Sport-heute: Sailing - LEG THREE DAY 3 QFB: received 15.12.08 0735 GMT

15. Dezember 2008, 13:31

LEG THREE DAY 3 QFB: received 15.12.08 0735 GMT

TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY 3 QFB: received 15.12.08 0735 GMT

As expected, the fleet has compressed again, after a fast ride along Sri Lanka. Last night we were close with four boats, all under spinnaker and I don't know how many times we gybed, to protect our 2nd place, as Ericsson 4 had slipped through our lee.

cochin-singapore (mk) We were all heading to the 'pirate waypoint' and Si Fi (Simon Fisher - navigator) got a couple of extra grey hairs, since we were pretty close. The problem was that 2.5 knots of current pushed us down to the point, and of course you don't want to end up on the wrong side, as you than have to sail backwards, and go properly around the point. For some reason we lost Telefónica Black who were only a hundred metres behind us. Either they had a bad sail change or ended up on the wrong side of the point, as all of sudden they were 3 miles behind us.

Now sailing upwind with our big Code Zero, and just hanging in. Puma is going the best, Ericsson 4 second best and unfortunately, we are the worst. Just a matter of being patient and wait for the conditions to change. Still we have a lot of current against us, nearly 3 knots which doesn't help our progress and course, but at least we have breeze, so still making miles in the right direction. Everybody is feeling well, and it is not too hot, although some will disagree, but we are a happy vessel.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY 3 QFB: received 15.12.08 0610 GMT

"Max daggerboard down, please"

This rare call in the race so far marks the beginning of the 1000 NW beat to the top of Sumatra. To give you an idea of just how long a beat that is, it is as far as Miami to New York, slightly shorter than Sydney to Auckland or from Holland to the very most southern tip of Italy. Wow, that is more than a two-day drive!

It is not like we haven't been warned though. The statistics from the weather studies were daunting when we first got them. Whereas previous Volvo Ocean Races have been mainly a downwind and reaching trip around the planet, this edition we are in for a good beat(ing). Both this leg and the next leg stick out like a sore thumb with this one being the light to medium upwind stretch and the next leg to China the big breeze beat.

So the daggerboards that have been mostly dead weight so far in the race are now getting a chance to do their bit. Code Zero's are max trimmed in, and I don't think we will see the traveller much below centreline over the next days.

Getting the last percentages out of the boat is going to be crucial, and there is no better reference on how we are doing than the other boats. Fortunately, we have both Green Dragon and Ericsson within sight. As the conditions are still highly variable, changing gears well is where we can make the biggest gains. So we have the hand bearing compass and binoculars out to judge how we are doing.

"This high mode works well." "Little gain here with some more traveller up." "Nice work guys, the boat feels well balanced now." The speed team circle of the trimmers and driver is doing a great job and by the looks of things, they are going to be busy the next days!

As for us in the nav station, little differences in wind direction and wind speed have a large impact on our progress. Much more so than with the high speed reaching and downwind sailing that we have done in the previous legs.

Over the next days, the crucial question is when to tack north. It is clear that there is consistently is more wind up there in the Bay of Bengal, but we want to find a good opportunity get there. Go further east to get that better right hand shift, or go earlier to get to the stronger wind first. It will be all to play for once we get clear of the second Sri Lanka waypoint.

Wouter Verbraak - navigator

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DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 2 QFB: received 14.12.08 2042 GMT

The weather brief that we received from our meteorologist, Fritz Koek, has been spot on so far on leg 3. The short sprint from the start, down to the virtual marks that Volvo laid to the south of Sri Lanka, would be full of geographically placed 'bands of wind' and 'bands of little wind':

From the start - A band of westerly sea breeze
No wind
A band of land breeze from the east
No wind
A band of strong 20-knot wind from the east that funnels between India and Sri Lanka
Little wind on the lee side of Sri Lanka as we round the
first waypoint (this is where we are now)

The strategic implications of this brief?

After the first park up, of no wind, the first boats to sail south into the land breeze from the east would jump ahead of the fleet. Winning the first 6 hours of the race would be key in this Yo-Yo race. During the first park-up, the entire fleet was separated, on a north-south basis of only 1 or 2 miles. 2 miles was all it took for the leaders to leap ahead 30 miles as they got the land breeze first and sailed away from the boats that were still adrift - Yo.

It was the time for the boats at the back to play catch-up as the leaders sailed into the next parking lot. We were all separated by only a handful of miles yet again. Yo

The leaders got south into the strong funnelling wind from the east and zoomed away. Yo

Still blast reaching at 20 knots the trailing boats caught back up to the leaders. Yo

How many more 'Yos' are left in this leg? Plenty! Stay tuned.

Matt Gregory - navigator

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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY 3 QFB: received 15.12.08 0457 GMT

The first two days haven't been as we feared in our worst nightmares of no wind areas, just a few hours very light, but the breeze never died away completely.

The whole stretch to the western end of the Sri Lanka exclusion zone was very tactical and offered lots of opportunities to gain and lose and we had both. While getting off the start under A1 got us into second place, we lost the good position when we reached off too far from land in the land breeze off Quilon.

While we sailed into a light area there, the fleet benefitted from the stronger outflow close inshore. Once in the strait between mainland India and Sri Lanka it paid to sail low initially and we made good gains on the fleet, overtaking Ericsson 3. We were able to lay the mark while they had to gybe.

Now we are settling in for the 1000-mile beat to Sumatra against the northeast Monsoon where upwind speed will count most. Not a lot of wind shifts ahead, just the constant flow of wind coming from the wintery high pressure that covers most of northern Asia. The early seafarers did it the other way around, they followed the Monsoon, giving them an easy ride west in winter and back the other way the following summer.

It is great to race in sight of each other as it allows us for the first time to compare boat speed. Even though Kosatka is regarded as being a heavy weather boat, we were able to keep the pace in the light conditions. During the reach to the first waypoint, we felt slightly weak due to the lighter bulb and the light mode we are sailing in currently, even though we previously regarded it as a strength of the boat.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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Sander Pluijm/Team Delta Lloyd/Volvo Ocean Race PUMA Ocean Racing overtaking Delta Lloyd at the start of leg 3 from Cochin to Singapore. In front Gerd-Jan Poortman on the bow of the Delta Lloyd.

Sander Pluijm/Team Delta Lloyd/Volvo Ocean Race Navigator Matt Greogory briefing the Delta Lloyd crew about the planning of leg 3 and the start of the race. The crew always hold their briefings onboard, right before the start.

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Jordi Calafat at the main and Bouwe Bekking at the helm. Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 on the horizon, at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Casey Smith and Michael Muller pack sails onboard il mostro, at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race

Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Damian Foxall onboard Green Dragon, at the start of leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race