Sport-heute: Sailing - THE BIG DRY-OUT BEGINS

22. November 2008, 23:05

THE BIG DRY-OUT BEGINS

Leg Two Day Eight: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions

It has been an exciting 24 hours in the Volvo fleet racing towards Cochin, India, in leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race. With 2239 nm to go to the finish, the lion's share of this 4450 nm leg is over, but as the fleet compresses, once again, many boats are in sight of each other.

CAPE TOWN - CHOCIN INDIA (mk) Earlier this morning, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) who is right up in the hunt and fighting it out with the leaders, had Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) on one side and PUMA (Ken Read/USA) on the other.

As the pace of life has slowed, the 'big dry-out' has started, it is a good opportunity to repair everything that needs fixing and dry out all the gear.

'All around the boat you can find bits of clothing hung up as everyone desperately tries to get stuff dried out before we begin reaching once more on starboard,' says Simon Fisher, navigator of Telefónica Blue. The air is warm, and the night skies are clear and full of stars. 'It's amazing how fast the change from full we weather gear, fleeces and boots was to only shorts,' says Ericsson 3's MCM Gustav Morin.

The team had a plastic bag caught around the keel this morning, but have become very proficient in backing up the boat and were able to free it quickly.

The fleet is now aiming on reaching the trade winds as soon as possible and setting up for a good angle into the Doldrums, but, after the Doldrums although the teams are expecting a good westerly breeze, in the final approach to India, the wind is likely to drop.

At 1300 GMT today, it was an all-Ericsson affair with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) in charge of the fleet with Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) just three miles astern and to the north. The first five boats are split 40nm from first to fourth, with a gap of 40nm to PUMA in fifth. Boat speeds hover around the low teens with 24 hour runs around the 330 mark.

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

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 2239 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +3
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +28
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +34
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +40
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +79
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +88
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +104

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Hi There,

It has been an exciting 24 hours with two of the fleet in view, Green Dragon on one side and Puma on the other. We are approaching a gybe and everyone is playing their own little strategies, some high and fast some going lower and slower so it makes for an interesting time in the nav station constantly monitoring our performance trying to stay on top of the changing conditions.

To be honest, I am thoroughly enjoying being up with the pack and fighting it out, almost for the first time since this race has started do I feel that we are really in the hunt. Each boat seems to have their conditions where they are slightly stronger, so it is all about managing the fleet and not getting suckered into playing someone else's game. I know that soon we will be reaching again and most likely that will be good for us!

Racing aside (dare I say it!), life is very good. The wind has got lighter so the big dry out has begun, all round the boat you can find bits of clothing hung up as everyone desperately tries to get stuff dried out before we begin reaching once more on starboard. The thermals are now close to coming off too, something I am very much looking forward to, as it will mark the end of being slightly damp for the best part of a week now.

I am slightly regretting not buying any shoes for the warm conditions like 99% of the crew did in Cape Town - a consequence of not being that big a fan of shopping and a firm believer in taking the minimum amount of stuff possible on a leg. For starters, its is less weight and, even better, it is less stuff to leave lying around the boat!

Even the food seems to be getting better. Perhaps it is because I am getting back into the swing of things, but the freeze-dried doesn't seem nearly as bad. Maybe it is the fact that there is one more curry on the menu or, perhaps, it is because of all the snacks we have this leg. There has been a steady flow of dried fruit and Biltong into my mouth for the whole trip, which has been very good indeed. I dare say it is a good idea to make the most of eating beef while we sail as in India a cow is something to worship and not to eat!

Anyway, better go, sched coming up and maybe a quick trip to the snack box!

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - navigator

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 8 QFB: received 22.11.08 0729 GMT

As Sifi (Simon Fisher- navigator) said earlier, the weather change is welcomed by all of us, but especially by Laurent (Laurent Pages/FRA), who is now able to come on deck.

His shoulder is getting a little better, and there is a bit more range in his movement. Most important we have his stomach problem under control. This worried me actually more than his shoulder, as dehydration can become a real issue. But he has been a good boy and drinking his hourly rate. We of course have been thinking of the option to drop him off on one these beautiful islands on the way, in case the situation was going backwards, but that is luckily not the case anymore and I have pushed option that completely out of my mind.

Being the skipper on a Volvo boat brings you in a lot of situation where the stress levels can go up dramatically, and especially the well-being of the crew is my biggest worry. It shows as well, that it has been good again to follow the medical courses, so that I have a bit of understanding of all the problems, which can occur. It would have been way harder to rely completely on the word of our other two 'medics', and then to make a decision, so was happy I spend time on this.

Had a good chat with Laurent today, and have made him aware that there is a chance that he will not be fit for the next leg and that he has might have to sit that one out. I would rather talk straight and clear, so we can work on proper solution. He knows there is that risk, it would be bummer for us, and of course for himself if he doesn't make it, but we have to think the big picture here. His well-being is priority number one.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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ERICSSON 3 LEG TWO DAY 8 QFB: received 22.11.08 1118 GMT

We are now sailing in 10 knots of wind and almost flat water and it's a golden opportunity to fix everything that needs to be fixed. Everyone is moving around like hard working ants.

Martin KriteSWE and Martin Strömberg/SWE are repairing the main, Anders Dahlsjö/SWE is putting some carbon on the radar cover and Mange (Magnus Olsson/SWE)and Jens Dolmer/DEN have taken the task to try and repair the radar, not very easy, I can tell you that.

Mange thinks they have a 20 percent chance of making it work. So far, they have been working on it for six hours. The first time they tried to put the electricity on, we heard a big bang. Next time smoke started come out of it. But, they are not giving up, even though the odds are probably even higher than they were at the start.

The wind has dropped and the heat has arrived. It's amazing how fast the change from full wet weather gear, fleece and boots went to only shorts.

We have very nice sailing conditions but even so, it's been a frustrating 24 hours for us. The entire fleet has made big gains on us and Ericsson 4 has passed us on their more easterly route. It did not get better when we had to stop to remove a big bag which got stuck on the keel.

On the plus side, we realised very quickly that something was wrong and went to have a look in the endoscope, to find a big bag wrapped around the fin. In just a few minutes, we had stopped the boat, sailed backwards for a couple of meters, got rid of the bag ad then started sailing again. We have definitely improved since the same thing happened on the first leg.

On the last sched, we had gained on Ericsson 4 and Green Dragon. But they have a better angle than us and we have to fight hard to stay in the top.

For the moment we are aiming on reaching the tradewinds as soon as possible and getting a good angle into the Doldrums. After the Doldrums we are expecting a good westerly breeze and as we get closer to India the wind will probably drop.

During this pretty calm moment we are also trying to spend some quality-time in our bunks, regaining some of the sleep we have missed out of the last couple of days.

Gustav Morin - MCM

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TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG TWO DAY 8 QFB: received 22.11.08 1208 GMT

Hi
At last, we are having time to fix things properly and put everything to get dry. The wind has dropped and the sun is nice now, so we have tidied the whole inside, without forgetting we are still racing. But there are so many little things to fix that they take a lot of time!

Last night was really different from those previous ones, as it really stopped being cold and you could enjoy navigation and a canopy of stars. Things are not going very well in this part of the leg, but there is a lot more to go and we are all confident things will change. But everyone on TELEFÓNICA NEGRO is really enjoying every minute of this race, even when things are difficult, we behave as a great bunch of sailors and friends!

Now we are making another of the endless changes of sails. We try everything, and we keep on trying to do our best, although we are conscious it is not enough, but anyway we fight for it. As far as the pirates, we do not really think much of it, we the next two legs consider much more dangerous; anything might
happen, so now we just have fun.

We will be soon immersed into the Indian Ocean tradewinds and then into the doldrums, which you may remember as those nights keeping watch over massive rainclouds and squalls on the radar, with little or no wind, and we are all anxious to experiment how they are in this part of the world, as there is very little evidence or previous experience.

Anyway, the BLACKIES are still alive!

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

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ERICSSON 4 LEG TWO DAY 8 QFB: received 22.11.08 1003 GMT

The pace of life has slowed dramatically over the last 24hrs on Ericsson 4. We gybed early this morning as we approached the start of the wind transition area, which will ultimately get us into the SE trades and on our way.

It's been time for drying out and a repair to one of the helmsman's foot chocks that broke a couple of days ago. Dave Endean/NZL and his faithful side kick Phil ' Blood' Jameson/NZL set about it with drills and grinders and we are now waiting for the epoxy to kick before reinstalling it.

It was weird to see Blood wearing 2 gloves (during the repair) for a change as he has been getting called 'Michael Jackson' onboard due to his recent habit of wearing one glove - the reason? - because of some nasty splits he had developed on his hand due to the constant damp conditions. The deep splits resembled small open mouths at the base of his fingers and looked pretty painful, but this didn't stop the joking about. The small tears took on a new meaning to the recent street saying 'Speak to the hand as the face ain't listening' as Ryan thought that Blood's hand could talk back and if you asked the hand a question it would actually answer back - albeit in Ryan's high pitched Monty Python style woman's voice.

Unfortunately for Ryan, but lucky for Blood, the splits are healing nicely - so we only have the Michael Jackson references and no matter how many times any of us do any high pitched 'hee hee's', ask for a 'moon walk' or say 'chamone' (in true Jackson style) Blood refuses to put on a 'self professed messiah - misfit' show for us, which is a shame as I can just see Blood trying to moon walk in all his gear including his blue gardening glove.

On a more serious note, Dave Endean/NZL threw our serving spoon overboard last night - although he can't really be blamed, as it was I who didn't take it out of the pot before asking him to empty the left over food in the ocean. (Tried thinking of a good spoonerism to put in that statement - but couldn't see one!)

We have a constant high-pitched wail coming from the rudders and it is slowly driving us all insane (I think testament to that is above!) - so in some way losing the spoon was a good move as it is one less weapon to be used onboard when one of us finally does snap due to the aural torture.

Guy Salter - MCM

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Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Pablo Arrarte & Pepe Ribes taking Telefonica Blue north, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Spay at sunset on board of Tlefonica Blue, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race 1 of the 10,000 waves per day hit Pablo Arrarte driving and Jonatham Swain trimming the main, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race Grinding on deck of Telefonica Black

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

Hans Berggren/Ericsson Racing Team Martin Stromberg onboard Ericsson 3

Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race Anders Dahlsjo and Jens Dolmer on the grinder of Ericsson 3 after the start of leg 2 from Cape Town