Sport-heute: Sailing - DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 1 QFB: received 13.12.08 1357 GMT

13. Dezember 2008, 22:42

DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 1 QFB: received 13.12.08 1357 GMT

We are about 3 hours into the start of leg 3. Right now the entire fleet is sailing due south along the west coast of India. We are currently enjoying a very nice westerly sea breeze. We are flying our A4, big downwind sail and cruising along nicely at 10 knots of boatspeed in 9 to 11 knots of wind. This wind won't last forever. I expect the wind to die in about 2 hours...we will most likely come to a complete stop. Wind is coming however. The winter Monsoon wind, and its northeast gradient should come to save us and propel us along to the south once again.

Brüttisellen (mk) Volvo has place an exclusion zone around the south coast of Sri Lanka. There is a gang of pirates that occupy the region of the exclusion zone. Apparently, they even have their own 'air force'. In an effort to avoid starting a 'turf war', the race will pass to the south of a line of virtual marks that will give us a safe distance between 'the bad guys' and us.

Once we pass the landmasses of India and Sri Lanka we will be able to head east across the Bay of Bengal. The northeast Monsoon winds will still be our driving weather pattern through this 1000-mile stretch of open ocean. Sailing mostly on port tack, at maximum upwind angles we will have a couple strategic decisions to make during this section of the course.

To the north of our track is more wind. To the south, a light and shifty convergence zone that is full of clouds, rain and not much wind. However because of the mechanical forces that propel the boat through the water, going south is quite easy, going north is very difficult. We can reach a bit, to sail faster, but we will be flirting with being swallowed up in the convergence zone. While sailing to the north seems like the obvious choice, we can only sail so close to the wind, so getting to the windier areas might be costly if we have to sail in full 'upwind mode'. It will be very costly if we have to tack to starboard to get more wind....we'll all just have to wait and see what micro weather systems exist when we turn east.

The last 600 miles of the race will be incredibly tricky as we sail down the Malacca Straights- the waterway between Sumatra and Malaysia. This is a narrow strip of water that is full of fishing boats, fishing nets, commercial shipping, more fishing nets, and, yes, more pirates. But this is also an area of very little wind and an opposing current. This section of the race is bound to be incredibly difficult.

If we are lucky, we will be in Singapore by Christmas. For the past couple days, all the wives and girlfriends of my teammates have asked me if my forecasting models will get us to Singapore in time for Christmas... I didn't have the heart to tell them directly what I was thinking. The truth is, I don't care when we get to Singapore. All I want for Christmas this year is a podium finish.

Matt Gregory - Navigator

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ERICSSON 4 LEG THREE DAY 1 QFB: received 13.12.08 1456 GMT

Leg 3 starts and we are all wondering where all the time is going. We had a great stop in Cochin and I am sure you will be hearing India being praised by all teams. It was a fantastic and friendly place and I for one would be more than happy if the race returned here. Admittedly there are a few people who didn't enjoy the culture as much as others did, but this probably has more to do with 'Deli Belly' and the power of the chilli pepper, than the place itself.
I personally enjoyed feasting on different strength curries for every meal and I was in heaven here!

We are sailing in 4kts of wind right now and are in sight of most of the fleet. We have Puma just in front; Tele Blue and E3 are just offshore of us. Last we saw was the Russians, Green Dragon and Tele black inshore.

I hear the boys talking and they seem most concerned about the 3 inshore right now - we were looking good against them last sched, but the worry is they have more wind
and are slipping up the inside - I guess we will know in an hour and a half.

The night air is not only light, but also warm and we still feel over dressed in t-shirt and shorts. The moon is bright - in fact, yesterday the moon was the closest it had been to earth in 50 years, it is so bright that everything is casting a shadow. On the negative side, the tides will be very strong!

Everyone is still on deck and it will take a little while to get used to the watch system and life onboard once more. It is a journey into the unknown once more and I am sure it will make everything that little more exciting again.

Guy Salter MCM

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TELEFÃ“NICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY ONE QFB: received 13.12.08 1455 GMT

We had had a great farewell from the people of Cochin. The parade down the dock took a little longer as anticipated and the sun was burning down on us, a good practice for what we expect over the next week, but the atmosphere was great.

After some sailing around past all the spectators, we headed out to the start line. A bit different here than in Alicante and Cape Town - a gentle breeze and no worries with spectators boats, as there were hardly any out.

We had a good start, but Puma got their nose out just half a boat length, and that made it a bit difficult for us as were dictated by them, just follow the leader. The two Ericsson boats were right on our hip, and we sailed for about two hours, slowly stretching on them. Then all of a sudden we lost speed. A quick look through the endoscope, and we learned that we had weed on the keel and rudder, and they both rolled us. Amazing such a bad effect some pieces of weed have on the performance.

Right now, the breeze has dropped to 4-5 knots and we still sail at around 6 knots, hopefully the breeze stays in. ERT 3 is half a boat length in front of us, and we can read their instruments. In about 20 miles we should get more wind, coming back from the east, at least that is what our own weather model predicts. The team that sticks its nose in this first, for sure will get a jump on the rest. Right now we are spread out, some right on the beach and us about eight miles off. Time will tell who comes out best.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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13DEC08. The start of Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, from Cochin, India, to Singapore. Leg 3 is expected to take 8-10 days, arriving into Singapore just in time for Christmas.

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race. Green Dragon at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean race, from Cochin, India to Singapore