Sport-heute: Sailing - Der Wind spielt böse Spiele!

21. März 2009, 19:29

Der Wind spielt böse Spiele!

Ericcson 3 immer noch in Führung - Telefonica Blue hat aufgeholt

Ericcson 3 führt den Verband immer noch an, doch auch sie kämpfen mit den zu milden Winden. Im Minutentakt wechseln die Richtungen und es ist sehr schwer bei den kleinen Windchen überhaupt vorwärts zu kommen. Telefonica Blue hat gegenüber Green Dragon mächtig aufgeholt. Dieses Resultat wurde an Bord gehörig mit 1-2 oder 3 oder sogar Vier guten Flaschen gefeiert. Einen grossen Verlust handelte sich Green Dragon ein, die zuerst nach Westen auswichen, dann aber plötzlich still standen. Allein in den letzten 24 Stunden haben sie 141 Meilen gegenüber ihren Gegnern verloren. Dass ist ein wahres Chaos sagt der niederländischen Navigator Wouter Verbraak. Allerdings hätte es auch anders ausgehen können. Doch der Schuss ging tatsächlich hinten raus.

Volvo Ocean Race, 21.3.09 (mk) Direkt von den Yachten

ERICSSON 3: STILL IN CONTROL

With a tantalizing 902 miles to race to the finish of the epic 12,300 nm journey that leg five of the Volvo Ocean Race has become, Magnus Olsson and his boys on Ericsson 3 is still in control of the fleet. However, according to Green Dragon’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak, conditions on the racecourse are something of a minefield of light winds, erratic weather models and unexpected twists.

At 1300 GMT today, Ericsson 3 was dealing with yet another high-pressure system, which was slowing their progress considerably.

“Fighting against a front and staying in it has been on the agenda many times in 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," said Ericsson 3’s watch captain Thomas Johansson. “We are humans and not robots, so we too start to feel tired and are especially fed up with these fights,” he added.

Ericsson 4 (DTF 86 nm) and third-placed PUMA (DTF 205 nm) have followed almost in the wake of Olsson. Over the past 24 hours, the margin between Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 has only reduced by one mile, while PUMA slipped back 12 miles. The big loss, however, is for Green Dragon, who took an expensive detour to the west, losing the team 141 nm in the last 24 hours. They now trail by 413 nm.

“Yes, it is a real mess,” explained Green Dragon’s Dutch navigator Wouter Verbraak. “It was a case of take a big hit now, or stay east and take an even bigger one in 12 hours,” he said. Earlier today, the team just missed a window in the high pressure that has drifted across the course. PUMA was only five hours ahead of the Dragons and made it through, but Ian Walker’s team was swallowed up. “It is hurting us badly,” said Verbraak ruefully.

A long way back down the track, the crew of Telefónica Blue is newly invigorated by their return to the Atlantic and spirits onboard are high.

“Today saw us make some gains on the guys in front,” wrote helmsman Simon Fisher. “We managed to close the gap between us and the Green Dragons by about 100 miles,” he said. This has given the team a little glimmer of hope of catching Ian Walker and also provides them with some fresh motivation to keep pushing hard.

“As if wanting to get to Rio after over a month at sea wasn’t motivation enough,” Fisher said.

Computer routing software is currently predicting a finish in the Maria Da Gloria, Rio, on Tuesday 24 March for Ericsson 3, with a safe lead of over 12 hours, however, there are still just over 900 miles to run and the weather Gods in Rio are renowned for throwing a curve ball at the last minute.

Leg Five Day 36: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 902 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +86
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +205
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +413
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +728

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

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PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 36 QFB: received 21.03.09 1524 GMT

Kenny's asked me to fill in for him today as he's been laid up in with a bad stomach.

One thing’s for sure it's not from overeating, we are slowly starting to move into a rationing situation. The food was planned out for a 36 day leg, which is tomorrow. Add to that the fact we had a strangely contaminated batch of food on one of the earlier days so essentially today is our last day of regular food... starting tomorrow we're into the emergency bags containing lots of protein powder and cereal.

No-one’s going to die of starvation but it's not going to be much fun either and definitely not an ideal situation. For sure one we could do without in terms of bringing our ‘A’ game to the final push to the finish. I'm sure we'll be well taken care of when we arrive in Rio.

And just ‘how well’ and ‘with what’ is the topic of much conversation on these seemingly endless four hour watches. One worrying question that has been raised; after six weeks of freeze dried ‘mush’ will our bodies even be able to handle one of those big South American steak's or the first cold beer? Only one way to find out... get there and give it a try

Andrew Cape made the quote to me yesterday that, ‘It's a big ocean, but it’s getting smaller’. Onboard Il Mostro it's starting to feel as though we are running out of time and opportunities to catch the Ericssons, who are respectively about 200 and 100 miles ahead of us. Unfortunately they sit between us and the finish. Right now, in simple terms they just sail into everything before us: they sail into a light patch and we catch up some miles, they get through the light patch and the mileage stabilises, then we sail into the light patch and they gain some miles. At the moment it’s looking like a few more hundred miles of this and then a straight shot into Rio.

Very frustrating and with every three hour sched the ocean definitely gets a bit smaller.

Rick Deppe - MCM

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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 36 QFB: received 21.03.09 1237 GMT

Here we are, less then 1000 miles to the finish after 35 days! It’s been really hard for the body and mind. I think that is a record of days at sea for everybody on board.

So far has been a good leg for us. The first and second at the scoring gates gave us some important points. At the moment we are about 100 miles from Ericsson 3. Our team mates did an awesome come back on the leg. Congratulations to all the Ericsson Racing Team for the great work putting them back on the race on leg four allowing them to start few hours behind us in Qingdao.

Puma is some 150 miles behind. Maybe the approach to Rio can put some boats really close together again.

We are looking forward to arriving in Rio, but the weather forecast hasn't been good. We still have some days to go and I prefer not to mention any number... We did food bags for 38 days and we already have done three extra bags. It means that we all will arrive really hungry there. I can’t wait for a real Brazilian barbecue! I hope that some friends are in charge of it!

Good winds

Joca Signorini - trimmer
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GREEN DRAGON LEG FIVE DAY 36 QFB: received 21.03.09 0835 GMT

‘We lost 43 miles to the fleet.’ Not the kind of message I like to come on deck with for the boys, but today it has been the harsh reality that as a navigator you have to deal with. Waving a white flag and phrases like ‘don`t shoot the messenger’ are pretty much of no use, the crew is going to take it out on you. ‘Nice mess you got us into, Wouter.’

Yes, it is a real mess, but a case of choosing your poison. Take a big hit now, or tay east and take an even bigger one 12 hours later was pretty much the choice.

The stretch from the Horn to Rio is really living up to its reputation of providing us with a complete minefield of light winds, erratic weather models and unexpected twists. It really is a game of snakes and ladders out here, with big gains and losses on the scheds being the order of the day.

Already far before Cape Horn, we have worked hard on our mindset for these last 2000 nm. It is all about short term plays, being aggressive in the strategy and sail changes, and making a huge effort to sail the boat as hard as we can. The intensity is high as everybody realises that a few miles gain or loss can be the difference between jumping through a weather window or missing out on one.

Today we have missed a window with the high pressure that has drifted across the course, with Puma only five hours ahead of us just making it through, and us getting eaten by light winds. It is hurting us badly.

Opportunities, however, lie ahead, with a small low developing of the Argentinean coast. We are already feeling the effects of it as winds are more lifted than in the model. It is only in the satellite pictures that we are picking up this little feature, but it could be a nice ladder for us to gain back some of those precious miles.

When restacking the boat earlier today, the urgency of getting to Rio clearly presented itself to me with the number of food bags now reduced to two plus a small spare. With each bag providing two days of food, a hungry last couple of days are now pretty much a given. Hope that ladder is a good one, we will need it.

Wouter Verbraak - navigator
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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 35 QFB: received 20.03.09 0112 GMT

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!

Guy Salter – MCM

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Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Cold weather onboard Green Dragon, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Telefonica Blue at sunset, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Skipper Ken Read checks the trim onboard PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro