Sport-heute: Sailing - TEAM RUSSIA LEG TWO DAY 9 QFB: received 23.11.08 0126 GMT

23. November 2008, 13:47

TEAM RUSSIA LEG TWO DAY 9 QFB: received 23.11.08 0126 GMT

We had a very unlucky incident last night catching a rope in the port rudder, not a piece of string, but seven metres of heavy arm-thick stuff that stalled the rudder and slowed down. It took some time to get rid of it and ruined our sched. Having a catch in an area with lots of shipping is one thing, but in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where we haven't seen a ship for the last week is like one in a million.

(mk) Everyone on board really enjoyed yesterday's warmer and drier weather after being cold and wet for almost a week. Everything went on deck to dry out; less moisture is less weight, which will help, in the light stuff ahead.

On this leg our technical issues seem to be dominated by electrics....after getting electrocuted when touching anything in the navstation, its now the SSB not wanting to get switched off, no matter what you do unless you cut the main power supply to the amplifier. Why the SSB? Because all the Anglo Saxons on board got very nervous about some Rugby yesterday and there was hope that BBC world service would broadcast it.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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

GREEN DRAGON LEG TWO DAY 9 QFB: received 23.11.08 0611 GMT

We have had plenty on lately. You may have heard but we had a witching hour where something would happen almost same time every day.

One particular day was a real bummer. I had just got on deck when Damien called to me as we were taking in a lot of water through the glue joining the port dagger board. Damien Foxall (IRL) was holding it shut as best he could, while I got into the back of the boat to retrieve the boat-building kit as we planned to through bolt it.

As if we didn't have enough on while I was in the back of the boat , I felt Neal McDonald/GBR get a bit on and all of a sudden a big bang and the steering sheave box that prevents you from Chinese gybing had come clean off. This put a dampener on thing to say the least.

After assessing the damage, I decided to concentrate on stopping the leak first with Damien as the boys were steering ok with the leeward wheel. This repair as you would have seen, involved a lot of water and sicker (Sikaflex).

Next was the steering sheave, I am lucky to have onboard guys like Damien and Neal as they are smart blokes, who have spent plenty of time dreaming up on the fixes, which is a big part of any offshore race. We decided the best way would be to bang a hole through to side of the boat, a bit unorthodox but effective for sure.

I drilled a series of pilot holes through the inside skin then chiselled out the remainder skin, we then chiselled out the outside skin, got a file, cleaned up the hole (not too bad either for a railway fitter). We had a French fitting called a Pad Limit, which was perfect; this was to be sickered in place from the outside with the strop going into the boat to hang the block off.

Easy. The boys fed the strop through, lots of sicker everywhere, and we were almost finished. I grabbed the block, turned around, and no strop, it had been washed away. This put me fully into the wall. I was now feeling pretty grumpy. Managed to get a dog bone to do the same job though and it has stayed fully waterproof.

Other than the usual cleaning out of bilge pump filters and messing with the water maker, which has been a real pain and used up a lot of my time, I think I found the problem today, and am hoping it will be back to normal operation.

We now have the challenge of repairing the boom, I am pretty excited about tackling this one and am waiting for Ian (Ian Walker/GBR) to give me the go ahead as we have put it to one side and are just concentrating on making the boat go fast, at the moment it is not affecting us.

With discussions with Neal and Andy (Andy Merrington/AUS). we have come up with a good plan and, as with all these repairs, they are done in less than perfect environments and there is no guarantee it will hold up to what we will ask of it. It will be a combination of mainsail battens, glue and carbon and anything else I can fined to chuck at it and will look ugly, but if it holds, I will be stoked.

Sometimes having my role on board is great when it is cold and you are working on the engine in the warm, but it also is a bit frustrating as you would like to get up there and do some sailing and enjoy the watch with the boys. You feel like every time you get on top of one thing, another will be waiting, and most times it is just about prioritising the repairs.

Tom Braidwood

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

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 9 QFB: received 23.11.08 0631 GMT

Laurent (Laurent Pages/FRA) is sitting on deck at the exact same spot where he washed away a couple of days ago. He is actually trimming the mainsail. You can't stop him. He is getting very, very bored, so we have given him this joy, as the conditions are not too bad.

To give a bit of security, we braced him in between two spinnakers, and made a little stand for his feet to be locked in. His injured arm is hanging down, besides his body, still unable to use it. He actually had again a lot of pain, but the reason is that he has been sleeping on it. No painkillers for that.

We put Xabi (Xabier Fernandez/ESP on antibiotics today, as he is having similar skin issues as Gabry (Gabrielle Olivo/ITA MCM) had on the first leg. Pepe (Pepe Ribes/ESP) has a sore throat, but we are just giving him some mild medicaments. Antibiotics are great, but have to be careful with them, we shouldn't use them too much and too quickly. It doesn't seem to stop on this leg. Oh yes, we are still racing, and going very nicely.

We played the small ridge of high pressure well, and now sailing in a bit more stable breeze .Three more days of fast reaching and then the casino of the doldrums will start again, only this time we can't use any previous information learned from the past, and it will be interesting how we are all going to tackle this obstruction. There will be for sure different opinions.

Cheers

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

Leserkommentare (0) »

MArk Covell/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Team Russia prepare to make a sail change onboard Kosatka, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race An Indian Ocean Rainbow from Telefonica Black, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race Close reaching on Telefonica Black, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India