SailingPR - Sailing & Regatas

First of all congratulations to Torben and his boys. They sailed a blinder of a race from the scoring waypoint to the finish. Well done.

Yesterday we just managed to sail officially in the southern ocean, but luckily the wind direction changed and we could gybe, to bring us back into warmer waters. It will show if our tactics will pay against the ruskies, who have been gaining slowly but steadily against us.

If our predictions are right, we will gain a couple of miles back again, by taking advantage of the wind shift to come over the next couple of hours. The only thing what we don’t know, is if this will work out since they have gone into their invisible (stealth) mode. Time will tell.

The breeze will slowly drop on our way to Cape Town and not having our big spinnaker anymore will be a disadvantage in these conditions, since it blew apart again. And we have run out of repair material, so we have to use smaller sails.

For the rest, the boat is in good shape, of course we have a job list for our shore crew, but we could have easily carried on for another leg. The other good news is that we will just manage with our fuel. We have gone through a massive power reduction, switching even things off like the GPS and as well a minimum usage of the media equipment. We have 135 litres of emergency fuel onboard, but any usage of that and it means the hassle of explaining that to the jury. So better this way. But the best news is that none of the guys are injured, and that we all learned a heck of lot more about our boat.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica (2 de noviembre, 2008) - Poco después del amanecer en una tranquila Bahía Table en Ciudad del Cabo, Sudáfrica, el patrón Torben Grael y la tripuación Internacional de Ericsson Racing Team a bordo de Ericsson 4 se convirtieron esta mañana en los líderes de la Volvo Ocean Race al ganar la primera etapa a las 05:54 GMT (06:54 hora española).

Ericsson 4 ganó 8 puntos por la victoria de etapa, tras un terminarla en un tiempo de 21 días, 17 horas y 54 minutos, y lidera la
clasificación general con 14 puntos. Ericsson 4 cruzó la línea de llegada bajo la Table Mountain a toda vela sobre un mar en calma.

“Nos sentimos muy bien”, dijo el brasileño Torben Grael. “Pero hay mucha regata por delante. Esto es sólo el principio”.

La tripulación de Ericsson 4 está formada por el patrón Torben Grael, el navegante Jules Salter, los jefes de guardia Stu Bannatyne y Brad Jackson, los trimmers Horacio Carabelli, Tony Mutter y João “Joca” Signorini, el piano Dave Endean, los proas Ryan Godfrey y Phil “Blood” Jameson, y el tripulante de medios de comunicación Guy Salter.

En una etapa muy emocionante y plagada de incidentes, con 6.500 millas de recorrido desde Alicante, la tripulación de Ericsson 4
vivió alibajos que sólo se encuentran en la Volvo Ocean Race.

Los buenos momentos incluyeron el liderazgo de la flota a través del estrecho de Gibraltar junto al compañero de equipo Ericsson 3, llegar segundo a la puerta puntuable en Fernando de Noronha y establecer un nuevo record de velocidad en 24 horas de 602.66 millas náuticas (pendiente de ratificación).

“Estuvo lleno de incidentes,pasaron muchas cosas: el desembarco de Tony, los continuos cambios de líder. Fue muy mocionante,” dijo Bannatine, jefe de guardia, que está disputando su quinta Volvo.

Hubo también momentos no tan buenos, como la evacuación del tripulante Tony Mutter en las Islas de Cabo Verde a causa de una infección en una rodilla, que supuso la pérdida de un importante hombre a bordo para las rotaciones, y dejó a la tripulación menguada con nueve miembros activos. La travesía subsiguiente a través de los Doldrums (calmas ecuatoriales) fue más larga de lo planeado y forzó a la tripulación a “jugar a pillar”.

“El momento más difícil fue entrar en los Doldrums y decidir hacer un poco de kilometraje y pasarlos por más hacia el oeste”, dijo el navegante Jules Salter. “Obviamente siempre está pasando algo en la regata. Hubo un par de momentos en que la flota se juntó y fue como volver a empezar. Eso lo hace difícil.”

A lo largo del recorrido la tripulación aprendió valiosas lecciones. Estuvieron en un contacto tan estrecho con su rival Puma que fueron capaces de hacer pruebas barco contra barco en vivo, cambiando configuraciones de velad o ángulos de trimado para los barcos en vivo para evaluar diferencias de velocidad.

“Parece que nos tuvimos a la vista durante aproximadamente el 80 por ciento de la etapa,” dijo Salter.

Ahora que la etapa ha terminado cada tripulante tiene su propio plan. Jules Salter estaba deseando comer y beber algo bueno, antes de sentarse a planear la próxima etapa”.

Bannatyne, sin embargo, dijo que vivió el mejor momento de de la etapa al final con la sorpresa que le dio su mujer al haber volado
desde Nueva Zelanda a Ciudad del Cabo. Lo que pensaba hacer entonces era desayunar con ellahueos con bacon seguidos con una cerveza fría.

El otro barco de Ericsson Racing Team, Ericsson 3, con su tripulación nórdica, también está peleando por terminar entre lso tres primeros de la etapa. En el informe de posiciones de las 04:00 GMT, la tripulación de Anders Lewander estaba a 347 millas náuticas del final y 28 millas por delante de Green Dragon.

Ayer por la tarde Ericsson 3 se puso en “modo invisible”, ocultando su posición a los rivales durante 12 horas. Mientras estaba en “modo invisible” Ericsson 3 trasluchó para cubrir mejor a Green Dragon.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Nov. 2, 2008) - With the sun rising in Cape Town, South Africa, over a tranquil Table Bay, skipper Torben Grael and Ericsson Racing Team’s International crew on Ericsson 4 this morning became the overall leaders in the Volvo Ocean Race when they won Leg 1 at 0554 GMT.

Ericsson 4 earned 8 points for the leg victory, which it attained with an elapsed time of 21 days, 17 hours and 54 minutes, and leads the overall standings with 14 points. Ericsson 4 crossed the finish line under Table Mountain flying full sail on a calm sea.

“We feel very good about it,” said Grael, the Brazilian. “But there’s a lot of race to go. This is just the beginning.”

The Ericsson 4 crew included skipper Grael, navigator Jules Salter, watch captains Stu Bannatyne and Brad Jackson, trimmers Horacío
Carabelli, Tony Mutter and João “Joca” Signorini, pitman Dave Endean, bowmen Ryan Godfrey and Phil “Blood” Jameson, and media crewman Guy Salter.

In a thoroughly eventful and entertaining 6,500-nautical-mile leg from Alicante, Spain, the crew of Ericsson 4 experienced highs and
lows only found in the Volvo Ocean Race.

The highs were plentiful and included leading the fleet through the Straits of Gibraltar alongside teammate Ericsson 3, placing second at the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha, and setting a world 24-hour speed record of 602.66 nautical miles (pending ratification).

“It was pretty eventful, there was a lot going on with Tony getting off and the lead changing so many times. It was pretty exciting,” said Bannatyne, the watch captain competing in his fifth Volvo race.

There were also lows to contend with, such as losing crewman Tony Mutter at the Cape Verde Islands to an infected knee, which took a valuable crewmember out of the rotation and left the crew shorthanded with nine active members. The ensuing passage through the Doldrums was far from planned and forced the crew to play catch-up.

“The hardest moment was entering the Doldrums and deciding to take a hit on mileage to set up for a westerly pass,” said Jules Salter, the navigator. “Obviously, there’s always something gong on in the race. There’s a couple times when the fleet compressed and restarted again. It makes it hard.”

Along the way the crew was learning valuable lessons. They were in such close contact with rival Puma of the U.S. that they were able to do live, two-boat testing, changing sail configurations or trimming angles to gauge speed differences.

“It seemed like they we were in sight of them for maybe 80 percent of the leg,” said Salter.

Now that the leg’s over, each crewman has his own agenda. Jules Salter was looking forward to something nice to eat and something nice to drink, before sitting down to start planning the next leg.

Bannatyne, however, said he experienced the best moment of the leg at the finish, when his wife surprised him by flying into Cape Town from New Zealand. He was planning to have her join him for a breakfast of eggs and bacon followed by a cold beer.

Ericsson Racing Team’s second entry in the race, the Nordic crew on Ericsson 3, is also gunning for a podium finish. At the 0400 GMT position report, Anders Lewander’s crew was 347 nautical miles from the finish and 28 miles ahead of Green Dragon.

Yesterday afternoon Ericsson 3 went into Stealth mode, where it hides is position from rivals for up to 12 hours. While in Stealth mode Ericsson 3 made a jibe away from Green Dragon to obtain a stronger covering position.

ERICSSON 4 ON THE DOCKSIDE CAPE TOWN

Torben Grael – skipper

We had everything. We had a wonderful journey, very rough weather for a couple of days with a lot of speed. I am very, very happy with everything we achieved.

We had PUMA on visual for 70 per cent of the race. It is amazing. I was very glad we were ahead of them at the scoring gate and here at the finish.

It feels great to win. We are happy that the finish wasn’t very painful. When we arrived here with Brasil1, we were 12 hours waiting outside without any wind. It was very good to have just a little bit of wind at the end and not stop before crossing the finish line.

The teamwork was marvellous, not only onboard, but as a whole team. The shore team too. Onboard it a little harder with one man down, a little bit of extra work for everybody, but everyone gave it best, and here we are.

Jules Salter – navigator

It’s good to be here; it’s always good to be in Cape Town
It was an eventful race, so many things going on; I really can’t remember most of it. We had a good lead after 24 hours, but that disappeared, then we had to evacuate Tony.

It was great to be in the lead from the very beginning.

I can’t wait to kick a football around a field.

Hi There,

I know this race now has a new Asian flavour to it - what with visiting China and Singapore, but I wasn’t expecting a taste of the orient quite so soon in the form of a massive Chinese gybe last night.

The guys on deck were pushing hard to keep the miles up when they got caught by a nasty wave a wham! There we were, over on our side. I was downstairs at the time, having checked the weather and gone a few rounds with an intermittent Sat C. I had just climbed into my sleeping bag and was getting ready for a nice snooze before the next position report was due in.

However aspirations of that were to be short lived when the boat listed one way then the other. I groaned to myself knowing full well what was about to happen, and before I knew it, I was standing on the side of the hull still half in the sleeping bag, the bunk having tipped up as we had gone over. Probably not the nicest way to have to get up!

Inside the boat was relatively tranquil, albeit a little disorienting with the boat being so far over the wrong way. Still standing on the side of the hull I pulled my boots on then literally climbed into the navstation on my way to getting on deck.

The boat was heeled over at 57 degrees I noticed as I looked on the computer to see which way we were pointing. On deck however was a different story - flapping sails and water rushing through the cockpit threatening to sweep the stack away. It was a priority to get the spinnaker down, then out of the water and the boat pointed the right way and sailing again.

Everyone worked hard and this was all sorted relatively quickly, despite a few nervous moments as things moaned and groaned under the load. Luckily, after sorting everything out and giving it a thorough check over, the boat and rig was in good shape so we were back up to a modest pace in very little time. Lesson learnt and quite enough excitement for one night!

That said, things have been a little more relaxed since our little tip out last night. Everyone has been on edge in recent days fearing something like this may happen and after it did it was almost like we had got it out of the way and we could go about business as usual again.

Today we made it briefly down to the roaring 40’s but luckily (for those of us who are from sunnier climbs and those of us who aren’t but are now used to living in Spain) a good wind shift came and has allowed us to gybe back north, so the temperature is steadily rising again and the boat slowly drying out. The risk is that we don’t let the run to the sun bias our tactics at all. I know there are plenty of guys on board who would rather not have to gybe back south again but if it’s the fastest way then so be it….

For the last few days it is all about consolidating our position - I think everyone is looking forward to Cape Town now so with any luck the last 500 miles should pass quite quickly.

Cheers,

Si Fi.

Simon Fisher - navigator

We have now started to use our right to go Stealth. It’s a new rule for this edition of the Volvo Ocean Race and it adds yet another moment of nervousness and excitement, both for the people who are following the race and for the sailors.

Which routet have they chosen? Will they gain or lose?

Comparing the race as it is today with 15-20 years ago is quite fun. Not the least when you get the comparison from the inside, from our own ocean-race-legend Magnus ‘Mange’ Olsson.

“The race was very different back then. It was not nearly as professional as it is today. Among the biggest differences is that today someone always knows your position via GPS”, Mange says and continues:

“Back then reporting your position was something you did by long frequent phone. The rule of course said that you were supposed to report your position once day, not the least for safety reasons. But many crews did not tell their correct position, since it’s a big benefit for the competitors to see which route you’re sailing. So it was good for the sailors on the cheating boat, but bad for the audience and really bad if something would happen. If the boat would start to sink and the communication system would break, then the rescue boats would be looking in the wrong area.”

Gustav Morin - MCM

It’s been an odd day on E4 today. We came out of our stealth mode - which didn’t really do much for us - we just carried on as normal.

We have been going ok on Puma and are happy that we are between them and the mark, just have to wait for the park up in Table Bay and watch the fleet sail around us!

The feeling onboard is different as we know we are getting near the end of our separation from the outside world. People have been busy preparing job lists and tidying the boat up after the ‘hanging on mode’ of mid week’s fast and furious ride.

Lots of the boys have been catching up what they can with rest - we know that the last 150 miles of this leg will probably be some of the toughest as the breeze gets lighter and less predictable the closer to land we get.

We have had a deluge of small ‘Portuguese man o war’ jelly fish on deck this evening. These nasty little sods can give you quite a sting, so care is taken before moving sails or grabbing rope. We had a distant escort of whales earlier - seeing what was screaming past them - although they didn’t get closer than a few hundred metres and quickly vanished from view.

A little earlier, a large Albatross (our first and only) came in low level, then suddenly soared up and gave us a solitary fly by before getting down between the waves and off on his own business. He looked like a large wise old thing and I imagine that we are not the first round the world competitor he has seen; he certainly gave the impression that he wasn’t too interested in us.

All else is good onboard and the apprehension of a difficult night and the chance that we may have to roll our sleeves up and fight once more is firmly planted in our minds

Guy Salter MCM

Phil Harmer (aka Wendy) is man of the match today. As well as telling us the best story of the trip so far, he has now rebuilt two spinnakers on board in double quick time.

The first, the fractional, was relatively minor and took 6 hours but yesterday’s was a biggie. We were guilty of pushing too hard trying to minimise the losses from our damaged keel by flying the masthead spinnaker at night in over 25 knots of wind and quite big waves.

We were hit by a line squall and the rapidly rising wind lead to a sequence of events that meant the spinnaker was in shreds. Fortunately, we salvaged all the pieces, but this was a big blow, as we will need this sail all the way to Cape Town. Phil wasn’t on watch at the time (9pm) and was woken up to piles of soaking wet, ripped sailcloth down below. He didn’t say anything but I read his mind.

By 6am and, with a bit of help from others off watch, he had it ready to go back up and it is now flying as good as new (well sort of) in 25 knots again. At times like this everyone really pulls together as a team as this was the last thing we needed right now.

The lads are pretty tired. For nearly a week now, we have been sailing a ‘double standby’ watch in strong wind. In simple terms, this means you only get 2 hours in your bunk every eight - which is not enough. It does mean that when it is rough we have seven people in kit ready to be on deck at a moment’s notice. We have needed them on several occasions.

The only other news is that we have gybed so we are now pointing pretty much at Cape Town. This is good for morale, not least as we are heading north again. It has been gloves and hat weather the last few days - Neal (McDonald/GBR) has even taken his shorts off and put on thermals.

It is frustrating knowing that we could be sailing so much faster and seeing ERT3 crossing us when we would have been so well clear of them but that’s yacht racing and the other night could have been so much worse. We have about 2 days to go and we are starting to count down the miles in fifties. Happy Days.

Ian Walker - skipper

36º 52′ S 01º 01′ W

Hi everyone
It is getting colder and colder as we get deep south, trying to avoid the high pressures which are catching us up through the north. Not strange, as the sea temperature goes to less than 13ºC, but all of us are well prepared.

We are going at a nice pace, and we hope to be home in a few days, providing we avoid this high which prevents us from taking a more direct track. But anyway, considering the problems we had, we keep high spirits on board and there is always a smile even when talking about controlling the food, in case we last more than predicted!

So, as there was no much news apart from our flock of flying bodyguards, which keep on our track day and night (albatrosses and giant petrels), thanks for your support.

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

We have reached the point in this leg that it seems like things are getting a little tiered. Most people have used their last set of dry kit and there is little or no chance of drying what is wet. The small sores and chafes are not healing as they would on land. Beno’s (Ben Costello/NZL) hands are falling apart. I asked him how they have become so raw. He shrugged his shoulders and said that they’ve been bad for a wile. ‘I did more than I should have done with my hands in Alicante and didn’t let the wound heal’.

Ben’s not the only one with sore bits; Nick Bubb’s elbow is getting worse. He is off grinding and is on quite strong painkillers that he deposits in his own special place, and in his own special way, much to the amusement of the crew. Mike Joubert’s ankle is still swollen and looks like it needs to heal more, but he never complains and runs round as if nothing was wrong.

Apart from those few minor knocks, we are all in good nick as nothing has fallen off yet, unlike the boat. We are still loosing bowls, spoons and water bottles faster than a scout camp in a gale.

The main thing on board that has hampered the smooth running of life is the fleet 500 aerial is bust. This means we can’t upload any media and more importantly, we can’t get the grib and weather files that we need for navigation. We have had nothing in the last 48 hours.

Wouter and Andreas have just managed to get something through on the slower Sat C service and they say I should be able to send you this Blog so if you are reading it all is well! Keep sending your messages of support as I have faith in Wouter fixing it.

We should break through the 1000-mile to go point later today. We have been pushing very hard and passing boats so although tired, spirits are high. Sailing in the bigger waves and heavy wind has now become a way of life. The waves have really opened out. They are good 8 to 9 boat lengths wide and we can now get good surf down them before powering into the back of the next.

Little southern reminders are slowly cropping up. The temperature has plummeted. The lads are wearing their full on survival suits, helmets and mittens on deck. The level on condensation has increased below decks as the warm air inside caused by us, condensates on the hull’s cold surface next to the now cold water.

Looking skywards, we have been blessed by a wonderful sight, so early in the race. A young Albatross has been following the boat for a day or so. Unlike its older family, it has to flap its wings once or twice a day. But apart from that, he glides effortlessly from wave to wave like a huge aircraft. Mariners say that Albatross and Dolphins are sailors lost at sea reincarnated as these friendly companions of the waves. Watching the bird majestically soar and glide, looking down at us all, our thoughts slowly drift to thinking fondly of good friends we have lost to the sea.

At first, life on the Number 39 Bus to Cape Town was hard compared with the warmer and smoother sailing before, but as Cam (Cameron Wills) keeps reminding us all: ‘I don’t care how hard this is, as long as it’s fast and taking us home! I’ll be in the arms of my sweetheart sooner”. Amen to that brother.

Mark Covell - MCM