Sport-heute: Sailing - ERICSSON 4 LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 0917 GMT

31. Oktober 2008, 17:50

ERICSSON 4 LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 0917 GMT

Just sitting in the nav station, and I see that we've only got 695 miles until the finish in Cape Town. For some guys, 695 would be the longest race they do and here we all are, treating it like we're almost there!!

It has been an incredibly wet 4-5 days. The boys are getting sick of being washed into winches, pedestals and each other. I'm sure there will be a few bumps and bruises coming out over the next few days.

International Ocean (mk) After the record dash, we did another 540+ day giving us almost 1200 miles in 48 hours! I cannot describe what it was like on deck over that period. Wet, wet, wet are the only words I guess. The guys were extremely careful with harnesses and just taking their time doing everything properly. The last thing we need is a broken ankle or fractured eye socket! It would be just as easy to hurt yourself below deck as it would be above.

One thing that has gone very well, is the interior of the yacht. We never missed a meal and the guys have been good at cleaning their stuff up. We do have a 'clothing crimes' bag onboard, so anything that gets left lying around will always show up in the bag. Hopefully the shore crew won't be sick to their stomachs when they step onboard!!

We currently have Puma about 60 miles astern and she has now gone into stealth mode. Pretty tense times for us, but there's nothing we can do about it except sail our boat as best we can. Who knows, maybe we'll pull ours out soon......

The water temperature is much cooler now. The complaints about the heat are now long gone and we're just starting to get the first signs of complaining about the cold. No one has any dry clothes left, so it's quite unpleasant getting into wet clothing!!

No real majors to report. Dave (Endean) had his 30th birthday yesterday and thought he might get the day off and be allowed to spend it in bed. Unfortunately we needed him, so instead of a nice sleep in, he got me, dripping water all over him, waking him up for watch at 6am. It's a tough life
We still will have a big job list for the shore crew and they only have about 12 days to do it so our mission is to get her there in the best condition we can, without compromising boatspeed.

That's all for now. Better try and get a bit of sleep.

Phil 'Blood' Jameson - bowman

*********************************************************

TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG ONE DAY 21: received 31.10.08 0826 GMT

Hi everybody

As you can see, we are back in business! Our emergency rudder works well so we could spend the night nearly racing, at a nice speed considering the circumstances.

Anyway, we are in high spirits, we all know that this is a very long run and we have just started! We were in the leading pack a few days ago.

We have had a couple of albatrosses flying around the boat for several hours now, and it is said they are considered a good omen, so let's hope so! What is true is the
magnificence of these birds flying! Amazing!

Apart from birds, we keep on having squids jumping on board, and a very strange fish which appeared yesterday afternoon on deck. We put it back into the water again, as it was still alive, and I took a shot of it in case someone could have a look at it to recognise it. Maybe a normal flying fish, I do not know, but it was cool.

Looking forward to arriving into Cape Town as soon as possible so that we can be ready for the next leg in the best of conditions.

Regards and tomorrow more.

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

**********************************************************

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 0005 GMT

Hi there,

We are slowly getting to the south - we are now down to 35 degrees now, but already it is getting cold. The inside of the boat is now covered in a layer of condensation which means everything that you touch is wet. Gloves and hats are now the order of the day upstairs and even in the nav station the shorts and t-shirt have been swapped for thermals and a jacket. Our route is due to take us more south yet - down to the roaring 40's briefly before we gybe and head back up towards Cape Town, so we'll have to put up with it getting a little colder still.

The last few days have been tough ones; the boat has been a handful and we have been forced to throttle back. For a navigator this is pretty tough, your life is made much easier when you are going fast. That said though, it is important we keep the boat together and get to Cape Town in one piece, so over the past few days I have had to learn to bite my tongue a bit and try and find new and creative ways of seeing the positive side in losing miles when the scheds come in. That said I am starting to get a little nervous now, the Russians are bearing down on us and closing the miles so I am very much hoping that the weather and the sea state starts to ease off as forecast so we can get the pedal to the floor again. Once again I'll just have to try and be patient!!

Cheers,

Si Fi

Simon Fisher - navigator

***********************************************************

PUMA LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 0936 GMT

Well, well... being on the keyboard after these last few days of 'powerful sailing' is a funny feeling. But it's nice. Nice to come back to something 'normal', something you can actually do rather than just hanging on waiting for the next crash . Now we are back in a more civilised world and Cape Town is getting closer. That smells good! But race is not over and doors are still wide open to any kind of good or bad result.

Conclusion of this last day is: 'Congratulations E4, you've done a real demonstration, the level of both crew and preparation became obvious.' But race and leg are not over, and we better whip ourselves and Il Mostro hard because, in the past editions, the winner of first leg won the race...

If E4 made a demonstration, we can see on our side that we have a good learning curve and still some more under our foot. This leg has been a fantastic 'lab' to get the last few missing knots out of Il Mostro. Close contact had been our best friend, almost 'two boat testing conditions', this made us stronger.

Now I have talked enough about this race and my thoughts and dreams are going to this moment where us and our families will become one again. A few of us had some peculiar dreams during this heavy sailing. Once I was steering in the dark, my mind found an escape and I ended up somewhere laying on the floor with my daughters and wife in my arms... Then I had to tell myself:
'Come back Sid, that's not the way to go, come back to your numbers and keep fighting'. It shows how radical conditions bring us back to our roots and to the important things in life. Even if Anglo-Saxons are not big 'talkers', you can feel that in everybody's eyes and attitude.

All right, back to our fight, we have an E4 to kill and a fleet to keep away; I am flying to my bunk and hope to come back on deck with even more anger.

See ya.

Sidney Gavignet - watch captain

Pictures from Ericson 4

********************************************************

DELTA LLOYD LEG ONE DAY 21 QFB: received 31.10.08 1038 GMT

What an epic morning - perhaps one of the best, so far, on this adventure. I was I was asleep, dreaming of Cape Town, on my nav station bench when Stu Wilson, dripping wet in his foul weather gear, gave me a wake up nudge and said 'I think that we should give that fractional code zero a try, we just got the knock (wind shift) we've been waiting for.'

After some quick calculations on the computer, I threw on my dry suit, boots and harness. Jumping up on deck I agreed, 'yup, it's time'. As we completed the sail change, the sun had risen on what was a cold, clear and brisk spring morning down here in the Southern Atlantic ocean. With the new sail flying, the boat lit up. We had no idea that the fractional code zero would perform so much better than the A6. The Russians walloped us over the past 24 hours and the A6, aka 'the lemon' was to blame. It's quite depressing and bitterly frustrating to be passed as quickly as we did. But not knowing sail cross overs is one of the difficulties with a late entry programme. We are learning.

After a brief turn at trimming the main sail, Stu looked over at me 'Matt, it's your turn, send it'. I smiled, handed over the mainsheet, transferred my harness tether to the wheel and jumped up on the steering platform. For the past couple days we've been sailing fully down wind true wind angles. With the frac zero we could give her some heat and sail 110 to 130 TWA, which made surfing the waves ideal. Like a surf board rider we could now ride down waves, 'bottom turn' head back up the wave, and then ride the same wave over and over again.

Did I send it? Oh yes! I pushed the throttle through the floorboards, as hard as I could. I was hoop'n and holler'n the entire time. Then as if I couldn't be having any more fun, this morning became legendary as an albatross pulled up along side of us. She glided, without a single flap of her wings, only 50 metres away, for about 20 minutes. This is the first one I've ever seen. Overwhelmed with excitement I realized 'this is just about as good as it gets'.

Matt Gregory - navigator

************************************************************

ALBATROSSES APPEAR AS CAT GOES ON THE PROWL

As Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), racing in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race, continued her record-breaking dash towards the finish in Cape Town, at 0100 GMT this morning, the black cat, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) went into StealthPlay, and hid from the rest of the fleet for 12 hours. 'This is a pretty intense time for us,' said Ericsson 4's bowman, Phil Jameson when PUMA 'disappeared'. 'There's nothing we can do about it except sail our boat as best we can,' he said.

Appearing back on the chart, at 1300 GMT today, PUMA's track shows that she had gone hard north, searching for more wind. 'We have an Ericsson 4 to kill and a fleet to keep away,' wrote French watch captain, Sidney Gavignet this morning, half way through the cat's StealthPlay.

Currently, PUMA is still sailing at 22 knots, matching Ericsson 4's speed, but 92 nm to the north, and showing a loss of 10 nm to the leading boat in the last three hours. Still in second place, she is 76 nm behind Ericsson 4, who has 605 nm to go to the finish. Weather-routeing software is predicting a finish for Ericsson in Cape Town of around 0900 GMT on Sunday.

For much of this leg PUMA has been effectively two-boat tuning with Ericsson 4, something that this American campaign has not had the chance to do prior to the start of the race. 'This has been a fantastic 'lab' to get the last few missing knots out il Mostro,' claims Gavignet. 'Close contact has been our best friend,' he said.

During the last three hours, all seven boats have made losses against Ericsson 4. Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) brings up the rear with 596 nm to run to Cape Town, but, according to her crew, her emergency rudder is working so well they were able to spend the night racing at a reasonable speed, considering the circumstances.

The fleet is spread north/south across a front of 565 nm. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) are down to 35 degrees south, and Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) is further south still. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) sits midway between the two groups.

Telefónica Blue is planning a brief dip to 40 degrees south. It is already starting to get cold for the crew of the blue Spanish boat and will get colder still. The inside of the boat is covered with a layer of condensation and everything the crew touches is wet. 'Gloves and hats are now the order of the day upstairs, and even in the nav station, the shorts and t-shirts have been swapped for thermals and a jacket,' says navigator Simon Fisher/GBR.

Cold means 'albatross' territory and the magnificent birds have been spotted by several boats. The crew of Telefónica Black reported seeing see two birds soaring round the boat for several hours. This team needs luck now, and the albatross is considered by seafarers to be a good omen. 'Let's hope so,' says MCM Mikel Pasabant. 'What is true is the magnificence of these birds flying. Amazing,' he said today.

The crew of Delta Lloyd (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) has also had some flying visitors. Navigator, Matt Gregory/USA, was released from the nav station briefly and given the helm. 'I pushed the throttle through the floorboards as hard as I could,' he says. 'Then, as if I couldn't be having more fun, this morning became legendary as an albatross pulled up along side us. She glided, without a single flap of her wings, only 50 metres away, for 20 minutes. This is the first one I've ever seen. Overwhelmed with excitement, I realised 'this is just about as good as it gets'.

Telefónica Blue spotted their first albatross today too - a sign that they are getting further south. 'It would have been three years since I last saw one of these birds but they still look just as amazing with their massive wingspan soaring above the waves,' wrote Simon Fisher a few moments ago.

'The sun is shining, the wind has eased a little and the waves are just that little bit smaller, so everything on Telefónica Blue today is a little bit easier,' he said.

Leg One Day 21: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to leader)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 605
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +76
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +312
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +359
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +447
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +533
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) +540
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +596

**********************************************************

LEG ONE WEEK TWO: WILD, WET AND RECORD-BREAKING

Week three began with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) leading the fleet in their charge south to skirt the South Atlantic High. But they had company. PUMA (Ken Read/USA) was just a few miles to leeward, and Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) and the Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) were all in a tight bunch.

'Three's company out here in the Atlantic,' wrote Ken Read cheerfully. 'We have been accused of making this a match race so far because we have been in very close contact with Ericsson 4 for just about half of the race. So today, we lost Ericsson 4 off to leeward and on comes Telefónica Black to take their spot in rotation.'

Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) also had unwelcome company, but not in the form of another boat.

'It seems to be a dangerous strip of highway we are on today,' wrote navigator Simon Fisher. 'We had a very near miss with a nasty-looking log, covered in barnacles and metal and all sorts of things that would be perfect for removing appendages.

'After a quick breath of relief, and some joking about how we may have found ourselves in Rio some months sooner than planned, we had another near miss. This time is was something living. We couldn't make out properly what it was, but, judging by the hole it left in the water, and the speed it went away, it was pretty big and not best pleased to see us. We'll be sure to keep our eyes peeled for the rest of the afternoon,' he said.

As the fleet raced on, everyone was preparing to ride a 40 knot westerly gale, straight to Cape Town. The crews were trying to get as much rest as possible. Cooking was going to be difficult, so topping up on freeze-dried food was also a priority. Everyone was triple checking their areas of responsibility and concentrating on the onslaught that lay ahead.

But, on day 17, 27 October, the fleet was still playing the waiting game. Speeds were beginning to edge up as the fleet curved around the South Atlantic High, but although it seemed tempting to cut the corner and sail less miles to Cape Town, sailing too close to the light airs in the centre of the high was not worth the risk.

At 1300 GMT, Ericsson 4 continued to lead the fleet, with PUMA just five, miles behind, but the fleet was beginning to stretch out and third-placed Green Dragon was now 27 nm behind the leader.

Day 18 finally brought big waves and with them big action. Six hundred nm runs were looking possible and the pressure was mounting for the leading two boats, Ericsson 4 and PUMA. They were back in sight of each other, just 100 metres apart. 'We knew they would be back,' reported Ken Read when Ericsson hove into sight. But, with foresight, he added, 'The first boat to break loose will win.'

Further back in the fleet, the American navigator of Delta Lloyd, Matt Gregory described the storm brewing as the 'gateway to hell'.

'Record Day' came on day 19 when Ericsson 4 eclipsed the world record of 561nm set by ABN AMRO TWO in the 2005-06 event, covering 593.23 nm in 24-hours, averaging a speed of 24.71 knots in conditions less than ideal for a record-setting run.

'It is a great achievement, but we were not really looking for it,' said skipper Torben Grael in a radio interview that day. 'Conditions are marginal,' he said. 'We have been pretty much on the edge. Perhaps if we had a better sea state, we might be able to go faster, but it is hard to go faster with waves like this,' he added.

Clinging on to third place, Ian Walker wrote from Green Dragon, 'This is insane. Thirty-five knots of wind, pitch black, 1500 miles from land and we are desperately trying to squeeze more speed from a boat that feels and sounds like it is going to self destruct any second.'

Later that night, Ericsson 4 broke loose and smashed through the magic 600 nm barrier and posted a new record of 602.66 nm, which will be passed to the World Sailing Speed Record Council for official ratification. PUMA, by now, was 34 nm behind.

As Ericsson 4 continued to display masterful control of the fleet, further back Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) was not so fortunate. In seas of over eight metres, Telefónica Black launched off a particularly large wave. The crew momentarily lost control of the boat and crash landed only to find that one of the rudders had sheared off and part of the dagger board and the bowsprit were gone. Luckily, none of the crew was injured and the damage to the yacht was quickly assessed. The crew mounted their emergency rudder and pressed on.

That night was the night from hell. 'I don't really know where to start as the last 24-hours have been so incident-packed,' wrote Ian Walker, whose Green Dragon hit something hard in the pitch dark. 'There was a deafening crash and the boat went from 25 knots to a virtual standstill,' he explained. 'Neal McDonald/GBR, who was helming, smashed the wheel and everyone else fell over,' he said. The crew inspected the hull, foils and keel for damage and reported that all seemed fine except from a huge vibration which later cleared itself.

Telefónica Blue, in fifth place reported 40 knots of wind, lots of rain and big gusts as the front rolled over them. The fleet spread out, as, one by one, the boats were left in the wake of the storm, which left behind it huge seas and vicious squalls.

Green Dragon and Telefónica Blue both took a dive south, while the two Ericsson boats stayed in the north. Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) in seventh, and Delta Lloyd, in eighth also opted for the southerly route, while the wounded Telefónica Black limped, with her emergency rudder, midway between the split of the fleet.

Day 21, 31 October, and the big black cat, PUMA, went into StealthPlay, emerging at 1300 GMT 92 miles to the north. The field was spread across a north/south divide of 565nm with 596 separating Ericsson 4 in front and the limping Telefónica Black at the back. While PUMA headed north, Telefónica Blue and Green Dragon headed south. Team Russia was further south still, and Ericsson 3 sat midway between the two groups.

For the boats in the south, the temperatures started to drop as they reached the latitude of 35 degrees south. Telefónica expected to go as far as 40 degrees south before turning north towards Cape Town.

Cold means 'albatross' territory and the magnificent birds were spotted by several boats. The crew of Telefónica Black reported seeing see two birds circling the boat for several hours. This team needed luck, and the albatross is considered by seafarers to be a good omen. 'Let's hope so,' said MCM Mikel Pasabant. 'What is true is the magnificence of these birds flying. Amazing,' he added.

The crew of Delta Lloyd (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) also had some flying visitors. Navigator, Matt Gregory/USA, was released from the nav station briefly and given the helm. 'I pushed the throttle through the floorboards as hard as I could,' he said. 'Then, as if I couldn't be having more fun, this morning became legendary as an albatross pulled up along side us. She glided, without a single flap of her wings, only 50 metres away, for 20 minutes. This is the first one I've ever seen. Overwhelmed with excitement, I realised 'this is just about as good as it gets'.

Telefónica Blue spotted their first albatross too - a sign that they were getting further south. 'It would have been three years since I last saw one of these birds but they still look just as amazing with their massive wingspan soaring above the waves,' wrote Simon Fisher.

'The sun is shining, the wind has eased a little and the waves are just that little bit smaller, so everything on Telefónica Blue today is a little bit easier,' he said.

Weather-routeing software is predicting a finish for Ericsson 4 in Cape Town of around 0900 GMT on Sunday, 2 November, bringing a fine conclusion to this 6,500 opening leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

Leg One Day 21: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to leader)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 605
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +76
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +312
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +359
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +447
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +533
Delta Lloyd IRL (Ger O'Rourke/IRL) +540
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +596

Leserkommentare (0) »

Pictures Guy Salter Brad Jackson at the Helm of Ericsson 4 as they set a new 24 hour record

Phil Jameson Grinding on Ericsson 4 as they set a new 24 hour record

Brad Jackson at the Helm of Ericsson 4 as they set a new 24 hour record

Water breaks over the deck of Ericsson 4 as they break the 24hr distance record

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race

David Endean and Joao Signorini celebrate breaking the 24hr record