Sport-heute: Sailing

25. Februar 2009, 10:16

Happy Day!

Wir sind nun alle ausgeruht!

Praktisch Windstill ist es seit gestern um unser Boot herum. Wir sind gleich auf - wenigstens fast wie die Puma. Jedenfalls haben wir keine Meilen mehr verloren. Endlich konnten wir unsere Kleider und auch uns waschen. Ein herrlicher entspannter Tag. Auf der Ericcson 3 ist nun alles in Ordnung - alles ist vergessen nur das Neue zählt.

Volvo Ocean Race 24.2.09 (mk) Die Berichte in Originalfassung direkt von den Yachten

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 11: received 24.02.09 1421 GMT

Back in the real world of technology, Gabry (Gabriele Olivo MCM) has fixed his electrical issues, so he can work again on all his clippings and shots. The Fleet 33 is providing data again and it looks like in any minute the broadband connection will become operational again. There will become a bit pressure onto Gabry to send of as much as possible footage, as the weekly TV programme has to be put together at the other end. He is keen as mustard to get more and better footage of than all the other teams. One thing is he likes us to win on the water, but on top on that he wants to be the best media person.

The last 24 hours have been very comfortable, no water over the decks and reaching with our big code zero up. Again the boats ahead of us had a better (wider) wind angle than us, but amazingly, we have still been able to close in on them, which can mean only one thing: we are fast.

All the improvements we have made are paying off. All the good work from the sail designers and our shore team sail makers, who have squeezed the extra horse power we were looking for out of our sails, the 'engine' of our boat. Not too forget all the jobs the boat builders have done for us, which are maybe not always directly visible from the outside, but which definitely help us to go faster. I don't want to cut any of our other shore departments short, they all fantastic in their jobs and contribute what we are: A GREAT TEAM!!!

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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ERICSSON 3 LEG FIVE DAY 11 QFB: received 24.02.09 0951 GMT

Happy days

People are rested now. Some have even washed themselves since we got into this lighter air yesterday. Clothes have also been washed and you see a lot of happy faces.

We are still racing close to Puma, gaining and losing depending on the different modes both boats use. It is nice to have them so close. It pushes the crew to always stay on top and make the boat perform at its best. We are happy to have caught up with Puma, but we are also trying hard to gain on Ericsson 4.

It was about time to get some rest. After we almost sunk the boat on leg four, and with big disappointment, lost what seemed to become a second position, we straight away started to look at different options on how the get back in the race as soon as possible.

It soon looked like there was no chance to get our boat to China by shipping in time. So we had a meeting with the sailors and decided that we are going to sail the boat there and in that moment we also agreed to do this leg, no matter what the timeline would be.

This leg five is THE Volvo Ocean race leg four us many Volvo rookies on Ericsson 3 and no one wanted to miss it. So everybody worked flat out from the moment we hit the shore. The boat builders and shore team made 'mission impossible' become possible.

Once the fix was done, we sailed shorthanded with seven guys to Qingdao. Just think about our gybes in 30 knots of wind with the spinnaker...

Now, after a quick and chaotic pitstop in China, we have now been blast-reaching for eight days. And we really needed some rest. All this shows the dedication from the whole core crew of Ericsson 3, led by Mange (Magnus Olsson/SWE), who has, by his own example, taught us all that the boat and the team comes first. Our baby is our tool and we need to treat her well.

Thomas Johanson - helmsman

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 11 QFB: received 24.02.09 0225 GMT

Hi there,

I think I mentioned the other day that it sounded crazy that we were all looking forward to the doldrums. Well it soon became apparent that if we didn't get lighter winds soon then everyone was going to go crazy. A week of wet blast reaching was more than enough and, as the week wore on, some of the antics on board got more and more bizarre!! I won't go into details but suffice to say it was quite amusing on deck watching what people were doing to keep themselves entertained. Singing, exercise routines.. You name it... all in the relentless spray.

Anyway, we have all managed to escape with our sanity, just, as yesterday the winds finally eased, the sun came out and the boat started to dry out a little. Yesterday afternoon the deck rather resembled a Laundromat as opposed to a race yacht as every piece of available space was dedicated to drying clothes. This was followed by a frantic tidy up as the first of the afternoon rain showers approached attempting to undo all of the previous hours drying!

The lighter winds have also given us opportunity to fix up the boat a little, and our guest star from the black boat, David Vera, has proven himself to be the Spanish version of MacGyver, having fixed everything on the list almost quicker than people can spot the problems!

The final benefit of the softer breeze has meant that, finally, we have also been able to get some fresh air downstairs and, as a result, everything smells much fresher. It was starting to get a little bit hard on the nose at times, especially with everything damp and all the hatches closed to keep water out. One crew member was even accused of smelling like an 'Elephant'! However, the most unusual and perhaps off-putting smell to come out of the hatch the other night was the overpowering waft of cologne as someone tried to freshen themselves up - trust me this was even more horrible than any of the farm animal smells that may have been mentioned in previous days!

Cleaning and fixing aside, we are continuing to go well and have been chasing down the leaders in front, slowly but surely. It seems to be something of a drag race at this stage so it is with great pleasure I have been trimming and driving every few hours contributing to making the boat go fast through the water, I am certainly enjoying my change of role onboard and, funnily enough, since the sun has come out I haven't been missing the computer at all!

Cheers, for now,

Simon Fisher - strategist/helmsman

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GREEN DRAGON LEG FIVE DAY 11 QFB: received 24.02.09 0325 GMT

What looked like a promising highway south a good three days ago, now has turned into a dirt track with some very nasty potholes. Risk of a complete stop is about 70%, and the less than 30% chance of a swift arrival at the other end is making it look less than ideal.

It no surprise that the fleet has made a sharp left hand turn and prefers a close look at Fiji over the no doubt beautiful islands of Vanuatu.

The limited weather info package we are receiving (the satellite arrangement upstairs is interfering with our comms) gives us only a tantalising hint of what is going on in the Southern Ocean, and for days the route south was a mystery.

The weather studies that we worked on before the start with weather expert Jean Yves Bernot and fellow navigator Ian Moore already showed a more easterly route along the Marshall and Kiribati islands to be favourable, but also some more risky options for a direct southerly route with huge benefits.

So we have so far chosen the more conservative easterly route. It already gave us stronger winds and a better wind angle in the NE trades, and yesterday, a swift doldrum crossing. Now with the southerly route blocked we have a great chance to cut the corner and get back in touch with the fleet too!

The reverse isochrones (lines of equal time to the mark) to Fiji are actually showing us ahead of the fleet, but we know that the power machines in the south are generally kicking our ass on boatspeed in these reaching conditions. We will be modest and are happy with being in touch with the fleet near Fiji.

It really looks like a 1000 NM drag race up there with not too many options. Be as fast as you can! In the meantime down in the dungeons Ian and I will be rattling our brains on how we are going to get to the westerlies of the Southern Ocean.

Every gribfile shows a little window, but we know that the weather models are generally overestimating the development of the low pressure systems. Sure enough, the next grib file we get in the low is less intense, the promising winds have disappeared and we are moving our waypoint further east, waiting for the next opportunity.

Eventually it will come, we are confident. In the meantime we are enjoying the great gains to the fleet of the last days. The Green Dragon team is a happy bunch with a good dose of determination. 3,600 fast miles under our belt and only 9,000 miles to go. We are in with the bunch and are going to give these guys a good fight. Hey guys, you might be fast down there, but be aware the dragon has sharp claws to fight back with all the way to Rio!

Wouter Verbraak - navigator

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STALKING OR OVERTAKING?

As the Volvo fleet presses south on day 11 of what could be a 40-day leg five to Rio, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) has pushed the bows of Ericsson 4 further into the lead, and a game of cat and mouse is being played out astern. However, it is not the cat that is doing the stalking. It is Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE), and actually, they are not 'stalking', they are 'overtaking'. Or trying to.

'They are right there, about three miles behind us and mile to weather,' says PUMA's MCM Rick Deppe. 'They are laughing as they sail away over the horizon before their ultimate arrival in Rio, days before us,' he says. How does he know this? 'Because, of course, we are trying to do exactly the same to them, and their team mates on Ericsson 4. In fact, every other boat out here,' he says.

'It is nice to have them so close. It pushes the crew to always stay on top and make the boat perform at its best,' says Ericsson 3's helmsman Thomas Johanson. 'We are happy to have caught up with PUMA, but we are also trying hard to gain on Ericsson 4,' he added.

Deppe says that Ericsson 3 is the one boat that the PUMA team has seen most of during the course of the race. 'They always seem to be lurking around somewhere and often show great bursts of speed which gives them the ability to stay in the fight and also to get them out of trouble when they need to.' He also notes that the Ericsson 3 crew seem to be having a lot of fun on their boat. 'I like that,' he says and adds that the Ericsson 3 crew is quite a bit younger than the PUMA team 'except Magnus Olsson, who would fit right in over her.'

The chasing duo crossed the Equator yesterday, almost side by side. Onboard PUMA, there were no new crewmembers who needed permission from King Neptune to pass from the northern to the southern hemisphere, so instead, the crew indulged in some contraband and held an impromptu party to celebrate the arrival of Michi Mueller's newly born daughter.

'Jerry (Jerry Kirby) brought along some Cuban cigars (the good ones) for Michi, but he wouldn't even touch them. The rest of us were happy to help out. Justin (Justin Ferris) smuggled a small bottle of rum aboard, disguised as sewing machine oil, and we all managed a nip of that as well. Fortunately, the 'Scandihooligans' on Ericsson 3 must have been having an even bigger time, because, while the party rocked, Il Mostro sailed right away and took about Â½ a mile out of them. A nice moment,' reported Deppe.

As Ericsson 3 and PUMA enjoyed their Equator crossings, Ericsson 4 put more miles on the clock, building a buffer of 47 nm; almost double that of yesterday at 1300 GMT. She is currently 790 nm northwest of the Polynesian island of Fiji and the whole fleet looks set to give Fiji a close look as they pass by.

Further back, Telefónica Blue and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) briefly swapped places and then swapped back again. Telefónica Blue has gained another 21 miles, and Green Dragon a further 12. The first scoring gate set at 36 degrees
south is 1,825 nm ahead of the fleet, but, until then, it will be a drag race south.

Leg Five Day 11: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 9,036 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +47
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +50
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +123

Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
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Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Damian Foxall, Irish Sailor of the Year 2008, takes a moment to look at family photos onboard Green Dragon during Leg 5 from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.

Trimmer / Helmsman Tony Mutter uses cream to protect his face from the salt spray on Leg 5 from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro. Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race