación son extremadamente duras y la vida no es agradable a bordo. Muchos tripulantes están sufriendo resfriados que agarraron en Sudáfrica. El mar picado contra el que han estado peleando con vientos del este sudeste contra una fuerte corriente se suma a los problemas.

El Green Dragon informó hoy de una botavara rota. Muchos barcos han roto velas. A pesar de ello Ericsson 4 pudo hacer el mejor tiempo de la flota en las pasadas 24 horas con 490 millas. La tripulación internacional navegaba con un Código Cero fraccionado, foque y a tope de mayor, pero no ha podido evitar incidentes.

“Tuvimos algunos problemas con algunas velas hace unos días, pero ahora todo va bien a bordo”, dijo Guy Salter, el glardonado tripulante de medios de Ericsson 4.

Salter ha estado en su litera desde la primera noche de la etapa cuando se le presentó una gripe que piensa que le contagió su hija. Acabo de tomar mi primera comida hace unas pocas horas”, dijo Salter. “HAce bastante frío a borod. Los chicos levan la mayor partre del equipo puesto y se puede ver el aliento en el interior del barco”.

A bordo del Ericsson 3, el navegante Aksel Magdahl dijo que inundaron e barco cuando dieron contra una ola a 35 nudos.

“El agua se metió dentro y llenó el barco casi hasta nuestras rodillas”, dijo Magdahl, que está disputando su primera Volvo Ocean Race. “Costó unos 20 minutos vaciar el barco, pero los equipos electrónicos parecen no estar bien”.

Se debe elogiar la marinería de los regatistas de la Volvo Ocean Race porque virtualmente nadan alrededor del mundo. Las velocidades de los barcos son tan rápidas que las cubiertas están constantemente
inundadas de agua. El problema es cuando se estrellan contra una ola. La velocidad cae significativamente y aumenta la carga de la jarcia.

Not to sound like I am whinging, but I think I will anyway.

Last night sucked. OR it was great –if you are a boat builder or a sailmaker looking for work. Yikes. The proverbial ‘you know what’ hit the fan when we got about as vertical in a sailboat as you ever want to be going down a big dark wave that sort of snuck up on us. And, when going straight down a big wave the inevitable bow crash is coming into the wave in front. But this time was different. Not only did the bow crash into the wave but the prod, the bow pulpit and about 15 feet up the Asymmetric Spinnaker we had up at the time. Bang. Spinnaker in many pieces and a long night for Justin Ferris.

Fortunately, we had the broken sail down and a new sail up in about 10 minutes. And we tweaked our angle and were going faster so all good right?

Wrong.

About an hour later after a watch change, we found another beauty of a wave except this one had no face in front of it and —whoosh. Take off! The inevitable silence of a boat that feels like it is literally flying, followed up with a massive SMASH into the not very soft Indian Ocean. But this one was different from the other 10,872 smashes that have occurred over the past 48 hours or so.

This one had a horrid CRACK along with it. I was working with Justin on the sail at the time and had on my headlamp and ran to the bow to quickly find several cracks in our longitudinal frames in the bow section. And, for those laymen out there, essentially these frames are the spine of the boat, which doesn’t allow it to fold in half. And they also don’t allow the bow to cave in when we hit waves. Kind of important piece to the puzzle.

Well, we are better now. Seven hours later. Bow repaired thanks to Casey Smith and Mickey Muller, and the kite back in one piece thanks to Justin. All the rest of the team filling in with sailing duties and helping repair when asked. Big effort and a feeling of complete exhaustion as well as satisfaction that we are back in the game and going full speed again.

Distance lost is always painful, but I think it could have been much worse.
We are still in the hunt and thanks to the effort of all the boys, we are whole again. We aren’t exactly in the position we want to be on the racetrack any more, but time will only tell how much it costs us. I figure it cost us only about 30 miles on the racetrack.

Another painful part of this escapade is that we happened to be lit up when everything went pear shaped. Had been the best boat in a few position reports in a row and were feeling really good about our spot on the track. Oh well, part of life.

So I am looking for anything lucky at this point to kill the breakdown curse. Brought out my lucky rock, looking for a lucky dolphin to escort us and there is a lucky albatross that has been following us for about two hours. I don’t know if there is such a thing as a lucky albatross but I just invented it so it must be true. Very cool.

So my whinge is over. Sorry you had to be a part of it. I feel better getting it off my chest. The competitive side of all of us HATES to lose miles..

Time to try and make them back up.

Ken Read - skipper

Again, I would have to be here to believe it. The Agulhas Current snakes around like a giant serpent and with every twist it throws up either a good or bad current and an ever changing sea state. All we can do is to try to minimise the time we spend in the bad bits and maximise the good. At least it is warm water so life on deck though wet is not too bad.

‘OK sailing boffins why is a Chinese gybe called a Chinese gybe? Nobody on the Green Dragon knows and I kind of feel we should.’

Ian Walker - skipper