Sport-heute: Sailing - A WARM WELCOME AWAITS IN COCHIN

30. November 2008, 12:11

A WARM WELCOME AWAITS IN COCHIN

With the Volvo Ocean Race fleet poised to descend on the stopover port of Cochin, India this weekend, the race village is taking shape as the finishing touches are applied. This marks the first time in the history of the Volvo Ocean Race / Whitbread Round the World Race that an Asian stopover has featured on the itinerary.

CAPE TOWN - CHOCIN INDIA (mk) The stopover facilities are stretched across two acres on Willingdon Island, just off Cochin proper. Infrastructure in the area has been given a serious upgrade under the watchful eye of the Cochin Port Trust's chairman, N Ramachandran.

'A lot of hard work from a lot of people has gotten the site to this stage,' Ramachandran said. 'The race is arriving ahead of schedule (originally the boats weren't expected until Wednesday) but we will be able to get everything ready for then. A lot of people have worked hard on this.'

Although India has been shaken by a terrible terrorist attack 1,000 kilometres to the north, in Mumbai, stopover officials here are determined that nothing detracts from the events scheduled over the next two weeks. Security has been stepped up but Ramachandran is expecting healthy visitor numbers through the village.

'We believe that at least 50,000 to 100,000 people will be visiting the race village on the important dates, such as arrivals and departures,' Ramachandran revealed. 'On the days in between we are expecting at least 50,000 footfalls.'

The majority of visitors are expected to be locals and domestic tourists from elsewhere in India, but the local organisers hope that foreigners and teams will discover what Kerala is all about. To underline their point, National Geographic Traveller magazine described the region as one of the '10 paradises of the world'.

Note to media:
Local media need to apply for accreditation through the official website at http://www.volvooceanrace.org/press-centre/. Local media must then come to the media centre in Cochin to pick up their Volvo Ocean Race media pass and to accredit with the Cochin Stopover accreditation team for security reasons.

International media who have already accredited should bring their accreditation pass. They will need to have a holographic sticker applied to it at the media centre in Cochin to make the pass valid for this stopover.

At the media centre in Cochin, journalists and photographers can apply for a space on the press boats for the arrivals of the fleet. Media must have a valid Cochin Stopover accreditation pass and Volvo Ocean Race media pass to apply for the list. A boarding list for the successful applicants will be circulated prior to each arrival.

Volvo Ocean Race Leaderboard
Leg Two - Day 15: 0700 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 90 nm
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +110
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +271
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +303
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +307
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +311
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +339
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +560

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

DELTA LLOYD LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 0421 GMT

We've crossed the equator. Since I was asleep, hunched over the keyboard of my nav station, during my first crossing, it was gratifying to be conscious for my second crossing to see the 'S' change to an 'N'. It's a cool thing to watch if you are a 'navigator type'. For some reason it may only be sailors that make such a big deal about crossing the equator. On airplane flights, they make hardly a mention about it at all. Out here, the equator crossing ritual is taken very seriously.

As our offering to King Neptune, we donated tomorrow's ration of beef jerky.

Unfortunately, those of us that were punished by King Neptune on our first crossing during leg one didn't have the opportunity to pass along the 'spirit' of the punishment tradition onto a new comer on this leg. This would have been a brutal passing for a first time crosser. As Stu Wilson, who's been over the equator an uncountable number of times, commented, 'Neptune seems to be angrier the slower the boat speed and the calmer
the wind'.

Considering we were blast reaching along at 15 knots of boat speed during the leg one crossing, it was all Neptune could do to organise a slurry of food to dump on our heads. I got off easy. In becalmed conditions and where the first time crossers are outnumbered by 10 to 1, Stu has instigated 'ceremonies' that have lasted the entire day - his favourite: Duct taping first timers hands to the grinding pedestal handles.

The Green Dragon is still along side of us, just 200 metres away. The 'drag race' continues.

Matt Gregory - navigator
*************************************************************

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 19.11.08 0709 GMT

Hi There,

On deck this morning, it was dark, grey and raining, with little wind. It was hard to believe you weren't somewhere in northern Europe in the depths of winter, when you looked around, other than the fact that everyone was in shorts and t-shirts and didn't seem to mind the least little bit.

We had a good run last night with nice breeze but early this morning we parked. There were a few massive clouds and that was it, we were stuck there, wallowing in a leftover swell and very little breeze. It seemed like we could have been stuck there for hours, as all around it looked as though there was little wind and that perhaps our quick run north had finally come to an end.

Luckily, however this was not to be. We picked up a few small puffs that got us moving again. We unfurled our big sails when we felt the breeze was sufficiently stable and we wouldn't stop once more, but then, only minutes later, it was quite the
opposite, the wind continued to build and build until we had 25+ knots and we were roaring along at a similar speed.

It was a rapid change of modes needed from drifting to blasting as everything came back in the boat and the stack was loaded up once more. A couple of hours later I am very happy to report that we are still blasting along and the miles left to the finish line are dropping away quicker than I had imagined.

I might be soaked to the skin from rain and sea spray, but I don't mind at all - the sea temperature is pushing 30 degrees and the prospect of a good curry and a cobra beer is only 24 hours away! The last few miles are sure to be the toughest, but given that they may be coming sooner than we thought means smiles all round!

Cheers,

Simon Fisher - navigator

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

PUMA LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 0745 GMT

It's like running a marathon, you have four or five miles to go to the finish and you can see two runners in front of you.....one about 150 metres and the other about 400 metres. The road to the finish is straight, with no corners or turns and, right now, has a slightly downhill gradient, so everyone is running smooth and loose with not many passing lanes.

Right before the finish, there is a hill and there may be some opportunity for passing boats there, but, for now, you have to just try and run a little faster than them both without hitting the wall and, at the same time, hoping that they a) run out of steam just a little bit sooner than you, or b) have the misfortune to break a shoelace or experience some other minor mishap.

Obviously, the four miles I'm referring to is the 400 miles we have to the finish in Cochin, India, and the two other runners are Green Dragon and Ericsson 3 and the road gradient is the wind.

So it feels like no one's talking about Pirates anymore, and I'm guessing it's because the news cycle has a new story. I wonder if we'll be doing phone interviews along the lines of "what does it feel like to be sailing towards a conflict zone", in the same way that we had questions regarding pirates at the start of this leg.

We have been getting snippets of information about the dramatic situation in Mumbai and although I make light of things, we know for certain that sadly a number of people have died in horrible circumstances. It's a bit worrying knowing that your own and other people's families, friends and shorecrew are there waiting for us in Cochin, not a million miles from Mumbai, but we mustn't let it get to us, as that's what those people want. We're looking forward to getting to this new and exciting port and all of the adventures it brings.

Rick Deppe MCM

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

PUMA LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 0956 GMT

A little hot and steamy is the forecast for today and the not too distant future. But, at least we have some breeze! And a big time drag race with the Dragons and Delta Lloyd. Which of us gets in and out of the squall clouds best is the winner in each mini race that lasts exactly 3 hours long. That is the time that we get the position reports and either have something to hang our hat on, or get mad and try to make up for lost ground.

As this leg has progressed, the rich have clearly gotten richer; I give Tel Blue credit, because they chose a path through the doldrums that none of the rest of us saw. Got through and launched. Ericsson 4 just got ahead of the huge calms and gained on us. Not much we could do but watch and try to win the race that we can win. And that is the race against DL and the Dragons. It will come down to the last little bit of the race, because with less than 400 miles to go, it is clear that the final 50 -100 miles will be a major crap shoot again with little breeze. Oh well, just have to get ready, because there isn't much we can do about it.

Aboard we have some interesting findings that the heat or the water or something is bringing out. Really vivid dreaming! Shannon (Shannon Falcone/ANT) was screaming in his sleep the other day so loud that it sounded like a wounded lamb down below. We thought he was just kidding around, but it was clear that he was having a wild dream. He finally woke up and came on deck as if he had seen a ghost. It was a wild dream and I had better not get into details to protect the innocent.

I had a wild dream about my mother for the first time that I can remember. She passed away a little over 10 years ago and it was a massive loss for our entire family as you could imagine. She creeps into my dreams from time to time, but not for a long while. Well, the other night she was back in a big way. And as always, in my dream she was trying to do what was right for her sons.

Finally, I must admit that over the last 48 hours both our race and the potential for pirates' intervention have taken the back seat to the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Wild times that we live in, and certainly, a very vivid reminder that we are out here as part of an entertainment show to hopefully take all of your minds away from some of the problems in the world right now. Glad to do it, but to put this all in perspective, it is a little disconcerting to be sailing into a bit of a delicate situation. We have been in touch with Volvo and security is assured and, as with the potential problems with pirates, it appears they have worked very hard at making this a great stopover.

We are all looking forward to seeing a peaceful part of India. I've never been to India before and can't wait to see a new culture. As long as we beat a couple of other boats on the way in!

Ken Read - skipper

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

TEAM RUSSIA LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 1502 GMT

It hurts, but we have to realise that our strategy from five days ago didn't work out; it was already quite obvious 36 hours ago, now it's safe to accept that we will not overtake anyone on an easterly route.

Still, we are happy that we tried, that we had an analysis, discussions, and a decision we believed in and that we did go for it. It looked good for some time, which seemed to confirm our theory and then it turned really bad and we were stuck in a windless hole with no options left. It doesn't mean we surrender, we were prepared to take the blow and we get on with it. But we will keep looking for better solutions than just rhumbline sailing.

There are still endless 600 miles ahead of us and not a lot of breeze. Currently we are on the wind against 7 knots of breeze from where we want to go. That's ocean sailing as well, that's what connects us with the seafarers of old age. On the sea, the desert and the mountains, you are with nature, that's why we are out here.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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

ERICSSON 4 LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 1547 GMT

We are currently approaching Cochin in very light winds, 2 miles offshore of the sub-continent, trying to find some night breeze to get us to the finish line.

The air smells damp, earthy and of wood smoke which is generally a good sign that we may get a few zephyrs to move us on our way. The day has been frustrating and we have been slowed by clouds rain and a peak of 5.6 knots of wind speed.

This leg has ended like the lamb rather than the first week of lion-like conditions. We have seen the fleet strung out over 600 miles yet still to me, the final outcome is unsure as the weather is so variable and light, and the factor that these boats are capable of such high speeds.

This time last night I couldn't type as the boat was bouncing around sitting on 26 knots in 30 knots of wind and I was watching us take 40nm a 3 hour sched out of boats...tonight we are doing 3 knots and losing 40nm a sched.

The tension is mounting amongst the crew that all our hard work on the leg will end with us being overtaken at the finishing post, so some hard night hours ahead, trimming the sails and the boat.

Jules Salter - navigator

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

ERICSSON 3 LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 1600 GMT

'Please don't die'

They are Magnus Olsson's words. It feels like he has spelled them out enough times in this race. The weather reports are quite unreliable in this part of the world and it would be nice if the report I heard about the wind dropping as we come closer to the finish turns out to be wrong.

We have gained on the others the last scheds and we have had good, but extremely shifty breeze, which means many sail changes.

When it comes to signs of wilderness, this trip has been boringly calm. Until yesterday, we had only seen fins of a bunch of small whales and some albatrosses in the Southern Ocean. They are fantastic birds with a gracious way of flying. To follow ones track for a couple of minutes really takes an effort. They are flying in between the waves, almost touching the surface and they are using the wind so efficiently that they don't have to flap their wings more than a couple of times per day. Fantastic.

But I was hoping for more than the amazing birds. I was thinking more of sharks, whales and the never-boring dolphins. So far, we only saw the fins of really small whales and we had close contact with a small fish the other day. First, he was caught on our daggerboard. And when he let go of that, he managed to get stuck on the rudder as well. Not good for us and certainly not good for him. I actually think he snapped in half after a while.

Yesterday was the big moment. A huge whale jumped up in the air about 50 meters to leeward. In Swedish, it's called a Kaskelott. It's one of those really big ones with a flat nose and no teeth. It was an amazing moment. The only pity about it was that I didn't see it. Just three guys in the crew did. And they were ecstatic. I have to figure out a way to never miss those moments. Any ideas?

A tired Gustav Morin - MCM

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

GREEN DRAGON LEG TWO DAY 15 QFB: received 29.11.08 2207 GMT

We are now 240 from the finish; it has been a very challenging leg for the mighty Dragon. Unfortunately, I didn't get to have a crack at fixing the boom as we decided that the boat would be better served if we just concentrated on racing. And the boat has been going well; it is a bit of a juggle trimming the main, as we have at least four ropes off the clew to help us control the trim, so this means it is more than the usual one-person job to trim it efficiently.

In the heart of the boat, it has been pretty hot. After we arrived in the doldrums, I did a good check of all the systems and it is all going great. I am very lucky to have the support of Johnny Mordant on our shore team who takes care of all the engineering on the boat. The water maker is running a treat and, in the hotter climates, we tent to use at least double the water as in the first half of the leg.

Had major blockage of the 'dunny' yesterday and it took Phil Harmer (now known as Kenny) 2 hours of surgery to get it going again. It was a bit of a stand off before it was used again, as it does not usually pay to follow a bloke after he has had issues. Standard rules on board though, if you block it you fix it, although it has been known for some people to sneak off and leave it for the next bloke.

Anyway looking forward to getting to the finish, only a Pittwater to Coffs race to go.

Bad rumour on board is that when we arrive it is an alcohol free day in India; hope our shore team can fix this oversight.

Tom Braidwood - pitman/trimmer

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

Leserkommentare (0) »

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 4, Skippered by Torben Grael from Brazil (pictured) is interviewed by the media, as they arrive in Cochin, India, to win the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 4, Skippered by Torben Grael from Brazil, arrive in Cochin, India, to win the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 4, Skippered by Torben Grael, arrive in Cochin, India, to win the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 4, Skippered by Torben Grael, arrive in Cochin, India, to win the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09.