Sport-heute: Sailing - SAILING ROBOTS: SAIL-EAT-SLEEP-REPEAT

21. November 2008, 18:21

SAILING ROBOTS: SAIL-EAT-SLEEP-REPEAT

COCHIN OR BUST

Spirits are soaring along with the air temperature as the fleet charges towards the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin India.

After the torrid time the eight-strong fleet has had over the past six days, life onboard has improved 100 percent. However, the tough conditions have taken their toll. Rick Deppe, MCM onboard fifth-placed PUMA (Ken Read/USA) describes his team, lovingly, as 'Sailing Robots': 'Sail/eat/sleep/repeat'.

CAPE TOWN - CHOCIN INDIA (mk) PUMA is one of two boats in the fleet that sustained damage during the heavy weather of the past week and the crew has been waiting for calmer conditions to laminate new carbon skins to their damaged yacht.

'It has been tough with all the repairs going on aboard the yacht,' said Deppe who commended his crewmate, Casey Smith from Australia for keeping the boat in the race. 'His efforts and skill mean that we will probably make it to India, maybe even win,' said Deppe although he added, 'we will probably all die of some horrible lung condition though' the boat was full of carbon dust for a while. It's all in a day's work for this crew. '

The other boat to suffer damage was Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR), currently in third position, which broke its boom. The team is able to sail the boat very well without the boom and is enjoying crossing off the miles without any dramas, trying to save themselves for the challenges ahead. On deck, it is very wet as they are hard reaching with a jib top and full mainsail, but Walker says it is no longer very cold, but not yet too hot.

Walker has been able to rest some of his crew, as they are able to sail the boat with just three people on deck. 'What's very pleasing,' says Walker, 'is that we have been able to set the mainsail up quite well without a boom, and we can now reef well too. We are sailing at very close to 100 per cent and conversation has turned from how we are going to get to India in time for the start of the next leg, to perhaps being able to beat some of the boats into Cochin.'

Onboard fourth-placed Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED), navigator Simon Fisher/GBR says 'Life onboard is all pretty good,', as the boat finally has the conditions she excels in. Gone are the memories of struggling in the big downwind conditions. 'Right now,' says Fisher, 'it's all about reaching and we like that.' Fisher has been busy following the three-hourly position reports of the fleet. Often the arrival of this report is dreaded, but now, Fisher says he is even looking forward to them, to see how the team has done. 'Right now is our time to shine,' he says, adding, 'And I am keen to really make the most of it.'

They still have one crew, Laurent Pages from France, confined to his bunk with an injured shoulder. 'He has slightly more movement, but still has more pain than he really wants to admit,' said skipper Bouwe Bekking this morning.

Their teammates on Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP), currently in sixth place, had a problem with a halyard this morning, which meant sending Mike Pammenter from South Africa up to the top of the mast. In 25 knots of wind as the boat heeled badly, he lost his grip on the mast and swung round it twice before regaining his grip and completing the job. 'He completed and fixed everything up there and got down as if nothing had ever happened. He had his breakfast and then went to sleep,' said MCM Mikel Pasabant proudly.

On second placed Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) there has been talk of pirates, but, according to Guy Salter MCM, it is not a cause for concern. Onboard sister ship Ericsson 3, who are currently leading the fleet, the crew are still in raptures about passing through the scoring gate in second place.

'In the middle of nowhere, with only open seas surrounding, and only birds and fish listening and watching, six guys are making big noises of joy,' describes Gustav Morin, MCM. 'With fists in the air, screaming and laughing, we are celebrating being the second boat to the scoring gate,' he said.

In the last 24 hours, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) has achieved the highest 24-hour run of 508 nm. This team has also averaged the highest boat speed of 21.5 knots over the past three hours. Although the fleet is split 103 nm from first to last, the top five boats are all within 39 nm of each other, with just over 2500 nm to race to the finish.

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

Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) DTF 2570
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) + 13
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +37
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +38
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +39
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +71
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +74
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +103

*****************************************************
COCHIN OR BUST

At the end of what has surely been one of the toughest-ever legs of the Volvo Ocean Race or even The Whitbread as it used to be known, the eight-strong fleet has finally pointed their bows north, away from the wet and wild winds of the Southern Ocean. At least for a short while anyway.

In a week that has been full of drama and destruction, the pace onboard the Volvo Open 70s has tested the crews' endurance levels to a new level, and start day was no exception.

Under clear blue skies in perfect conditions, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) led the fleet off the start line in Cape Town at the start of leg two, and screamed off downwind, flying her huge red gennaker and going like a freight train. The rest of the fleet struggled to keep up. So did the spectators, although the clutch of helicopters filming the action had a bird's eye view.

In 20 -25 knots of wind, PUMA opened up a healthy lead until hitting the wall and coming to almost a complete standstill when the wind died as it often does close to the shore in Cape Town. The fleet compressed and it became a lottery as the boats spread out across Table Bay, searching for zephyrs of breeze to propel them onwards to Cochin in India.

After one night at sea, everyone was settling into the rhythm of being back at sea after what seemed like too short a stopover in the beautiful city of Cape Town. It was a perplexing time for the skippers and navigators as they debated whether to go south and into strong breeze, setting up for maximum points at the scoring gate which had been set on the longitude 58 degrees east, or stay further north in lighter conditions, but nearer the finish.

The fleet spread out across a north/south divide of 40 nautical miles and the leaderboard became distorted as it favoured the boats further north, although, tactically, the position in the south, with its potential of stronger winds would favour the southernmost boats.

On day three, 17 November, tactics were still not clear. Ken Read and his men took PUMA north and spent three hours on port gybe before gybing south again, dipping Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA), Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR), but gaining some valuable northing. The north/south divide widened to 66 nm and, short of sleep and feeling ill from fevers and colds, the fleet was unprepared for the conditions that were to follow overnight.

As darkness fell, the fleet battled high winds and a confused sea brought on by the Algulhas Current, which runs south down the east coast of South Africa. Over the shallows of the Algulhas Bank, the current meets cold water and the westerly winds coming the other way from the Southern Ocean, result in a notoriously rough piece of water.

The worst affected was Green Dragon who broke their boom. This came after a spectacular Chinese gybe. With the boom in two pieces, the crew carried on, flying their mainsail loose footed. No one was hurt, but the crew was horribly disappointed.

PUMA flew off a wave and heard an ominous crack as the boat landed. Ken Read ran to the bow to find several cracks in the longitudinal frames in the bow section. Longitudinal frames are the spine of the boat, which prevent it from folding in half. It took the team seven hours to make a repair and also to patch the spinnaker back together.

Further back, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) also blew out a spinnaker. Not unusual in itself, but the crew was suffering from sickness and repairing the damaged sail down below in the huge seas was a big challenge. Daryl Wislang/NZL and Jordi Calafat/ESP needed one hand for the spinnaker, and the other for the bucket they were throwing up into. 'Shows what a strong character they have,' remarked skipper Bouwe Bekking.

Onboard Team Russia, the crew suffered their first 'real, heavy, full-on, massive, flat-out broach'. The boat slowed to almost a standstill, up to the mast in solid green water. Then, everything went into slow motion. Not a violent knockdown, but the boat slowly turning, heeling more and more to the wrong side, the boom high up in the air until coming over and the spinnaker wrapped around the forestay to the new leeward side and flapping in the 35 knots of breeze. Fate was inexorable. There was nothing to be done, but wait for the inevitable.

The stack of sails on the after starboard corner of the boat was underwater, the keel and the sails were holding the boat on 90 degrees to its designed flotation. Skipper Andreas Hanakamp climbed the vertical deck as you would normally climb a rock, to free the runner. Wouter Verbraak, the Dutch navigator, handed him a knife to cut free the lashing. Cameron Wills from South Africa pulled the runner tail with Oleg Zherebtsov, the Russian owner of the project, grinding. Meanwhile, Jeremy Elliot from Ireland and Mikey Joubert from South Africa managed to get the keel moving to the other side to right the boat. Luckily, none of the crew was hurt and only the pulpit was bent. There was no other damage.

By day 5, 19 November, six-race veteran, Magnus Olsson from Ericsson 3 was appealing to the Wind Gods. 'Please no broach, please God, no broach,' he said when he felt a huge gust of wind coming. 'It was one of those times when you feel that the boat is sailing you and not the other way round,' said MCM Gustav Morin.

The crew, although attached by their lifelines and harnesses, were washed down the length of the deck. Bowman Anders Dahlsjö lost his grip and smashed into a winch handle. The handle bent badly and Anders was in agony, holding his hands over his ribs. 'Now we have another guy on pain killers,' said Morin matter of factly.

Sickness and 'flu-like symptoms were still rife among the fleet, making this even more of an endurance test. 'It's strange for so much to be going on and not even noticing it,' noted Guy Salter, MCM onboard Ericsson 4, who had a fever and sickness. 'We had a broach yesterday (apparently) and also damaged one four headsails, but all I have noticed is the odd slide forward in the bunk when we plough into the back of a wave.

PUMA flew off yet another wave and landed in a heap, this time rather more seriously. Ken Read was having breakfast with Chris Nicholson and Justin Ferris at the time.

'That didn't sound too good,' said Justin. 'Nope' said Ken. 'Maybe it was just an unloaded sheet snapping up on deck,' offered the ever-optimistic Chris Nicholson. Justin looked down and said, 'Or maybe it was this large crack splitting the main longitudinal frame?' He was right.

The boat became a monster hospital, not for humans, but for their beautiful boat. The crew had managed to fix the damage done previously, but this time the fix was to be more of a band-aid rather than the fairly solid splint that the team applied to the broken front longitudinals.

Albatrosses were circling the boats. Were they keep a safe watch as legend has it, these the souls of lost seafarers? Or, wondered Ken Read, 'were they the vultures of the sea?'

Day six, 20 November, and the worst of the carnage was over. The crews finally reached the scoring gate and were able to change course and point their boats to the north, out of the Southern Ocean.

Ericsson Racing Team made it a one/two at the gate, Ericsson 4 leading Ericsson 3. The wounded Green Dragon, still flying, but with one wing clipped, made it across in third place and the Russians were delighted with fourth.

Telefónica Blue was next through, while Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) just pipped the limping cat PUMA by nine minutes. Delta Lloyd was last through as the wind eased and everyone started to focus on the strategy for the finish, although it was still just under 3,000 nm to the north.

Today, day 7, 21 November, it's all change. The fleet is reaching in 20 knots of breeze. The air temperature has soared along with the spirits onboard every boat. The crew of PUMA has been able to laminate new carbon skins to their damaged boat, and Green Dragon is sailing fast, but without her boom.

There is still just over 2,500 nm to go to the finish in Cochin, but for the moment, all is calm in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet.

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

Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders
Lewander/SWE) DTF 2570
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) + 13
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +37
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +38
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +39
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +71
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +74
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +103

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Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race Three crew members working hard on deck of Ericsson 3

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson4 cross the scoring gate at 58 deg E

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Rob Salthouse from New Zealand and Casey Smith from Australia making repairs to PUMA