Sport-heute: Sailing - VOLVO OCEAN RACING DAY 10 - DELTA LLOYD LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1534 GMT

20. Oktober 2008, 18:37

VOLVO OCEAN RACING DAY 10 - DELTA LLOYD LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1534 GMT

FIRE-BREATHING DRAGON -TELEFÃ“NICA BLUE LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1500 GMT

Ian Walker/GBR and the Green Dragon team is breathing fire on the rest of the fleet from their western corner of the Volvo fleet as the eight boats pick their way through the black clouds and squalls of the Doldrums. The next 24 hours will be critical and it will be partly about luck and partly about who gets the new breeze first and can edge out into the south-easterly trade winds.

International Ocean (mk) Although Green Dragon snatched the lead from the claws of PUMA (Ken Read/USA) at 1600 GMT yesterday, her lead is decreasing as Telefonica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri) creeps closer, gaining nine miles on the Dragon in the past three hours. The fleet is now spread out over 254 nautical miles west to east.

Delta Lloyd (Ger O' Rourke/IRL) is the most easterly yacht of the fleet, PUMA, in third place is 31 miles off Green Dragon's port flank, and Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) in fourth has found a new friend in Telefónica Blue and the two boats are now happily latched together, both 28 nm to the west of Kosatka, Team's Russia's blue boat, currently in seventh place.

The last 24 hours has been good for Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED). 'The boat has been going really nicely, we've found good wind and we've really improved on things,' said navigator Simon Fisher in a radio interview today. 'Everyone is working very hard and hoping we will get the speed to get out of here,' he said. 'We have really, really been focusing on our strategy but it is good to get on deck and you can see quite a lot as well. It is as much about using your eyes as using your computers.'

Conditions are horrible for the crews. Lots of big clouds and plenty of rain has meant that although the crews have been able to enjoy a fresh-water shower, the novelty soon wore off after the first five minutes when everyone got cold. 'The squalls come out of the blue, and everything has to be prepared in advance' says Mikel Pasabant, MCM onboard second placed Telefónica Black.

Today, a massive signal appeared on the radar and onboard the black Spanish boat, the crew got ready to experience the worst: 'Trimmers preparing peelings (preparing to change sails), helmsman pointing the boat to where the on-duty watch said, harnesses on, the MCM preparing his arms as if in a pre-war notice' still camera, handheld camcorder and the infra-red stern cam,' described Mikel.

Everything was in position to get the most from the situation, but as the boat approached the cloud, King Neptune intervened. 'The cloud started to split in two as if letting us go by without disturbing us and we crossed exactly through a gate that opened for us as if on purpose, with massive storm clouds each side,' Mikel explains. 'Thanks Neptune, it seems you are with the Blackies!'

Away out to the east, Delta Lloyd has had a problem with the rig, when, during a sail change from the A4 downwind sail to the masthead code zero, the leeward jumper (part of the mast) came falling out of the rig, bounced down the deck and landed in the back of the boat narrowly missing the crew. It has taken 12 hours to repair it. 'Martin Watts has come up with an ingenious solution to re-attach the jumper back to the mast,' explained Matthew Gregory in a radio interview today. It took Martin and Johnny (Gerd Van Poortman) an hour and half up the rig to complete the job. 'It was a pretty big project,' said Gregory.

The next stage of the course will be the rounding of the Brazilian Island, Fernando de Noronha, approximately 673 nautical miles away to the south-west where another round of scores can be added. The fleet is expected to be in the region in about two day's time.

During the past three hours, only Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) has lost out to Green Dragon, while the bulk of the fleet has made small gains. Although PUMA has slipped back through the fleet to third place, she has averaged the highest boat speed over the last three hours, while Telefónica Black has the best 24-hour run of 223 nautical miles.

Leg One Day 10: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to leader)

Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) DTF 4031
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +27
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +35
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +41
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +45
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +46
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +51
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) +86

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TELEFÃ“NICA BLACK LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1212 GMT

Hi everybody

My birthday started with a general call on board: as we are approaching the Doldrums, we have the radar on so that we can be aware of the big common squalls of this area. They come out of the blue, and everything has to be prepared in advance. So, with a massive signal in the radar in front of us, we all got prepared: trimmers preparing peelings, helmsman pointing the boat to where the watch in duty said, and harnesses on, obviously, if someone was not wearing them, and the media preparing his arms as in a pre-war notice: still cameras, handheld camcorder and the infrared stern cam!

Everything in standby to get the most of the situation! As we were approaching the huge signal, it started to split up in two as if letting us go by without disturbing us, as it came up to happen: we crossed exactly through a gate opened as in purpose, with massive storm clouds by each side! Thanks, Neptune. It seems as you are with the Blackies! Well, with all of us, but a little bit more with the TELEFÃ“NICA NEGRO guys!!

And the good news arrived with the incoming position report: we were in the fifth position, only one mile behind our blue mates and 40 behind the leaders! Great news! Well done, fellows!!

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

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DELTA LLOYD LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1534 GMT

Fleet spread out 245nm to our west with the Dragon in the lead by 80nm ahead of Delta Lloyd showing 8th. On the 1255hrs, again we are the most easterly boat with balance of the fleet now in the middle of this carriage way to Fernando about 747nm to our SSW. We have committed to this side of the race course and are gambling on new wind filling in from the east which will give us leverage on the fleet. On reflection I would be happy now to be further right as we have banged the corner a little bit far here.

To add to our race strategy during a sail change at approx 1200hrs last night we managed to get a halyard caught in the starboard masthead spreader during a sail change. We put pressure to where it was not designed for and it broke, falling to deck, bouncing on and then cracking the traveller winch, landing beside me at the port helm. Luckily no one was hurt. We did rig assessment with our 120kg riggers and hoisted the fractional code zero and carried out repairs overnight making a new bracket for the spreader. Johnny (Gerd van Poortman) and Krusty (Martin Watts) did a sterling job making the parts out of spares and fitting by 1100hrs today while sailing on port. With race office approval we were able to get advice from rig manufactures to consult on safety. We await a few more hrs for bonding to set before we do a rig check, adjust jumpers again and monitor.

We have concerns on starboard. Running mast head sails we will have to sail with this handicap to Cape Town as even to stop (at a cost of 12 hrs within the race and more to conduct better repairs) parts will not be available for approx 2 weeks until Cape Town. As discussed we will be conservative and safety will be utmost importance, race second with the now daily rig check.

As I say to the lads we are still alive and in the race - so heads up.

We seem to be running out of spoons with freeze dried being consumed now out of the bags to save washing and tastes nicer. We suspect some spoons have been discarded into the trash with the empty freeze dried bags. I still await a volunteer to go through the trash! The baby spoons in the dried milk bags are being supplemented. I leave the dinner picture to your own imagination.

Crew & Boat all ok - just need more wind.

A few of the lads incl. myself had salt water showers with buckets & soap today on the stern - it was refreshing & badly needed.

Over & Out

Ger O'Rourke - skipper

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TELEFÃ“NICA BLUE LEG ONE DAY 10 QFB: received 20.10.08 1500 GMT

Hi There,

Today has been a long day - the first day of the Doldrums. Outside it is very hot, windless and calm. All day we have been battling to cover distances that we would normally do without even thinking...

It is the start of a few tricky days ahead and a potential restart to the race, whoever gets out of this windless zone first could well be leading all the way to Fernando. Needless to say with this in mind we are working our hardest right now - We are currently coasting along at 5 knots, frequently changing from one sail to the next to ensure we maintain our optimum angle whilst at the same time trying hard not to lose the little speed we already have.

The doldrums have been a long time coming; we have been edging south and hedging our bets as to see what the doldrums has in store for us. Weather models aren't too reliable in this part of the world and the QuickSCAT data we use to see the winds by satellite has a nasty habit of missing the bit you need right when it is really important. Needless to say for the last few days we've been right in the 'Gap' until this morning that is, when we discovered how big the doldrums are right now. It looks like this might take a while!

However, in an otherwise empty windless landscape we have a companion - Ericsson 3, the second time only since we restarted from Gibraltar that we have seen one of the other boats. Perhaps this is a good thing, something tangible to measure our performance against and keep our motivation up - we don't want them getting away!

Despite the searing heat, life onboard is good. The dry conditions have given everyone a chance to clean up a bit and dry out, even if with all the sweating you do downstairs you don't get to stay dry for too long! As for me I'm looking forward to putting a clean t-shirt on, but I'm saving that pleasure as a reward for getting out of the doldrums. No doubt Bouwe will be looking forward to that day too as he has to sit next to me in the Nav Station!!

Cheers, for now.

Si Fi.

Simon Fisher - navigator

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