Sport-heute: Sailing - ERICSSON 4 LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 0519 GMT

26. November 2008, 22:47

ERICSSON 4 LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 0519 GMT

ADVANTAGE ERICSSON

Only 900 miles to go but it will be a painful and long ordeal, there will be some very happy and unhappy boats by the end of this leg as there will be plenty of luck involved over the next few days. Hopefully we can stay on the front row but sometimes you don't have a say in these things.

CAPE TOWN - CHOCIN INDIA (mk) This morning we watched Ericsson 3 come from 11 miles behind, to about four in the space of 3 hours as we struggled through some light air clouds. We seem to be wearing quite a few of these clouds that are losing us a lot of miles. I guess everyone has to deal with them as well, but sometimes you feel they seem to find you only.

We are getting ready for some very light air over the next day or so and there seems to be a lot of snoring going on today as the sleeping conditions are at last perfect. Tony (Tony Mutter/NZL) is living up to his nickname 'Chopper' and is snoring nearly as loudly as the continuous screaming of the rudders, which is making everyone deaf and shouting is the means of communication.

We fully expect to see Puma, Green Dragon and Ericsson 3 for the next few days and probably into the finish as I can't imagine anyone getting too far apart in the weather we have coming.

Days like these are why my hair is falling out and going grey, I better stop moaning and go sailing, later.

Brad Jackson - watch captain

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TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 0936 GMT

Hi everybody!

At last, we have reached the Indian Doldrums, and we have some time to clean up and get some fresh air into our smelly boat. The only problem is the wind; it is not helping us much. The breakages are so many that we spend too much of our energy solving them instead of proper sailing. We get very disappointed when we are racing, and pushing the boat hard just to keep with the rest of the fleet, and there we go with any other failure!

The fleet is compressed in 150 miles after 3500 of rough sailing, which is incredible, and also means that there have not been many chances for the experimentation, and nobody wants to take any risk. We need some proper sailing, so that we can get the most of TELEFÓNICA NEGRO and be with the rest of the fleet as we have been since the beginning.

We have crossed the line of the 1000 miles to the finish line, and we do not know what the time we will get there will be, but estimate around four or five days, as we think the wind is not going to blow hard. This is our chance to get closer to the leaders, but we all know it is going to be very difficult.

Everybody is in good condition, mentally and physically, although a bit tired from the hard days that have passed before, blowing and soaked all the time and we are looking forward a nice shower and sleep! The good news is that we still have David Vera/ESP and his good humour!

Mikel Pasabant - MCM

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ADVANTAGE ERICSSON

The advantage, at 1300 GMT today, belonged to Ericsson 4, who had made a massive gain thanks to a well-positioned rain shower. She disappeared as if in 'stealth' mode earlier this morning, and when she emerged from her early bath, she had made a gain of around 45 nautical miles.

Torben Grael/BRA and his men are now sailing almost twice as fast as their nearest opponents who are clumped together in the middle group of the fleet as they race towards the finish of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race in Cochin, India.

But, this is the Doldrums and to play poker with them is at your peril and the serious contenders in the leg have not placed any bets. They are sticking firmly, in a formation, which will ensure they will all benefit from, roughly, the same weather.

At daybreak this morning, the group of Ericsson 4, Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE), PUMA (Ken Read/USA) and Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) were all close together. Ericsson 4 was just a few miles ahead of Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) and PUMA (Ken Read).

Now, with Ericsson 4 long gone, Ericsson 3 reports being at almost a standstill. The sea temperature is 31 degrees and the wind speed is 1.3 knots from every direction. The chasing pack wallows helplessly in the wake of Ericsson 4.

On the outer flanks of the group are the two Telefónica boats 68 nm to the west of PUMA, and Kosatka Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) 60 nm east of Green Dragon.

Onboard Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP), MCM Mikel Pasabant says that the constant stream of breakages is wearing thin. 'The breakages are so many that we spend too much of our energy solving them, instead of proper sailing,' he said.

In the last 24 hours, the order of the fleet has changed. Green Dragon moves up to third place and Team Russia and Telefónica Black have swapped places. All the boats in the fleet except Delta Lloyd and Team Russia have lost miles to the leader in the past three hours.

Leg Two Day 12: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben
Grael/BRA) DTF 821 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +48
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +58
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +60
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +64
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +75
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +114
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +122

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 1520 GMT

Once again, we are in the doldrums. Big towering clouds are everywhere around us and of course we are trying to find our best way through it, but this morning it was tough.

The breeze went from the south right to the north then to the west and finally back in the southeast, with not a lot of pressure, around 4-5 knots of breeze. So busy, busy with doing sail changes. You are just settled in and then, straight away, the wind changes again. This went on for about 4 hours, and we lost heaps against the fleet.

The crew is all well, sweating and working hard to squeeze everything out of our boat. We sail now in a light westerly breeze, and hopefully we can punch through the light spot. Not easy on the nerves, to hear all position reports. Will it be a win, loose or break-even? Just one or two more knots of breeze makes a huge difference in performance and miles done in these three-hour periods.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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PUMA LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 1441 GMT

Things have certainly slowed down here on the Il Mostro. With a little over 800 miles to go as we re-enter the doldrums, the boat is ghosting along at speeds in the single digits - a very unusual situation for these high-powered machines. It seems that the whole fleet has compressed and right now, we seem to be connected by a web of rubber bands to Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 ahead and Green Dragon behind. Every position sched the bands either pull apart or contract but, ultimately, we end up back with them just in sight on the horizon. In the back of our minds we know that the first boat to punch out of the doldrums will almost certainly win the leg... very worrying times.

It has certainly been easier for me to do my job here on the boat in these lighter conditions. Obviously much less visually dramatic, but the towering doldrum clouds are spectacularly beautiful. And the guys are just calling me on deck because a big sort of Indian Ocean seagull thing just landed on the stern pulpit.

Onboard the boat we have done pirate-related news feeds to CBS in the US and TV3 in New Zealand. This pirate stuff is big time but it's funny but now that we are in pirate waters, no one is talking about it. A couple of days ago, when we were 1500 miles away and doing 25 knots, it seemed like the only game in town. Now that we are in middle of their hunting grounds and doing 4.2 knots - nothing ... very strange.

I'm very much looking forward to Cochin. For me, travelling to new places is probably the best part of the race, and arriving at an unfamiliar by sea is one of the best feelings you can ever have. The smells, the smiling faces and the firm dry land all topped off by that all- important first beer. I have been hearing some great reports from my family who are already there and are apparently having a great time scoping out the place. This is only adding to my anticipation.

Rick Deppe -
MCM

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TEAM RUSSIA LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 1408 GMT

Had a new experience yesterday, when a flying fish landed in my sailing boot. Unfortunately, the boot was on my foot and the fish was caught between the boot and my leg. Of course, I didn't know it was a flying fish, it could have been anything, in the middle of a pitch-black night on the Indian Ocean and it didn't feel comfortable as well.

You could have seen me jumping around trying to get rid of my boot. Anyway, poor fish, caught in a sailor's boot after 10days at sea. I don't think any creature can survive the conditions. After my foot escaped the boot, the fish did as well and I have thrown him into the water, good luck little fish.

The wind Gods favour us at the moment. We still have a light breeze that pushes us towards India. Just the future looks grim, endless calms spreading all over the Northern Indian Ocean. Still, the sailing is very intense, as the boat requires a lot of attention to squeeze every possible knot out of the light winds.

With the warmer weather, we are not being electrocuted so often when touching anything on board the boat, but our keel system doesn't like it dry as the electronics there started to play up. We are back to manual - power assisted operation.
Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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ERICSSON 3 LEG TWO DAY 12 QFB: received 26.11.08 1256 GMT

We tried to protect the east for the Doldrums crossing, but did not want to go there alone, so we bailed out and lined up between Ericsson 4 and Puma yesterday night. That way we would experience the same conditions as them.

When daylight arrived, we were all close, with Ericsson 4 a few miles ahead and Puma a few miles behind. Ericsson 4 disappeared into a solid rain shower, and two position reports later, they are now 30 miles ahead of us, Puma 16 behind. Quite random, but at least no position changes for now. And the light zone seems to be following us north a bit, so we may stay in it for a while. It also looks very light for most the rest of the leg now. No more Saturday night arrival in Kochi, unfortunately!

Now we have just come to painful a complete stop. 0.00 on the boatspeed instrument on the mast. Some guys go for a swim, and there are heaps of small lazy whales around. The guys are continuously hunting for a cooler place on the boat. Not many were tempted by today's hot lunch. Some are coming by the nav station to look at the nice pictures of the tropical cyclone near where we are going. It does not seem too bad for us at the moment, as it should weaken when it gets over land in India. But we keep watching it.

Gustav works long days, and sometimes falls asleep by the computer while writing texts for media, accidentally filling the pages with letters. Two days ago, he managed to rotate the contents on his display 90 degrees while asleep, and could not get it back. It made it extremely challenging for him to write texts and edit video, and made a good laugh for the others. I don't know if he accidentally did it himself or if someone played him a joke for sleep writing.

The sea temperature is now 31 degrees, wind speed 1.3 knots from everywhere. Or nowhere.

Aksel Magdahl - navigator

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Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race