Sport-heute: Sailing - Ein neues Spiel beginnt!

20. Mai 2009, 22:39

Ein neues Spiel beginnt!

Noch immer ist Telefonica Black in Führung. Das Wetter ist immer noch neblig, trüb und feucht. Wir fuhren heute Nachmittag auf der Sperrlinie. Innerhalb von 10 Sekunden wechselte die Wassertemperatur von 6° C auf 16° C. Dass ist dort wo die beiden Golfströme zusammenkommen. Schlechte Aussichten für's Wochenende. Sturm zieht auf und uns erwarten ein paar schwierige Tage.

Brüttisellen, 20.5.09 (mk) Leg Seven Day 5 Daily Story: A New Game Starts

The fleet, led by Telefónica Black, is converging on the southeast corner of the ice exclusion zone just over three nautical miles ahead, where sheets will be eased and spinnakers hoisted as a new and exciting downwind game begins.

“Everyone is just lining up for what looks like a rip-roaring ride on the second part of this leg into Galway,” said Guy Salter, Ericsson 4’s MCM.

The outlook for the next 24 hours shows a big front coming in from the northwest and the fleet can expect some more typical trans-Atlantic weather.

“We have a lot of respect for the weather in the Atlantic. There is definitely that feeling here on our boat, which has done a lot of miles and is not the newest in the fleet,” said Delta Lloyd’s navigator Wouter Verbraak. “The first goal is to get the boat to Galway in one piece, and the second goal is to push hard when we can,” he said in a radio interview today.

The crew of Green Dragon has been looking forward to this point of the leg. The forecast is for downwind sailing and much of it will be in very windy conditions.

“We have not sailed in close proximity to the other boats in weather like that, so it will be interesting for everyone. The whole leg is setting up for a grandstand finish in Galway Bay,” said skipper Ian Walker whose team has been taking strategic advice from the online gaming community as to where to position Green Dragon.

“It is providing a good source of entertainment, trying to decide what we should ask the gaming community to vote on. Sadly most of the options suggested would be very funny, but are far from acceptable,” he said. On a more serious note, he added that the experiment has been working well. “We had a long period where the strategic advice matched our actions, but it is clear that when the weather is very changeable or not matching the forecast, we need to react quickly.” What will the gaming community suggest for this portion of the leg?

Earlier, when Telefónica Black set off along the 175 nm southern perimeter of the ‘ice fence’, quite suddenly they hooked into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream – two knots of east setting current and 16 degrees Celsius water temperature.

“For two hours it felt like summer. Clear skies and a steady warm, southerly wind sweeping across our frozen faces,” wrote navigator Roger Nilson. However, just as quickly as it arrived, it was replaced by thick fog and colder water. For all crews, a little treat of salami or cheese was much appreciated when they finished a freezing watch.

Currently, just 12 miles separate pathfinder Telefónica Black, from Ericsson 4 and Telefónica Blue. Delta Lloyd leads the second string from PUMA, Green Dragon and Ericsson 3 who are having a torrid time after losing three positions at the scoring gate.

Telefónica Blue has averaged the highest boat speed of 17 knots over the past three hours and also holds the fastest 24-hour run of 269 nm. Computer routing software is predicting a finish in Galway early on Sunday morning based on current performance.

Scoring Gate Order
1. Telefónica Blue at 03:11.24 GMT
2. PUMA at 03:12.04 GMT
3. Ericsson 4 at 03:33.05 GMT
4. Ericsson 3 at 04:06.02 GMT
5. Telefónica Black at 04:36.54 GMT
6. Delta Lloyd at 06:16.00 GMT

Leg Seven Day 5: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DTL 1596 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +2
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +12
4. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) +16
5. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +24
6. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +37
7. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +48

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Delta Lloyd Leg Seven Day 5 QFB: received 20.05.09 1005 GMT

What an exciting day this was! Happy faces on the Delta Lloyd. After we decided to let the scoring gate be, navigator Wouter Verbraak warned us ‘that it was going to be a tricky day’.

And it became a difficult day of sailing. A day full of fighting shifts and currents. Gains were made all in very little windshifts. More southerly it became a fight for the right current. Like every other boat we were looking for the warm Gulf Stream. Warm water means more breeze.

When finally after two tacks we found the Gulf Stream, the water-temperature went up 5 degrees from 12 to 17 degrees in a few miles. The difference between three layers of fleece and thermals or just a t-shirt. So the boys were happy that the sun finally brought some warmth on deck. But most important of all, our tactics worked!

We let the scoring gate be, in order to aim for the long term strategy and to get back to the fleet. And here, at the end of the day, we are surrounded by boats. Everywhere around our boat we see the rest of the fleet. So after four days of racing we are back on track and in the middle of the pack.

Tonight is going to be tricky because the water temp will drop, so light wind and thermals back on, because it will be a cold night again.

Cheers

Sander Pluijm MCM

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Telefónica Blue Leg Seven Day 5 QFB: received 20.05.09 0916 GMT

We have experienced tremendous changes in wind speed and wind direction in the last 24 hours. This is because we are sailing in area where warm (Gulf Stream) water meets the Labrador Current. Trick seems to be to find the warmest spell of water - the warmer the water, the better the air is mixing to the surface.

Today we saw Delta Lloyd tacking only 1.5 miles to weather of us, but half an hour later she gained about three miles more to windward, just having a tad more pressure than us.

We bit the bullet and tacked off, leaving PUMA with whom we have been so close for a long time - alone. The guys ahead have gained, sailing into more pressure.

We had some close encounters with massive whales, which surfaced within a couple of metres of us and we sailed right through a school of pilot whales, luckily no contact.

We have been reading with great amusement how cold some crews on the other boats are. It is nice to sit here just with shirt in a temperature of around 20 degrees - you sleep well, never feeling cold. The heater is just magic. It means as well that when going on deck, you don’t have to have so many layers on, most of the guys run one thin layer of thermals, and one thicker on top, so still plenty of spare kit in the duffel bag.

Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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Ericsson 3 Leg Seven Day 5 QFB: received 20.05.09 0721 GMT

It is an extremely frustrating time onboard Ericsson 3. We can’t really let go of the thought that we were in the lead and then, suddenly, we hit a whale and after that everything has been going bad.

We lost three positions to the scoring gate and after that we have lost even more. Like every one of the front runners to the gate, we have lost a lot to the boats which were at the back of the fleet before the gate. The explanation is that they didn’t bother about racing for the gate, but were heading straight for goal.

Yesterday, after we made the first tack since the crash, we hoisted the port daggerboard and had a good thorough look and found that it was pretty badly damaged. For sure that had slowed us down a lot.

Luckily we brought our spare daggerboard, a decision that was made very close to the start, and it took us one hour to change. We are of course going better now, but we had already lost a lot and we still have some damage in the front of the bulb, which may not have a big effect, but it is for sure not positive for the performance.

It is still very depressing weather with thick fog and grey sky. We are in the waters where the famous Titanic went down on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. It was a British passenger liner, the largest ship in the world when it was built and supposedly unsinkable, but it struck an iceberg around the area where we are in on April 1912 and sank with the loss of over 1500 lives.

As if the history and weather of this area weren’t depressing enough, we have had had a disastrous last 24 hours. We have been tacking I think four times and there has been a lot of furling and unfurling the masthead zero. At one stage we were down to seven knots of boatspeed.

This calm weather feels very strange since I was expecting this to be a very rough leg. So far it has mostly been very calm and the working environment for the media man has been a bit cold but, in total, very comfortable, almost dull. I guess that those words will bite back and that the wind will soon hit us with furious anger. Actually I think that would be good since we usually are fast in the big stuff.

Back to reality:
Last sched we lost to everyone in the fleet and our navigator Aksel Magdahl was not very happy about the situation. He is a realist and, unfortunately for now, he is usually right about things and it is depressing that he has said that it really doesn’t look good for us. Hopefully he was just tired and grumpy like only navigators can be.

Luckily we have others onboard that are extremely optimistic. We are never giving up so do not count us out. Like Magnus Olsson always keep saying: "Everything can happen in sailing and hockey".

Gustav Morin - MCM
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