Sport-heute: Sailing - Wir tasten uns in den Süden vor!

08. März 2009, 19:27

Wir tasten uns in den Süden vor!

Lange war praktisch tote Hose und wir sind stillgestanden. Jetzt endlich kommen die Winde und es geht flott forwärts. Auf unserer Tour Richtung Cape Horn wird uns in den nächsten Tagen viel begegnen. Wir sind seit Stunden mit einem Durchschnitt von 18.8 Knoten unterwegs. Hier auf der Ericcson 3 haben Capitain Magnus Olsson und sein Team alles im Griff.

Volvo Ocean Race, 8.3.09 (mk) Die Originalmails - direkt von den Yachten

A TASTE OF THE SOUTH

After more days going up wind than anyone in the Volvo fleet cares to remember, the fleet has finally cracked off and is experience ‘proper’ Southern Ocean conditions as the five boats race onwards towards Cape Horn and the second of two scoring gates on this leg of the course.

“What a relief. Finally the breeze has swung enough to le us ease sheets and get the good ship going fast in the right direction,” noted Ericsson 4’s bowman, Ryan Godfrey. “It has been days now that our distance to the finish has not budged, so what a pleasure the past 24-hours were, to be doing 20 knots and heading east,” he said.

Meanwhile, out in front, and averaging a comfortable 18.8 knots, with 3,000 nautical miles to run to Cape Horn is Magnus Olsson and his Nordic team onboard Ericsson 3. Olsson now has a lead of 111 nautical miles over Ken Read and PUMA, with Ericsson 4 a further seven miles in her wake.

As waves roll over the boat, making eyes sting with the salt, four of the five crews are revelling in the speeds and the miles that are steadily clicking off now. The fleet is now split over 400 nautical miles with Ericsson 3 in the north and Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) trapped in painfully light airs in the south.

The crew is not happy, but is making the best of it. Although their 24-hour run was a miserable 266nm, compared with Green Dragon’s 491, now they are beginning to pick up speed as the conditions improve. The team broke their forestay two days ago, which although sounds dramatic, is not such a serious a problem on a Volvo Open 70, according to Chief Measurer for the class, James Dadd.

“In these boats, they do little other than stabilise the rig,” says Dadd. “The bolt ropes in the headsails take the load when hoisted, and you could virtually sail without a forestay a lot of the time,” he adds encouragingly. He advises that Telefónica Blue have to consider their tactics in avoiding going hard on the wind, when the risks of not having the forestay as a back up to the boltrope are more concerning.

Earlier in the week, when Ericsson 3 made her bold move to head north, Telefónica Blue’s Simon Fisher commented that the move could be one of genius or madness.

Now he concludes that it was a stroke of genius, and the southern route taken by his team is, “well, not good, would be a polite way of putting it.” As the rest of the fleet heads north and east, Bouwe Bekking and his men have to sit back and watch the rest of the competition blasting along, while they plod upwind.

For Volvo Ocean Race rookie, Ian Walker in charge of Green Dragon, 23 days is the longest he has ever been at sea, and the fleet has only just passed the half way point on this leg. His Dutch navigator, Wouter Verbraak, was exhausted by all the upwind sailing, and reported that everyone on the boat was miserable. “I find myself having to pull all my will together to get a smile on my face that keeps me going,” he said.

But, as soon as Green Dragon picked up her skirts and began charging towards the scoring gate, and with no prospect of up wind sailing for at least a week, appetites have returned along with enthusiasm.

Kenny Read, skipper of PUMA, however, is just taking it one day at a time. “Nearly every morning, when the sun comes up, I think to myself that the last 24-hours went really quickly and we are one day closer to our destination. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you what day of the week it was or what day it was. I couldn’t say, if my life depended on it, how many days we have been out here. It’s just one day at a time.”

Leg Five Day 23: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 5,743 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +111
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +118
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +227
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +329

Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

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PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 23 QFB: received 08.03.09 0125 GMT

And they're off, for now anyway. Il Mostro is pointed at Cape Horn, sheets are eased and the boat finally gets to do its thing; chew up miles in the ocean. I can't tell you how good it feels to be not going upwind, although the angle we are sailing right now is no more comfortable than if we were.....tipped over, bouncy and very wet.

You probably have a better idea where we are than I do! I just look over to the nav station and see a little green boat in the middle of a big blue ocean, I guess it's a fair representation of the facts......4000-ish miles to the Horn....and about halfway to Rio. Prior to the start the only way I was able to get my head around the sheer scale of this leg was with a globe! When you follow our route on a globe it soon becomes obvious that we are quite literally sailing halfway round the world in one hit!

Life aboard couldn't be more routine, the guys are just taking it one watch at a time. When they're on watch it's a case of just sailing the fastest angle possible that brings us to wherever we are trying to get to and, this far out in the ocean, we are generally trying to position the boat favourably to future weather system, whilst at the same time making as much ground along the track as possible, its a balancing act.

We seem to be doing OK with supplies, anything we didn't bring enough of ran out ages ago....sugar, spray and wipe, suncream (that might be a problem down the road) .... and we are more than halfway through our twenty food bags, which comes with the added bonus that valuable space on the boat is freed up making life a little more enjoyable. And its about 300kgs that doesn't have to be moved any more.

Rick Deppe MCM

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GREEN DRAGON LEG FIVE DAY 23 QFB: received 08.03.09 0559 GMT

I am feeling completely exhausted, and find myself having to pull all my will together to get the smile on my face that keeps me going. Judging by the amount of dinner left in the pot, everybody is pretty much feeling the same. As Neal McDonald says: ‘misery loves company’.

In the back of my mind I can hear our team doctor saying: ‘You have to at least take in 5000 kJ everyday.’ Yeah right, I am forcing myself to stuff in as much as I can, but a few spoons of dinner and some muesli bars is all I can manage. Will have to rely on the fat reserves today (Unfortunately they went in leg one...).

Really, banging upwind in 25 knots is just not what these boats are made for, and certainly that holds true for humans as well. In addition, we are hardly making any miles toward Cape Horn, so I guess what my body is telling me is right; it is a pretty bad day all around.

Has the Volvo Ocean Race finally broken my spirits, you might wonder. No way! We just live a life of extremes. Today I couldn’t be happier, I am chatty, find myself making jokes and hanging out with the boys on deck, and generally go around with a big smile on my face. It is a beautiful day!

Sure out on deck it is absolute Armageddon. Big waves are rolling over the deck continuously. My eyes are red and sour from all the salt water and whilst grinding the mainsheet, I find myself non stop in knee deep water and hanging on to the grinding pedestal for dear life in the bigger waves.

What’s the difference? It is huge! Today we are charging south east directly towards the first ice gate, and there is no upwind sailing in sight for at least a week!

So I am treating my body with a double breakfast, a full lunch and dinner and all the bars, chocolate and liquorish I can get my hands on. The added bonus is that Damian (Damian Foxall/IRL) has his birthday today, so there is even a great bar of the best chocolate you can dream of going round. And believe you me; I do dream of that a lot.

Wouter Verbraak - navigator

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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 23 QFB: received 08.03.09 0540 GMT

Ahhh, what a relief. Finally the breeze has swung enough to let us ease sheets and get the good ship going fast and in the right direction. It has been days now that our distance to the finish has not budged, so what a pleasure the past 24 hours were, to be doing 20kts and heading east. Last night was rather wet and bumpy, but today the weather Gods smiled upon us and this after noon featured some champagne yachting under warm, blue skies.

The mood onboard has also perked up today, particularly as the three hourly scheds started to show us closing a little on Puma and Ericsson 3 stretching out at the front of the fleet. Time now for us to push hard and let our trusty Ericsson 4 get back to within striking distance on these guys. Conditions below are relatively pleasant with the temperature cool enough for you to really appreciate snuggling into the still dry sleeping bags.

The freeze dried food, and at times, very marginal snacks, are really starting to become pretty monotonous. I get the feeling that everyone on board is starting to lose quite a bit of weight (not necessarily a bad thing for some) and I'm sure we will be a sorry sight at the finish with hollow cheeks and five week’s beard growth. Although it must be said that one exception to this is Tony who brought a razor along. He seems to be gaining great pleasure from grooming his newly formed goatee beard of somewhat perfect proportions considering that there is no mirror onboard and I assume he is operating from his reflection in the curved, stainless steel kettle.

That’s all for now folks.

Ryan Godfrey - bowman

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 23 QFB: received 8.03.09 0238 GMT

Hi there,

Since breaking our forestay, the last couple of days haven't been our finest here on Telefónica Blue. We have been forced to sail with reduced sail and we have been making slow progress which is proving frustrating.

Added to that it would seems Ericsson 3's bold move to go north has proved to be a stroke of genius and our southern route, well not good would be a polite way of putting it... The rest of the fleet have headed off north too and we have been battling in the south with lighter winds and a variable direction. Now we have to watch the rest of the competition blasting along while we plod along upwind..

For a while we were tacking every few hours, trying to make progress in the right direction. Perhaps my memory has faded in the last few years, but this certainly isn't the Southern Ocean I remember! The Roaring Forties are more like the Boring Forties at the moment!

Still, things do look set to improve for us, once we finally get lifted and onto our downwind sails hopefully we will be closer to our optimum speed and things will seem a little less bleak than they do now - added to which it is still a very long way to Cape Horn and our focus remains clear - get there in one piece and then see what we can do for the remainder of the leg into Rio.

Despite battling upwind through the boring 40's, there is never a dull moment on board, take yesterday for example I was thinking the remainder of my six hour watch was going to be uneventful, when someone popped their head up to say the watermaker wasn't working. Fast forward one hour and there I am with the pump all pulled apart, trying to work out why every time you switched it on it started smoking.. Luckily, although Pepe (Pepe Ribes/ESP) is not with us this leg, his well-prepared list of spares is, and I was able to find the offending part and replace it. Good job too after poking around for the bilge for an hour and making the usual discovery that electricity and water don’t mix, I was starting to get bloody thirsty!!

As bad as it sounds though, believe it or not I am still smiling. Whilst it would be fair to say this race could be going better I have to admit I am still enjoying my time on the ocean. Everyone on board is still pretty happy and is able to make light of the situation which I'm sure will be us through to the finish. And with that in mind I am going to head off to my bunk for a nice afternoon nap and hope that the wind has built a little when I get up in four hours time!

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - helmsman

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Crew members David Vera and Xabi Fernandez stacking on Telefonica Blue en route to Rio De Janeiro on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race For EDITORIAL USE only, please credit: Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race

Crew onboard Telefonica Blue during a quiet watch en route to Rio De Janerio on Leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race For EDITORIAL USE only, please credit: Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race