Sport-heute: Sailing - Scoring in Fernando de Noronha

26. April 2009, 23:47

Scoring in Fernando de Noronha

Telefonica Blue immer noch knapp voraus!!

Die letzten Meilen sind in Angriff genommen. Telefonica Blue ist immer noch knapp voraus. Auf der Ericsson 3 macht man sich Sorgen, dass man so viele Fehler gemacht hat. Es ist aber noch nicht aller Tage Abend und abgerechnet wird am Ziel in Boston. "Natürlich sind wir nervös.!" sagt Bouwe Bekking - skipper auf der Telefonica Blue. "Wir haben klar geführt aber jetzt zum Schluss ist eine grosse Belastung auf der Mannschaft und dem Schiff."

Brüttisellen, 26.4.09 (mk) ERICSSON 3 LEG SIX DAY 16 QFB: received 26.04.09 1848 GMT

Far from safe

It has been an up and down morning and midday for us on Ericsson 3. We have been stuck in no wind, up and sailing in over 12 knots on flat water, and then stuck again. One nice thing though is that the air temperature has become very nice and warm and the times when we have had wind it has been very nice sailing.

We have seen many whales and been surrounded by small motorboats out Sunday fishing.

Now, right in this morning everything is about frustration, and about trying to deal with it. We can see Boston but we are pretty much stuck. Every once in a while we get some breeze but the next second it disappears and after that it may come back again, but in a totally different direction.

The frustration is not getting better now that we can see Telefónica Blue on the horizon.

Most of the crew are lying on foredeck to get the aft up from the water and get some more speed. That is actually the only thing we can do. We are just lying there and can't do much than make jokes. That makes the time go by. But of course we are still on our toes if the breeze fills in and we constantly have our eyes either on the horizon, looking for breeze, or if Ericsson 4 or Blue have got wind. Of course you can't relax; you never can on these boats.

We have one guy up the rig to look for the breeze and trying to predict from where it will fill in. Maybe Blue or Puma will get a private one and sail past us on another track. It is unlikely, but this race is not over until it is over. We feel far from safe.

Gustav Morin - MCM
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POINTS AND GLORY IN THE MAKING

Now in the closing stages of the 4,900 nm leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race from Rio de Janeiro to Boson, USA, the intensity onboard at least the first four boats in the fleet is almost unbearable.

Having led the fleet for the majority of the leg, Bouwe Bekking’s Telefónica Blue relinquished her position two days ago to Ericsson 4, who at 1300 GMT today had just 67 miles to go to the finish line. Only 18 miles separate the first four boats; the points and the glory are there for the taking, but it will be a huge fight to the finish now and the order on the podium is by no means certain.

Summing up the feeling in the fleet, Ericsson 3’s navigator, Aksel Magdahl said, “I think that every mistake we make may cost us a place, and I do not want to be at the finish knowing we could have done better without a small mistake. That is a terrible feeling, so better do our absolute maximum out here.”

Currently, Ericsson 4 leads the pack and is averaging a respectable 13.3 knots towards the finish. Seven miles behind, but two knots slower is Ericsson 3. Former leader, Telefónica Blue currently holds third place but is also averaging around 11 knots of boatspeed. Only two miles behind is PUMA, making a challenge for the third podium position, a result that would be all the more sweeter as Boston is the team’s home port.

Based on current speeds the first boat is expected to cross the finish in Boston at around 1900 GMT (1400 local time).

Scoring Gate Results Fernando de Noronha
1. Telefónica Blue 19:58:56 GMT 16.04.09 4 Points
2. Ericsson 4 22:55:36 GMT 16.04.09 3.5 Points
3. Delta Lloyd 23:28:32 GMT 16.04.09 3 Points
4. Puma 23:29:31 GMT 16.04.09 2.5 Points
5. Telefónica Black 23:42:20 GMT 16.04.09 2 Points
6. Ericsson 3 00:14:28 GMT 17.04.09 1.5 Points
7. Green Dragon 01:27:26 GMT 17.04.09 1 Point

Leg Six Day 16: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 67 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +7 nm
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +16 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +18 nm
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +96 nm
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) 114 nm
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +125 nm
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

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ERICSSON 3 LEG SIX DAY 16 QFB: received 26.04.09 1031 GMT

Not too much was decided in the ‘decisive gybe’ a couple of days ago. It made it more difficult for some and easier for others, but since then we have had lots of opportunities:

Big breeze, significant wind shifts, strong current around the Gulf Stream and no wind before the exclusion zone.

Now, we have almost parked at the NW corner of that zone. And the forecast for the coastal sailing today does not look too promising for those teams who are happy with their position, with opportunity for another game-opener in the end. Basically, in these light conditions, it is always so variable that it is possible for boats to sail around each others.

We sailed within throwing distance of Ericsson 4 today. Back to two boat testing, except this time testing ended early as they did an ‘horizon job’ on us in a couple of hours. And Puma and Telefónica Blue got inside our horizon from behind. We were missing our downwind sail that we sailed over a few days ago. I don't have words that can describe how disappointing that was. And still is; we may get use for it again before the finish. It does not make it easy for us to sail with a handicap against these strong teams.

Onboard it is very intense; there are lots of points and glory to gain in a short time. We do not want to give away a single boat length. The wish to win releases an extreme amount of energy, so we are able to do much more than normal. And the expectations to our performance are very high..

I think that every mistake we make may cost us a placing, and I do not want to be at the finish knowing that we could have done better without a small mistake. That is a terrible feeling, so better to do our absolute maximum out here.

Now we have Ericsson 4, Puma and Telefónica Blue within sight again....

Aksel Magdahl - navigator
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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG SIX DAY 16 QFB: received 26.04.09 1225 GMT

Yesterday was a day of mixed feelings, as Ericsson 3 managed to close the gap right up to their sistership, and we stopped.. Puma, who was easily behind us at that stage, kept offshore as a result and kept the breeze a little longer and sailed right around us.

They went stealth, but not much to their advantage, as we could easily spot them when we sent some one up the rig. They had a better angle than us coming at the corner of the exclusion zone, so they made steady gains.

Talking of the whale exclusion zone, the whale must have known that we were coming and welcomed us. We must have seen around 20-25 of them, well outside of the zone around 75 miles out, you just can’t control this kind of thing.

So we were neck and neck with Puma and they just edged ahead of us. But we knew night was coming, and normally always pass during the hours of darkness, and yes this time it wasn’t any different. Slowly but surely, creeping closer to them, just waiting fro an opportunity to pass them. Just before the outer edge of the zone, we tacked a little earlier and slipped right through their lee. Now it is daytime and very often they slip past us, but in the last 3 hours we actually extended on them.

Still a long way to go.

Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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DELTA LLOYD LEG SIX DAY 16 QFB: received 26.04.09 0831 GMT

The finish is within sight, and the fight for fifth is still continuing. With the big split over the last 24 hours, each position report is a message from above to tell us what conditions the others are in. Are they gaining or losing? What is their wind like? How fast were they?

Only now that we have passed the first waypoint of the whale sanctuary can we say that our northerly course has been good and has given us a 20 mile lead to Telefónica Black. All yesterday the gains and losses were evenly spread, but good fortune looked down on us and during the night the winds shifted left far enough to
give us a fast wind angle to the mark and we were steadily gaining.

Now there are around 200 miles left, and we wish we were there. It is absolutely freezing out here. The water temperature has dropped like a rock since we have left the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, and everybody has done a frantic dive in their gear bags to put as many clothes as possible on. We have all pretty much maxed out in the clothing department, and we are still cold. What a contrast from the shorts and T-shirt Caribbean sailing from a few days ago.

For today we are expecting a small cold front to pass us, so we can expect another transition zone with lighter winds. It is always the transition zones where the big gains and losses are made, so over the last night we have sent as many people as we could down to have a some extra sleep and be ready for a fighting finish in the next 20 hours.

Everybody is in good spirits (apart from the occasional cursing of the cold). With the good sailing we have done over the last two weeks we feel we can take on the world. It is amazing to see how quickly this team has grown form our first days training in Brasil. With more than half of the crew new to the team this was a big challenge. Now everybody has found their role on the boat and the sail changes are flawless.

200 miles to go with lots of tricky weather and a possible light air finish. We are keeping focused and alert, keeping all the channels open to see what will be the latest twist in this never ending race for fifth. Please can we just be there?

Wouter Verbraak - navigator
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ERICSSON 4 LEG SIX DAY 15 QFB: received 25.04.09 1720 GMT

And my right hand arm is getting bigger and bigger! We have started using the hand watermaker and the only way Nipper (Guy Salter) will allow you to have a coffee is if you pump your own water into the kettle! In addition to each of us pumping for half an hour a day, at least, into the main water tank.

The unit is quite good and I believe very productive. Now that I'm familiar with it I can give you some numbers. You need to make 180 pumps to get your own coffee. And if you need coffee to keep going that will be quite exhausting and if you offer to make coffee for your watch mates, this will take you 25 min or 3 full 10 litre buckets of pumping to fill the kettle with enough fluid to satisfy everyone.

Otherwise the last nights have been chilly, like in China but fortunately with clear sky. We came to a full stop during the night (big wind hole) and this lasted around 4 hours, managing to make a mere 3nm in one sched!! Ericsson 3 managed to get the best of it and we had visual contact with them this morning. Fortunately we have some wind now and we are moving towards the first whale sanctuary mark.

Otherwise all good on board with the normal nerves and tense atmosphere being in such a changeable weather system. Looking forward to get into Boston!!

Horacio Carabelli - trimmer
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Leserkommentare (0) »

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race. Ericsson 4 leading the fleet, approximately 80 miles from the finish of leg 6 in Boston

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race. PUMA Ocean Racing currently in 4th place, approximately 80 miles from the finish of leg 6 in Boston

Anton Paz/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race Gonzalo Araujo, onboard Telefonica Black, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Media Crew Member Rick Deppe, water testing, onboard PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Instruments onboard PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston