Sport-heute: Sailing - ALL TO PLAY FOR

21. Dezember 2008, 14:58

ALL TO PLAY FOR

PRESSURE ON IN HOME STRAIT

The stopover in Cochin at the end of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town was short but very sweet. It was a sensational two weeks in India, the first time the race has visited this country, and without exception, everyone was sorry to leave.

cochin-singapore (mk) But leave they did, in a light sea breeze of around five to six knots on 13 December, bound for Christmas in Singapore. Or so they thought.

Leg three, at 1950 nautical miles was estimated to take around eight days to complete, but today, day nine, the leaders still have 220 miles to run.

Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) led the fleet across the downwind start line but it was a lead short-lived and soon Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) took up the lead.

Leg three will be remembered for its constantly changing leaderboard as the light and difficult conditions saw different leaders almost every three hours.

By day three, 15 December, the fleet was still racing close to the line between two waypoints set south of Sri Lanka to keep the fleet south of the coast and away from the possible intrusion by pirates, but this meant that the eight boats had to battle an adverse current of up to 3.5 knots in very little breeze.

There was more breeze north, in the Bay of Bengal, but the fleet could not get there, and when they could, they faced a 1000 nm beat to the scoring gate, a line set directly north from the island Palau We at the entrance to the Malacca Strait.

Wouter Verbraak, Kosatka Team Russia's Dutch navigator put this distance into perspective when he said, 'it is a 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's more than a two-day drive.'

'Welcome to the beat from hell,' wrote Kenny Read, skipper of PUMA, on day four as the fleet continued to struggle against the strong current and light headwinds. Green Dragon's skipper, Ian Walker/GBR said that if there were a prize for tenacity, then his crew would deserve it.

'We do not have the speed of the Ericsson, PUMA or Telefónica boats and it is not easy to see them putting miles on us whenever we are near them. We have been sailing for hours, making no more than two knots and, often, nothing towards the finish.'

By day 5, 17 December, Telefónica Blue had kept the lead, but found themselves strung out to the south and in a very vulnerable position, separated from the rest of the fleet by over 100 nautical miles. Bouwe Bekking and his men believed they could make a gain with an expected southeasterly windshift.

It was a nail-biting situation, waiting to see if the windshift would materialise. If it didn't, they would be in serious trouble. The crew was trying to be patient. 'It is a matter of breathing in and out and staying calm,' said Bekking.

The fleet was hard on the wind, not the fastest point of sailing, and the gate was still 516nm ahead of them. Back in third position, a proper dogfight was taking place as Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR), Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) and Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) scrapped.

On day six, Telefónica Blue lucked in, the wind shifted in her favour and they were handed a 'get out of jail free' card. But Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) was breathing down their necks.
The sailing was very wet, and not, according to PUMA's watch captain, Sidney Gavignet from France, 'super fun'.

A rather disheartened Green Dragon crew, whose boat hated the conditions, followed Telefónica Black but at least they had a good buffer over Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) and Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP). Both were safely over 100 miles behind until damage to Delta Lloyds keel ram forced her out of the race and saw her limping quietly towards Singapore.

On day 7, 19 December, Ericsson 4 pipped Telefónica Blue at the post and was first round the scoring gate to add another four points to her tally. Ericsson 3 was third. Although disappointed at not being first through the gate, Bekking and his crew were pleased with the second place points.

Now into the Malacca Straits, in a cruel twist, the fleet found itself still sailing into headwinds, and Telefónica Blue had slipped down the order to third place. The crews were tired of 'tacking and stacking' on every windshift in the light and fluky conditions. 'Nothing is worse than tacking, only to find the wind has shifted back again and you have to go through the process all over again. You only get one or two of those before the crew has had enough,' said Ian Walker.

Today, day nine, and it is looking possible that the fleet may arrive in Singapore in time for Christmas after all. But nothing is certain and a nail-biting finish is in store.

At 1000 GMT, it was all change again and Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) snatched back the lead. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) had moved into second place, just a mile behind and PUMA had clawed her way up to third, just four miles astern. Former leader Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) had slipped to fourth, as the pack takes it in turns to apply the pressure.

All the teams had activated their AIS system, which is mandatory for racing in the Malacca Strait. This device sends the direction and speed of each racing yacht to all commercial shipping within a 20 nautical mile radius of each yacht.

Wouter Verbraak, Dutch navigator on Kosatka Team Russia says, 'We appear on their screens as a dot with a tag: 'Kosatka racing yacht, limited manoeuvrability'. So far, this has worked like a very powerful insect repellent. None of the cargo ships want to have anything to do with us, and whilst we are blasting (or drifting like last night) along, the armada of cargo ships magically opens up in front of us! Brilliant.'

Ericsson 4 had been reeling in Telefónica Blue, but once darkness fell, the blue boat had the upper hand again. Skipper Bouwe Bekking says that his team often seems to make their best gains in the hours of darkness. Ericsson 4 is sailing in 'light mode' having relinquished comforts such as mattresses, sleeping bags and some clothing. They even considered taking a smaller crew. 'We felt that it was still early enough in the race and the leg was still long enough not to go too extreme, so we will still have all our crew onboard and a reasonable spares package,' says watch captain Stu Bannatyne/NZL.

PUMA is back in the race and right in touch with the leaders, but, after chipping away so hard, earlier this morning, their fairy tale came to an abrupt, but temporary halt when they parked about 30 miles off the coast of Malaysia and watched the rest of the fleet sail up behind them.

'Telefónica Blue got back around us and we are completely drifting as we speak, 'wrote Kenny Read at 0408 GMT this morning. 'Amazingly, Ericsson 4 never has really gotten reeled in by their own personal 'glass off' of no wind, not yet anyway. My guess is that all our times will come at some point,' he said. Perhaps that point has now arrived?

At the tale end of the fleet, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) was making good progress. The team has managed to tack the boat gently and are confident that they will reach the finish under sail, but about a day behind the rest.

'We were a bit nervous about our first tack,' writes navigator Matt Gregory. 'We had to sail around an island yesterday afternoon. We made it very slowly and had three guys with their heads in the keel ram compartments as we rolled through the tack. There were some crunching and cracking sounds from the broken side of the boat, but all seems to be OK,' he said.

Based on current conditions, computer routeing software is indicating that the first boat could finish tomorrow around evening GMT that will give the crew time for some last minute Christmas shopping!

Leg Three Day Nine: 1000 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 220 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +1
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +4
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +7
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +28
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +49
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +60
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +203

Scoring Gate Order
Ericsson 4 (4 points)
Telefónica Blue (3.4 points)
Ericsson 3 (3 points)
PUMA (2.5 points)
Telefónica Black (2 points)
Green Dragon (1.5 points)

Race reports are issued daily to the media at 1330 GM

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Although the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is in the final stages of the 1950nm leg three from Cochin to Singapore, nothing is certain and a nail-biting finish is in store.

At 1000 GMT today, it was all change again and Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) snatched back the lead. Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) had moved into second place, just a mile behind and PUMA had clawed her way up to third, just four miles astern. Former leader Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) had slipped to fourth, as the pack takes it in turn to apply the pressure.

The fleet is sailing up the Malaysian side of the shipping lane in the Malacca Strait. Closest to the shoreline is PUMA (Ken Read/USA) with Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) and Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander/SWE) side by side. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) and Ericsson 4 opted for the outside lane, but both teams have now tacked back towards the shore, Green Dragon taking a hit in doing so and letting Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) slip ahead. Kosatka Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) is now also heading for the shore, but 60 miles further back.

All the teams have activated their AIS system, which is mandatory for racing in the Malacca Strait. This device sends the direction and speed of each racing yacht to all commercial shipping within a 20 nautical mile radius of each yacht.

Wouter Verbraak, Dutch navigator on Kosatka Team Russia says, 'We appear on their screens as a dot with a tag: 'Kosatka racing yacht, limited manoeuvrability'. So far, this has worked like a very powerful insect repellent. None of the cargo ships want to have anything to do with us, and whilst we are blasting (or drifting like last night) along, the armada of cargo ships magically opens up in front of us! Brilliant.'

Ericsson 4 had been reeling in Telefónica Blue, but once darkness fell, the blue boat had the upper hand again. Skipper Bouwe Bekking says that his team often seems to make their best gains in the hours of darkness. Ericsson 4 is sailing in 'light mode' having relinquished comforts such as mattresses, sleeping bags and some clothing. They even considered taking a smaller crew. 'We felt that it was still early enough in the race and the leg was still long enough not to go too extreme, so we will still have all our crew onboard and a reasonable spares package,' says watch captain Stu Bannatyne/NZL.

PUMA is back in the race and right in touch with the leaders, but, after chipping away so hard, earlier this morning, their fairy tale came to an abrupt, but temporary halt when they parked about 30 miles off the coast of Malaysia and watched the rest of the fleet sail up behind them.

'Telefónica Blue got back around us and we are completely drifting as we speak, 'wrote Kenny Read at 0408 GMT this morning. 'Amazingly, Ericsson 4 never has really gotten reeled in by their own personal 'glass off' of no wind, not yet anyway. My guess is that all our times will come at some point,' he said. Perhaps that point has now arrived?

Yesterday, Telefónica Black was caught with seaweed entwined around the keel and rudders. 'We had to stop the boat and sail backwards to get rid of a v-shaped stick next to the bulb and some seaweed close to the hull,' explained Mikel Pasabant MCM. The team also had a small issue with the mainsail clew, which came off. The crew put in the first reef, but a repair was made quickly and the sail was fully hoisted pushing the boat back up to full speed.

This team is enjoying sailing in the Malacca Strait. As they entered the region under the cover of darkness, they were able to watch a Volcano erupt just in front of them.

At the tale end of the fleet, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) is making good progress. The team has managed to tack the boat gently and are confident that they will reach the finish under sail, but about a day behind the rest.

'We were a bit nervous about our first tack,' writes navigator Matt Gregory. 'We had to sail around an island yesterday afternoon. We made it very slowly and had three guys with their heads in the keel ram compartments as we rolled through the tack. There were some crunching and cracking sounds from the broken side of the boat, but all seems to be OK,' he said.

Race Meteorologist, Jennifer Lilly says that over the last 48 hours, the wind speeds have stayed slightly slightly stronger than expected, but the wind direction has not been favourable and the teams have had to continue sailing upwind into Malacca Strait.

Looking ahead, Jennifer says, 'initially the winds will decrease to nearly calm conditions, but after a period of light and variable winds, the fleet should start to see the wind direction become more favourable. In fact, by 1200 GMT today, the winds should be out of the north to northeast. This will allow the teams to ease off, sailing at a faster angle to the wind. Meanwhile, the winds speeds will start to increase with some acceleration down the axis of the Straits. Still, as the fleet sails south, the sea space will decrease and the chance of squalls will increase. At the moment, neither the satellite nor the radar images are showing any significant squalls in the course area; however, any squall development could slow the fleet before they finish.'

Based on current conditions, computer routeing software is indicating that the first boat could finish tomorrow around evening GMT

Leg Three Day Nine: 1000 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 220 nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +1
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +4
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +7
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +28
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +49
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +60
Delta Lloyd IRL
(Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +203

Scoring Gate Order
Ericsson 4 (4 points)
Telefónica Blue (3.4 points)
Ericsson 3 (3 points)
PUMA (2.5 points)
Telefónica Black (2 points)
Green Dragon (1.5 points)
Kosatka Team Russia (1 point)

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DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 9 QFB: received 21.12.08 0353 GMT

We've made it to the relatively calm water of the Malacca Straits. It's nice to not have to worry about every wave that we crash into anymore. We are sailing along at a pretty nice pace all things considered. It's the nice thing about a VO70, even with the throttle pulled way back, it's pretty easy to click off miles rapidly on the odometer. Right now we are sailing at about 9 or 10 knots. Not too bad.

We were a bit nervous about our first tack, as we had to sail around an island yesterday afternoon. We made it very slow and had 3 guys with their head's in the keel ram compartments as we rolled through the tack. There were some crunching and cracking sounds from the broken side of the boat, but all seems to be OK. We now have the confidence to sail on both tacks, which is a stress relief and also a sign that we will be able to finish leg 3 under sail.

Matthew Gregory - navigator

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY 9 QFB: received 21.12.08 0642 GMT

We are having a proper yacht race on our hand, as we are in sight of the shoebox (PUMA) and Ericsson 3. We had a great battle with Puma in the last 24 hours. They were reeling us in during the daytime, but once it became dark, we got the upper hand again.

We have seen that a couple of times now. We seem to make our best gains in the hours of darkness. We had some amazing sailing last evening and night, the breeze increased from 10 knots to 22 in matter of minutes. All hands on deck to drop the light air sails and to get a jib and small staysail on. Since this wind change came so fast, none of us had their foul weather gear on, so in matter of seconds we were all soaked, as the boatspeed increased from 11 knots to around 20 knots. But, since the water temperature is nearly 30 degrees, nobody cared, we were all happy that we had good breeze, a gain, and could make some fast miles towards the barn. And above all, some guys needed badly a shower, so that solved that problem.

We sailed for hours neck and neck with Puma, only a couple of boat lengths separated us. A real shame that it was dark, as otherwise, it would have been an amazing sight. Then we slowly gained on them and we separated more and more.

We made a lucky call with a fishing boat; at least I assumed it was that type of boat, as they only displayed some very small white lights. Jordi (Jordi Calafat/ESP) was driving and asked me what I preferred, going to windward or to leeward. Then at the last minute, I saw a small light well to weather, presumably the end of fishing net, so called to go to leeward. We passed them within 30 metres, and they must have been wondering what the heck was flying past them, as there not that many fast sailing boats in this region.

Now it looks like the sea breeze is filling in, and it will become a gybing dual the rest of the day. It looks like not many miles to go, but everything can happen. One minute you think you are doing ok, and then a big wind change can reverse the order of ranking very quickly. Hopefully we get in tomorrow, so that on the 23rd I can go Christmas shopping for my girls. Gabri (Gabriele Olivo MCM) just reminded me of that 'event'. These kinds of things are easy to forget when you are out on the water, as the commercial Christmas circus and media doesn't reach us out here.

First gybe is coming up in 10 minutes. We have some real estate in front of us, in the form of Malaysia.

Cheers,

Bouwe Bekking - skipper

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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY 9 QFB: received 21.12.08 0545 GMT

Today is known on our boat as 'D-Day': 'Do or die' - make or break. We will have to punch through and if we do, our Christmas ETA is looking pretty good. If we don't, well, we might spend it here and have to ring the shore crew to have some Christmas leftovers send to us.

So right now, we are pedal to the metal in the stronger wind fan that precedes the windless passage. Life is good, and the Malacca Straits are giving us some of the best sailing in the world. Sure, there is plenty of traffic, but our AIS system is doing a fantastic job. Mandatory for the Singapore Straits, this device sends our direction and speed to all commercial ships within 20 nm range. We appear on their screens as a dot with a tag: 'Kosatka Racing Yacht, limited manoeuvrability'. So far, this has worked like a very powerful insect repellent. None of the cargo ships want to have anything to do with us, and whilst we are blasting (or drifting like last night) along, the armada of cargo ships magically opens up in front of us. Brilliant!

The weather models are far from reliable here, so we are relying heavily on the position reports. They are pretty much our weather forecast for the next 150 NM. A sea breeze is forecast to develop this afternoon along the Malaysian shore, so we are aiming for that. The exact transition between the NE winds that we are in now and the westerly sea breeze however is as crucial as it is difficult to predict. If we can reach the zone in good shape, we will have good breeze for the remainder of the afternoon. So every report is awaited with even more eagerness than before, and any delay in it coming in via our satellite communication is making us eat our hats.

With Christmas dinner on our minds now almost all the time as we have rationed our food, we are hungrier than ever to get through this next stretch. That is a big up according to someone the boat, quoting: 'Hungry wolves hunt the best'. Yeah, whatever, I could do with a good steak right now; that would be just fine. Thinking of that, the next position report is due in every minute. Better check it out!

Wouter Verbraak - navigator

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PUMA LEG THREE DAY 9 QFB: received 21.12.08 0408 GMT

The Malacca Straits are doing what they were meant to do, narrowing the fleet down into a funnel and slowing us down, generally making life as frustrating and unpredictable as possible. Done deal.

The leg has progressed and I have to admit that I'm really pleased with how we have chipped back after an average (at best) first half of our Bay of Bengal trip. Coming into the corner of Sumatra we created a plan and followed Ericsson 3 around the corner in fourth. As day broke, we were greeted with a very wide tide line and as much bizarre stuff in the water as I have ever seen.

One black cloud came through and I am not sure if it was the cloud that got Ericsson 3 or stuff in the water, but we put them back
pretty nicely to move into third. Chipping away. We kept working hard to get to the north and paid for that mileage early, but later in the day, the strategy paid as well. Telefónica Blue tacked out of their southern position to come all the way out to us and tacked on our line only three miles away. Again, we were pretty pleased, since about three days earlier they were about 60 miles away.

The team pressed hard through last night and the expected breeze built and big right shift finally came through. We squeaked past T-Blue into second and put some serious miles on the rest of the fleet. Let's go get Ericsson 4!

And that is where the fairy tale came to a (hopefully temporary) screeching halt. We have parked about 30 miles off the Malaysian coast and watched the boats sail up behind us including Ericsson 3 who is about a mile away. T-Blue got back around us and we are completely drifting as we speak. Amazingly, Ericsson 4 never has really gotten reeled in by their own personal 'glass off' of no wind, not yet anyway. My guess is that all our times will come at some point...

So now we roll some craps. Who will get the little zephyr first to launch them away from the pack? Who can sustain just a hair more wind-pressure then the others? Many times it is in the hands of the wind Gods. But you have to make your own luck and it is time that il mostro made some light air luck.

On board spirits are generally good. The Great Plastic Fork Ordeal has run its course and we are down to our last four and even they are in dire straits. But somehow we will survive.

We keep getting great notes from our families who have arrived in Singapore, all saying that we will love it there. A bit of a break for weary bones I can tell you that. My daughter Tory already sent me a 'to do' list that is supposedly 'partial'. Big plans for us she said. Well I can speak for the entire team that we can't wait to get to shore, hopefully with a hard earned solid result in our pocket as well. That would make for a much more enjoyable Christmas that's for sure.

Kenny Read - skipper

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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY 9 QFB: received 21.12.08 1000 GMT

Is it chess or rolling the dice?

As the fleet is becoming compressed, we see opportunities on the horizon, 300 mile to the finish. Our closest friends, Green Dragon and Telefónica Black have split and we want to catch at least one of them. Hours over sat pics, grib files and quickscat, heads together for Nick Bubb, Stig Westergaard, Wouter Verbraak and myself and still the question is: is it a plan we have or pure speculation? So far, the models haven't been too good in this part of the world. The first mark of the exclusion zone is currently dead downwind, so one side will pay and we have chosen the eastern side. Fingers crossed.

The amount of shipping in the straits is impressive and the AIS is extremely valuable in finding the lanes between the bigger brothers. Yesterday we were racing 'Matilda, a sizeable tanker for hours in the absence of a sailing yacht. In the end she couldn't keep up with our pointing, was footing off a bit and gained ground to leeward.

Getting closer to land the garbage in the water increases and we regularly dodge plastic, cans, timber and other bits and pieces giving evidence of close civilization.

Andreas Hanakamp - skipper

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Leserkommentare (0) »

Sergey Bogdanov/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Rain clouds ahead for Team Russia, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race 20081219. Getting closer to the scoring gate. Still a close battle with Puma. Exiting. Magnus Olsson is keeping track of them.

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Sail stacking just before tacking, onboard Telefonica Blue, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Sergey Bogdanov/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Stig Westergaard, onboard Team Russia, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race Rob Salthouse eating onboard il mostro, on leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race from India to Singapore

Sergey Bogdanov/Team Russia/Volvo Ocean Race Team Russia's compass

ALL TO PLAY FOR

PRESSURE ON IN HOME STRAITThe stopover in Cochin at the end of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town was short but very sweet. It was a sensational two weeks in India, the first time the race has visited this country, and without exception, everyone was sorry to leave.

PRESSURE ON IN HOME STRAIT

The stopover in Cochin at the end of leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town was short but very sweet. It was a sensational two weeks in India, the first time the race has visited this country, and without exception, everyone was sorry to leave.