Phil Harmer With Ration Food Bags (Photo By Guo Chuan/Green Dragon/Volvo Ocean Race)
It is day 40 of this 12,300 nautical mile jaunt from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and in the closing stages, the leading boat, Ericsson 3, has opted to play her stealth card. She has gone into hiding and will only reappear 24- hours later, or once she is within 50 nm of the finish in Rio.
This is the first time on this leg that the stealth card, newly introduced for the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race, has been played. Ericsson 3 began her ‘StealthPlay’ to give it its official title, immediately after the 1000 GMT position report this morning and her position in the fleet and all her onboard data will now be secret.
However, at 1000 GMT this morning, the last position report before she ‘disappeared’ from the world’s radar, Ericsson 3 had 194 miles to run to the finish as was parallel with Sao Paulo. She was averaging a double-figure boat speed of 10.5 knots and had achieved a run of 262 nm in the past 24 hours.
Her nearest and deadliest rival, Ericsson 4, with the hugely talented Torben Grael at the helm in what are his home waters, was a safe 103 nm behind her. But, spicing things up in the last hours of the leg, Grael too opted for StealthPlay shortly after today’s 1300 GMT positions were released and now the whereabouts of the man who has five Olympic medals to his name and who knows the waters off Rio like the back of his hand, will be unknown for 24-hours.
At 1300 GMT today, prior to announcing their StealthPlay, Ericsson 4 had 254 nm to run to the finish, with third-placed PUMA a further 86 miles astern.
Yesterday, PUMA’s skipper Ken Read was questioning the motives of the Wind Gods. “Do they really need to play with us like this?” he asked. He answered his own question when he said, “We have a choice. We always have a choice, but now, we really have a choice. We can feel sorry for ourselves and bitch about the weather and the winds and everything else that is preventing us from the ‘all we can eat in Rio’, or we can suck it up and deal with our situation the best we can. Continue to race and continue to do our jobs.”
Read’s crew clearly chose the latter option and Read is very proud of all involved. “Not a single ‘feeling sorry for ourselves’ comment. We continue to race,” he said.
The top four boats, including the beleaguered Green Dragon have all been set free of the high pressure and are making good speeds towards the finish, while Telefónica Blue is the latest victim of the light spot and her speed is nearly half that of the Dragon’s, at 7.5 nm average over the last three hours.
After closing to within 50 nm of Ian Walker and his men yesterday, Bouwe Bekking’s blue boat has now slipped back to 164 nm, as she too now has to fight her way through the high pressure.
“What could have been a case of just counting down the miles to Rio has become for us an exciting duel to the finish,” declared Telefónica Blue’s helmsman Simon Fisher.
As well as keeping Telefónica Blue at bay, Green Dragon has her own issues onboard. Their fuel situation has become critical as the alternator on the generator isn’t working and crew has to use the main engine, which takes more fuel.
“We have calculated we have six days [of fuel] left,” says skipper Ian Walker, who reckons it will take them the full six days to reach Rio.
Ericsson 3 is expected to complete this leg in the early hours of tomorrow morning, followed by Ericsson 4 and PUMA later the same day. Computer routing software is predicting a finish for both Green Dragon and Telefónica Blue on 28 March, but with 450 nm still to run and the possibility of the wind fading, the finishing order for these two is far from a done deal.
Leg Five Day 40: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) STEALTHPLAY
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 254
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +86
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +459
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +623
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Cape Horn Scoring Gate
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
(Photo By Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race)
As leg five draws out even further due to a complete lack of wind, the crews are longing for the finish in Rio and everything that it brings: results, families, cool beers, big steaks, showers, warm beds, and not necessarily in that order.
Ericsson 3 still holds her lead (DTF 424 nm) and although there have been a few blips in the last 24 hours, no one has taken any significant miles out of her deficit, and the chasing pair are due south of her. Ericsson 3 has only covered 172 nm in the past 24 hours and while Ericsson 4 has gained seven miles (DTL 65 nm) PUMA languishes a safe 154 nm astern.
“The light airs are making are lives a mess,” wrote MCM Gustav Morin this morning. For many of the crew, their families will be arriving in Rio, and they wanted to be there to take care of them when they arrived. For others, the chance of returning home for a break are becoming slimmer as time runs out with each windless day.
“Since we are late in, most of the families will arrive before us and all the fathers onboard are talking more often about their kids and wives,” Morin says.
Jules Salter, the navigator on Ericsson 4, has almost lost track of the number of days he has been at sea, and he is frustrated with the weather maps, which only seem to make part sense. “When you expect a gain, you make a loss,” he says.
But, he warns, “inventing weather is ‘bad science’ and expecting to know more than the men and women in beige at the weather centres is pretty dumb, but you have to try and do something.”
“If your hokum theory lines up, you can make a plan for the next few hours. Usually the plan works for about two hours, then the wind shifts and drops and you are back to square one, trying to conjure up another scenario from your onboard observations.”
The real boat race now seems to be between becalmed Green Dragon (DTF 918nm) and the limping Telefónica Blue (DTF 983 nm), who has made a more sophisticated repair to the checkstays on the mast. The team is looking for a surprise ‘comeback’, reckoning that Green Dragon is fighting more current than the maps show.
“Right now they [Green Dragon] are still well ahead, but it will be a good laugh if we could actually manage to pass them,” said skipper Bouwe Bekking, who has closed to within 65 miles.
Unlike the other teams, who are rationing food and diesel, Telefónica Blue has been well provided for by MCM Gabriele Olivo, who even brought onboard a huge bag full of mature, three-year old parmesan cheese to add variety to the daily snacks as well as some grated pieces to make the freeze dried food more enjoyable.
Not a day has passed when leftover food has been thrown away and there is enough food for the team to have extra breakfasts if they want to, something that would be the envy of the rest of the fleet, if only they knew…
They do now!
Leg Five Day 39: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 424 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +65
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +154
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +494
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +559
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Cape Horn Scoring Gate
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
Casey Smith on PUMA Bow (Photo By Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race
For Ericsson 3, the finish of Volvo Ocean Race leg five cannot come soon enough. It is a question of watching anxiously to see what the opposition is doing – in this case Ericsson 4, and waiting for the wind to fill in to propel them to a first-place finish in Rio de Janeiro. The team has covered a measly 189 nm in the past 24 hours.
With every three-hour position report there is a small loss or gain to be made and today at 1300 GMT, Ericsson 3 was on the up, having clawed back 15 miles from Ericsson 4 to extend their margin to 72 nautical miles.
Currently 246 nm off the Brazilian coast and parallel to Port Alegre, Ericsson 3 is making 9.3 knots. Ericsson 4 is right on her tail and still has wind, while PUMA is 401 nm offshore, and making 11.5 knots average, the best in the fleet. In the next three hours, there will be losses for Ericson 3 and gains for the chasing two until they reach the light spot and slow again.
Meanwhile further back in the field, the westerly course chosen by Green Dragon has led them into all sorts of trouble, allowing Telefónica Blue, who stayed offshore, to close the gap between them to 175 nm. Bouwe Bekking’s newly invigorated team now has a real chance now of catching Ian Walker and his men.
It has been a chapter of misfortune for Green Dragon that began three days ago when the weather models showed a fast route.
“Next, the wind headed too much to lay the Falklands and we lost precious hours having to tack through the islands,” explains Ian Walker.
“Following this, a high pressure bubbled up right in our path and just behind the leaders. Negotiating this cost us a day,” he says.
“Still things were OK as we sailed upwind looking for the northwesterlies and a new low coming off the South American shore. This arrived last night as predicted, but instead of bringing 15 knot winds and a route through the next high pressure, it brought lightning and no wind,” Walker concludes. The team is now struggling with virtually no wind and none forecast for three days.
To make matters worse, the team is battling adverse current and Walker says they will not be in Rio for another six days. This has meant the rationing of food and diesel, which is used to run the onboard systems. The team has closed down non-essential systems, but as for food, the picture is not so good.
This 12,300 nautical mile leg has turned into something of an epic. It is the longest leg in the 36-year history of the event and it is beginning to look as if an elapsed time of around 40 days will be recorded. Food is now being rationed on all boats and the daily food bags are being re-organised, each time making the day’s food bag emptier.
“I am sure we aren’t the only boat complaining of lack of food at this point, but we are starting to run pretty low and every routing run we do after we get new weather is showing longer and longer elapsed times,” rues PUMA’s skipper Ken Read.
For Green Dragon, the situation is worse. They started the leg with 40 days worth of food, which a week ago was split to make another two days of food rations.
“When guys are tired and hungry there is nothing like food to create friction between them,” says Walker, who has split the remaining food 11 ways leaving each of the crew to manage his own food, to prevent any arguments. “We are already hungry and it will get worse – simple as that,” says Walker rather matter of factly.
The team onboard Telefónica Blue is hungry too, and drooling at the prospect of Rio’s famous restaurants.
“The ‘all you can eat’ meat restaurant seems to be very high on everyone’s priority list, including mine!” writes Simon Fisher. “Right now, just thinking about it making my stomach rumble.”
There is just the small matter of over 1100 miles to go before they can tuck in.
Leg Five Day 38: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 590 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +72
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +135
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +409
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +584
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Cape Horn Scoring Gate
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
Anders Dalhsjo and Gustav Morin exercising onboard Ericsson 3 ( Photo By Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race)
It is an agonising time for Ericsson 3 as Magnus Olsson watches the rest of the fleet catching him as his team fights yet another high-pressure area, which sits between them and the finish of leg five in Rio de Janeiro.
Over the past 24 hours, second-placed Ericsson 4 has closed the gap to 57 nm, gaining 29 miles. PUMA too has knocked a dent in the deficit and is now just 116 nm behind Ericsson 3, a gain of 89 nm in 24 hours. These three yachts are now 400 nm of the coast of Uruguay, roughly parallel to Cabo Palinio.
Green Dragon is still closer inshore, 210 nm off Mar del Plata in Argentina, which was a stopover in the 1981-82 Whitbread Race. Their inshore move, while looking disastrous yesterday, has gained the team 78 nm, just as navigator Wouter Verbraak hoped it would.
With just 771 miles still to run for Ericsson 3 before crossing the finish line in Rio and the safe haven of Marina Da Gloria where hot showers, cool beers and famous Brazilian food await, boat speeds are down to under 10 knots and yet the distance is tantalisingly close.
Word from Ericsson 4′s Trimmer Horacio Carabelli about Life onboard “We are slowly progressing towards Rio and we still have a lot to go. We just passed the projection line boarder between Brazil and Uruguay, but still we are below Montevideo in latitude, so in theory we are in Brazilian extended waters, which makes us feel a bit at home for Torben (Torben Grael), Joca (Joca Signorini) and me.
I’ve been sailing along this coast a good part of my life and normally to Rio is a light upwind trip at this time of the year unless you catch a front coming from south. Sailing itself has been pleasant in moderate winds, flat water and quite clear skies, much better than three – four days ago where we were fully dressed with all the underlayers we had available.
Nipper (Guy Salter MCM) has reorganised the food for the second time, every time making the day bag emptier, so it will be a painful 800miles from here.
The distance between the boats has changed quite a bit as we pass through the west of a high pressure area, gaining and losing on each sked. It’s difficult to say what will happen in the end we have to deal with the approach to Guanabara Bay that can be very tricky. According to the planning we should be in by the 25th at noon, so if we are lucky we have three more nights left in the lady that had carried us by more than 12500nm!! I’m really looking forward to stepping on solid land at Marina da Gloria, have a shower and sleep in a normal bed!!
The only boat achieving a reasonable speed is Telefónica Blue, but she still languishes at the tail end of the fleet, some 586 miles behind the leaders.
Bouwe Bekking had this to say today in his email ” We are ‘lucky’, as we have tonight a breeze very close to being in the right range of our J4 jib. The last 48 hours we have been sailing in the so-called no-mans-land, as we couldn’t have the right jib up, meaning sailing only at around 85% of our optimum. So even though it is a bumpy ride, we are making ok progress and the performance numbers are better, even though we are still on the wind. Within a day from now the breeze will start lighten off , but lifting which means less water over the deck and probably better progress, as we can hoist our big code 0.
Two new nicknames have appeared: SiFi (Simon Fisher) has turned into Sergej, as he starts looking like a Russian with his big dark beard, and Jordi (Jordi Calafat) into Rat, not sure were the last one came from. For sure over the next few days more names will get invented.
Jono (Jonathan Swain) nearly went nuts this evening, when he found out that somebody has eaten his chocolate bar. He has been going on about it the entire night watch, but it brought out some good stories as well. During previous races the snack department was very small, and the crews way more focused on their part, so some really funny accusations happened between people, so we highlighted a few and had a good laugh.
We just came of watch and stood with Xabi (Xabier Fernandez) looking at our PLC box and all wiring, and both thinking the same. It is amazing all our electrical installations have been holding up so well in nearly 100 % humidity, thanks to the guys in Sydney, who have done a remarkable job again and of course to Matt and Eduardo who keep an eye on everything during the stopovers. Where would we be without electronics? It could be fun to sail a leg without anything, and to see how we all can cope with that.”
Current predictions are for a finish for Ericsson 3, provided she can hold off the advances of Ericsson 4, on Wednesday morning, with the other two podium places being decided later in the day. Green Dragon is forecast to finish a day behind, in the afternoon of 26 March, while Telefónica Blue still has just over 1300 nm still to run.
Leg Five Day 37: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 771 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +57
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +116
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +335
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +586
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Cape Horn Scoring Gate
(boat/date/rounding time/gate points)
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
Simon Fisher, Pablo Arrarte and Mike Pammenter on Telefonica Blue (Photo By Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race)
The second high pressure system blocking the route to Rio de Janeiro has come into play for Magnus Olsson’s team today, and slowed them down. Both Ericsson 4 and PUMA have been able to close the gap yet again, with Ericsson 4 now just 86 miles behind. That’s still a healthy margin for the Nordic crew, but certainly less comfortable than what they had just 12 hours ago – Ericsson 4 has gained 40 miles over that span.
From Thomas Johansson – watch captain “Hopefully the last tough night is behind us on leg five. Fighting against a front and staying in it has been on the agenda many times on this leg. You may win a lot of miles by doing so, but if you fall short, the wind will back and you start to lose. This is why again on the night the 19th we had a blast in really mixed up sea state.
But we are human beings, not robots, so we too start to feel tired and we are especially fed up with these fights, due to the fact that it has been, most of the time, tight reaching instead of nice downwind sailing.
You have lots of speed, people are flying around in the cockpit and the constant water hosing makes you crazy. The only thing that keeps you fighting is the commitment to the team and the loyalty to others.
As a team you feel stronger and perform better during the tough times. But for now hopefully we can start to change to shorts and t-shirts. It’s been a long ride so far, all the way from Taiwan. Just waiting to get to Rio and get a couple of beers and meet my wife and the kids. But let’s first fight to the finish.”
From Guy Salter – MCM “From Yesterday started in glorious sunshine but was still rather chilly. As the morning progressed we began to be plagued with thick banks of fog in which the temp really did plummet and in which you just got completely drenched. Then, after an hour, you would suddenly emerge from
the fog back into a lovely sunny and slightly warmer spot.
On the horizon, the dark band of the next fog bank would be visible and yet again you would be shrouded in the low cloud with visibility diminished to a mere two boat lengths at worst.
We also saw a lot of kelp and weed floating yesterday and inevitably it ended up on our submersed appendages, so the ritual of endoscope, board lift and rudder clean became the norm. We even had one back down which didn’t really happen as smoothly as you would see in an America’s Cup pre-start – but it did rid us of the weed, so an overall success.
The big change yesterday, which has probably had the most impact on day to day life happened at 0200 UTC this morning when the breeze built and went aft and at a similar time the sea temp rose by about 7C to 17C. As we sped through the night the sea acted as a radiator and with plenty of water over the deck several layers of thermals have been returned to
the kit bags only for them to see the light of day at a Brazilian launderette.
At present we are running on port in a very sloppy and mixed up seaway in 14kt of wind and we are anticipating a gybe onto starboard with the weather predicting and relatively fast starboard tack into Rio – although I’m sure this will change and allsorts happens when you get
within striking distance of land!
I seem to remember Knut (Knut Frostad Volvo Ocean Race CEO and skipper of Djuice in 2001-02) and his boys in pink on the 2001-02 edition of the race coming from absolutely nowhere and going the inshore route to grab a podium finish into Rio and knock my team down a place.
Poor old Blood (Phil Jameson) has probably been the cleanest person on a Volvo 70 but has also suffered a fair amount from salt water rashes on this leg. I guess it’s due to the fact that he is constantly under water, I’m surprised he isn’t growing gills. His latest episode has made his top lip swell and unfortunately the rest of us can’t help but find it amusing – luckily Blood is as good as receiving as taking the mickey. He does look like he has had Botox (UK readers think Leslie Ash) and his mouth is similar to Homer Simpson’s.
On the other scale, it has been revealed that two individuals have been at the other end of the cleanliness scale revealing that they can count on one hand the amount of times they have cleaned their teeth! I would just warn their partners to bring some wire wool and a power washer as we have all noticed their dragon’s breath and we all haven’t washed properly since the start. I won’t reveal their identity but they are both from the southern hemisphere! The joys of offshore racing!”
From Simon Fisher – Helmsman “With Cape Horn now behind us the focus is clear – get to Rio as quick as possible!! Everyone seems newly invigorated by our return to the Atlantic and spirits seem high.
It is nice that we can finally count down to the finish of this leg now in days, not weeks, or week in singular at least. Things too seem a little more pleasant now we have returned to the Atlantic. From start to finish we have had a beautiful sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky. This evening we were treated to an amazing sunset and the temperature has improved a little as well making life just that little bit easier…
Earlier today we passed close by to the Falklands, to have seen land twice in two days is quite a treat! Nice too to see something British too, even if there was some debate as to whether they should in fact be Argentinean! Needless to say the English speakers sided with the UK and the Spaniards with the Argentina!
Today too saw us make some gains on the guys in front. We managed to close up the gap between us and the Green Dragons by about 100 miles. They are still a long way ahead but to see the deficit come down a little as they battle with high pressure ahead gives us a little glimmer of hope of catching them and also provides us with some fresh motivation to keep pushing ourselves hard. As if wanting to get to Rio after over month at sea wasn’t motivation enough!!”
Michi Mueller Trimming On PUMA (Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race)
The Nordic crew on Ericsson 3 have taken the old expression ‘make hay while the sun shines’ to heart over the past day. The team is roaring up the South Atlantic, frantically adding miles to their lead in anticipation of a possible park-up before the finish line in Rio.
“There are still many things that can go wrong and the next thing to worry about is a high pressure that we will soon reach. And now it looks like it will be very light when we get closer to Rio, which also gives the others an opportunity to catch up.”
There are two high pressure systems which are forecast to block the road to Rio over the coming days. If the leading boats get caught in the sticky conditions it could result in a virtual re-start, just over two days from the finish line. Ericsson 3 is pouring on the pressure, making good 449 miles over the past 24 hours in a very difficult environment. So testing, in fact, that the crew was worried about damaging the boat in the punishing waves overnight. Again, from Gustav:
“If someone thought the tough days were over, they were wrong. Yesterday evening and the entire night has been a fight. Boat-breaking conditions for sure. Hard reaching with a really nasty sea state and never-ending slamming and bashing…
“Since the breakdown everyone is a bit worried when we hit bad conditions with a lot of slamming. Bu we all put a lot of trust in Jens, our boat-captain, and if he is happy we are usually happy… Jens looked calm almost all the time during the night and that means everyone else was calm as well.”
Although the night wasn’t entirely without incident. A deck fitting that had been leaking for most of the leg came off, allowing water to cascade into the bow compartment. Fortunately for Ericsson 3, it didn’t take long for the crew to plug the leak and pump the water out. Still, it was a reminder of what can go wrong.
Despite the scare, over the past 24 hours, the Nordic team have doubled their lead to 100 miles over Ericsson 4 and gained even more separation on both PUMA and Green Dragon. Those miles are like money in the bank, and skipper Magnus Olsson will be happy to have a bit of an extra buffer if and when he hits the light conditions ahead.
PUMA skipper Ken Read, for one, isn’t ready to concede anything. In a radio interview today, Read said the changing conditions in the forecast might just leave a little opening for a passing move.
“The goal is to grind them down,” he said. “The weather gets a little lighter as we head towards Rio and there are some big high pressure centres in our way. The leaders are going to slow down a bit and we’re going to have our chance… As long as there’s a chance then we’ll be battling as hard as we can.”
And still chasing from a long way back is Telefonica Blue. Near calm conditions during their passage of Cape Horn yesterday meant Bouwe Bekking’s crew dropped a further 87 miles to the leader over the past day. But their situation is better now.
“It took a long time before the breeze started filling in,” Bekking wrote this morning. “It is amazing how much influence a landmass has on the wind. Sixty miles further south of us it was blowing a full gale.”
Overnight, the team suffered another problem with its rigging, as the check-stay (a stay that attaches to the middle of the mast to control mast bend) detached from the spar. But Bekking says the team was prepared.
“We were fully aware that this could happen, as we had damaged it when we broke the forestay. It was a good thing that we had set up a temporary stay already from day one, just in case this would happen. David (David Vera) had to go up the rig – remember this was night time and waves of around 2-3 metres high – to take the checkstay down and of course to check if there was any further damage. It all looks good… We are taking these kinds of setbacks with a ‘smile’ on our face. Nothing that we can’t face – we will tackle it and move on.”
That sounds like a good philosophy all round. The final days of this marathon leg promise to be as testing as anything they’ve faced up to now. Smiles might be as tightly rationed as the dwindling food supplies over the next few days.
"Talisker Tales" At Royal Victoria Yacht Club (Photo By Colin Merry)
Challenge and Adventure’s Colin Merry attended a talk by Pete last night at the Royal Victoria yacht club. It was billed as ”Talisker Tales”. It turned out to be four separate talks taking in most if not all of his sailing life leading up to arriving in Spirit of Mystery. There was a hilarious section when in the Royal Marines he was told that he was doing the double handed race to New York from England. Both he and his partner didn’t have a clue how to navigate to America so they followed the sunsets and the vapour trails of the jets flying overhead! The second part was about the Vendee in which he rescued fellow competitor Rapheal Dinelli’. I don’t remember anyone moving so much as a muscle during this narrative! Team Philips got her own slot with video to back up the fact that she worked and worked well. Then came the story of ’”Spirit of’Mystery” from her inception through the build period and finally the voyage with all it’s highs and lows! All in all an evening of pure sailing pleasure listening to a man who can capture and carry an audience! An evening that this reporter would thoroughly recommend to anyone who has the slightest interest in sailing or adventure!
Telefonica Blue Rounding Cape Horn (Photo By Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race)
Telefónica Blue has crossed safely through the scoring gate at Cape Horn to grab two points. This puts her on 46.5 points overall, just half a point behind Ken Read’s second placed PUMA, and still in the hunt.
“Obviously we are relieved to get to Cape Horn, we had a bit of a party onboard and now we can think about getting to Rio and giving the guys in the shore crew time to prepare the boat for the in-port race and restart,” said skipper Bouwe Bekking. “We are really pleased with the way the boat has performed even though we have been jury rigged since we broke the forestay earlier on,” he added.
Continuing to lead the fleet is Magnus Olsson and Ericsson 3. Olsson has managed to position his boat between the chasing pack and the finish in Rio, a position he would like to keep until the finish gun sounds, but the weather is complex and gains and losses are expected in the next two days as the fleet negotiates the patches of high pressure with varying degrees of success.
Although their advantage is currently 50 nm, a gain of five miles in the past 24 hours, it is not a comfortable lead. “We are sailing through an area of high pressure bubbles,” says Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl. “My biggest concern is the high we will have to negotiate in two or three days’ time. It can easily be a parking spot,” he said.
“Already tonight we will have to try and get ahead of another light patch developing between the two highs to our north and south. It looks like we might just manage that,” he added.
The team has also had to deal with kelp attaching itself to the keel and rudders, which meant sailing the boat backwards to free it.
In third place, 136 nm behind Ericsson 3, PUMA reports flat seas and light breeze, which has encouraged sound sleeping among the crew. Green Dragon’s Ian Walker, who still has his sights set on a podium finish, also reported enjoying the longest and best sleep he has had in this entire leg.
The top three boats are spread in a line north/south. Puma’s Ken Read says that the spacing of the boats is proving to have just enough room to create its own little weather situation, which can be significantly different from the other boats.
“It’s a kind of yo-yo effect. Sometimes you are going down on the string, but, nearly always you will come back up as well,” Read says. “The object for PUMA is to have more ups than downs,” he added.
Over the last three hours, PUMA has averaged the highest speed of 14 knots, but Telefónica Blue claims the fastest 24-hour run of 387 nm.
Cape Horn Scoring Gate
(boat/date/rounding time/gate points)
Ericsson 3: 17.03.09 1222 GMT: 4 points
Ericsson 4: 17.03.09 1448 GMT: 3.5 points
PUMA: 17.03.09 2046 GMT: 3 points
Green Dragon: 18.03.09 0215 GMT 2.5 points
Telefónica Blue: 19.03.09 1339 GMT 2 points
Leg Five Day 34: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 1621 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +50
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +136
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +236
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +636
