Sport-heute: Sailing - TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 5 QFB: received 19.11.08 0439 GMT

19. November 2008, 12:41

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 5 QFB: received 19.11.08 0439 GMT

Hi There,

It still seems that the days are passing very quickly. Perhaps it is because we are headed east and night falls a little earlier each day or maybe it is the pace of life onboard.

CAPE TOWN - CHOCIN INDIA (mk) Right now life is busy onboard, some would even say chaotic, with sail making, sickness and injuries, everyone's day is full keeping the boat in one piece and headed down the track.

It has been a tough last 24 hours. We have struggled once again to keep in touch with the fleet in the windy downwind conditions. Everyone has slowly extended on us leaving us somewhat frustrated and left behind. Hopes of a good score at the waypoint gate seem to be slowly slipping away but with many, many miles to go before we arrive in India, I am hopeful that we can pull off a good overall result in this leg. This is what I am trying to focus on to stay positive.

Lighter conditions will no doubt suit us better and a return to the sunshine and warmer climes will no doubt raise the spirits of everyone onboard. Right now, it is cold and grey outside, cool and damp inside. It would be fair to say that the thing everyone looks forward to most at the moment is the inside of a warm sleeping bag!

Up on deck, things are kept interesting by the passing of squalls fairly frequently taking the breeze from 25-35 knots in a matter of minutes and changing the sea state from tolerable into a nightmare as our wet ride continues. However, even this looks likely to stop soon with the breeze now forecast to drop over the course of the day. Perhaps this will be a good thing; with change afoot as the scoring gate approaches, it might offer a little window of opportunity to take a few points off the guys ahead.... Here's hoping...

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - navigator

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DELTA LLOYD LEG TWO DAY 4 QFB: received 18.11.08 1859 GMT

Tonight is another windy night out here on leg two. The waves are very choppy and the wind speed ranges from 25 to 35 knots. It's sailing that keeps you on your toes. We are heading almost due east towards the scoring gate. This is also our fastest path to India, so our track is taking us to both scoring locations very quickly. I'm looking forward to a couple hours in my bunk, resting. The wind will still be here when I wake up so my next bout of big wind sailing is only 4 hours away. I'm looking forward to it!

Ryan Houston - Watch Captain

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TEAM RUSSIA LEG TWO DAY 4 QFB: received 18.11.08 2243 GMT

In our historical weather analysis we haven't had any route leading us so far east, but to be honest, we enjoy it, even with the little adventures we had. It's a clear sign to the race organisers: give us back the Southern Ocean legs!

Rodion Luka/UKR has developed into being a great driver in all conditions. He has a very smooth style, keeping the boat planing constantly, great to have him on board (as all the other guys). Just sometimes, I have to remind him that even though 'Kosatka' means Orca, she is not supposed to jump out of the water and nosedive back in.

It's full thermals again as we are the southernmost boat in the fleet, enjoying a solid mid-twenty knot breeze, maybe tomorrow, we will start slowly climbing back to the north slightly. On the race to the scoring longitude, we are in fifth position and starting to look already how to overtake the next two guys. But, we also need to keep an eye on the time after, when we start pointing bows towards India.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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PUMA LEG TWO DAY 5 QFB: received 19.11.08 0743 GMT

Greetings from the monster hospital ward. And the hospital is not necessary
humans. Just for our beautiful boat.

At 0430 GMT this morning, we flew off yet another nice little wave and came down to another loud crack. This time not from the bow section, but in the main section of the boat. Just behind the keel frame. Three of us were having breakfast at the time and there was a bit of a stare into each other's eyes.

"That didn't sound good," said Justin (Justin Ferris/NZL).

"Nope," I said.

Nico (Chris Nicholson/AUS) added, "maybe it was just an unloaded sheet snapping up on deck?"

Justin looked down and said: "or maybe it was this large crack splitting the
main longitudinal frame?" The master of understatement, old Justin is.

So we are busted. Again. This time a bit more serious. After final analysis on the first break to the longitudinal frames in the bow a couple days ago, it took 7 hours and about 56 miles to fix. Sounded like quite a bit at the time, but we had enough pace to keep up with the leaders after the fact, and still were in a reasonable position for the scoring gate and the leg.

This one may be a bit tougher to work around though. Not only is this break in the central structure for the entire boat, but it will take quite a bit longer to put a fix on- maybe as long as 24 hours - and this time the actual fix may be a bit more of a band-aid rather than the fairly solid splint that we could put on the broken front longitudinals.

If the fix takes as long as we think, we have to re-route to Cochin. Missing most of the points that we could have gotten at the scoring gate and having to bypass the next low coming our way. Simply put, this is not good.

Capey (Andrew Cape/AUS navigator) and I are hard at work trying to see if there is a tactical solution around this in order to stay remotely in the race. We shall see. First priority is the safety of the boat and crew and because of that, we are looking to get away from the next low pressure that is coming in from behind. Which doesn't give us many options while trying to get through the high pressure to the north.

The whole reason for riding down into big breeze in the Southern Ocean was to hook up with that second low pressure and getting around the high. With our current situation, we may be forced into the high. If that is the case, it is time to start talking about rationing food!

Not only is this a bummer for the team, but a letdown for all who have worked on the programme so far. Please understand though, that we have not given up hope onboard. Stranger things have happened. We have thousands of miles to go. And we have the most resourceful guys aboard and on shore trying to figure out the best way to tackle our situation.

There are a couple of bright spots. It has been reported from the bow area of the boat that using the toilet while going this slow is a much more pleasurable experience. Also, Ricky (Rick Deppe/GBR MCM) got a hot cup of coffee into several of us, which was a very nice treat. Especially considering the fact that for the first time in days, I didn't spill it on myself or burn the crap out of my mouth.

And finally, the boys on deck report tons of huge Albatross circling around the boat giving a fantastic show for all.

Just hope that Albatross are not the vultures of the high seas.

Will report more soon.

Ken Read - skipper
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GREEN DRAGON LEG TWO DAY 5 QFB: received 19.11.08 0628 GMT

Not giving up

Four days into leg two and the Southern Ocean is living up to its name. One broken steering system, one Chinese gybe, one broken boom and now three knockdowns, but we are still charging along for the scoring gate at longitude 58 east.

I have to confess to being slightly nervous about our predicament, but the forecast is good and we will soon be heading North (ish).

We seem to have the boat going pretty well, but we are vulnerable to being knocked down in the frequent squalls as we are fairly committed to carrying a full main and there is no easy way to ease it.

It is also setting very full and this affects the balance of the boat. It wasn't an easy night for the guys on deck - and the temperature is falling fast. Down below everything is sodden as we have several leaks (one of which is the hole we drilled in the side to jury rig the steering!). We also have a leaking daggerboard case, which has split.

I feel a bit like the Black Adder TV character that refuses to be beaten and keeps on fighting as his arms and legs are cut off one by one by his adversary.

We now have about 400 miles to the scoring gate and we lie in third position (in terms of easting) with a slender 25-mile lead over Puma and about 40 miles over the Russians. Our aim is to defend this as best we can and, over the last 12 hours, we have done just that.

One of our challenges is going to be gybing. We are still discussing how we are going to do this - if at all - maybe we will granny round. We are also trying to sort out how we can reef if we need to. Tom Braidwood is itching to get going on fixing the boom, but for now, we are focusing on sailing fast to the scoring gate.

This focus on racing hard is great for moral and everybody is determined to make the best of what we have. For now then, we are hanging on in there waiting for the wind to drop and shift to allow us to gybe and head back North. Our aim is to get as many points as we can at the scoring gate before worrying too much about how we will get to India. It still looks quite a long way away on the chart!

Oh yes - I don't wish to sound like a whinging pom but as if things can't get any worse, I should also mention that somebody has brought a bug on to the boat and half of us now have sore throats and head colds - I suspect it won't be long before we all do - Joy!

Ian Walker - skipper

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Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Pablo Arrarte & Daryl Wislang during a sail change on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cochin, India

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 3 passing Telefonica Blue on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cochin, India

ordi Calafat & Xabier Fernandez about to get hit by a big wave, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cochin, India

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race Telefonica Black crew grinding on deck

Guo Chuan/Green Dragon/Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon break their boom on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Casey Smith working on deck of PUMA

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Crew members sleeping on PUMA

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Repairing sails below deck

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race A wave crashes over the bow of Telefonica Blue

Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race Waves roll through the cockpit of Telefonica Blue as they head towards the scoring gate on Leg 2

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 5 QFB: received 19.11.08 0439 GMT

Hi There, It still seems that the days are passing very quickly. Perhaps it is because we are headed east and night falls a little earlier each day or maybe it is the pace of life onboard.

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Hi There,

It still seems that the days are passing very quickly. Perhaps it is because we are headed east and night falls a little earlier each day or maybe it is the pace of life onboard.