Sport-heute: Sailing - STORM CONDITIONS TAKE THEIR TOLL

24. Januar 2009, 22:37

STORM CONDITIONS TAKE THEIR TOLL

Day seven of leg four has seen the Volvo Ocean Race bring out the pure seamanship of the fleet rather than the hard racing ability of the seven crews.

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2009, 24.1.09 (mk) As at other critical tactical moments in the race, today has been about making choices, based on the weather forecast, competitive considerations and confidence in one's crew and equipment when faced with such horrendous conditions. Data off the boats indicates top wind speeds near 50 knots and maximum wave heights of 14 metres.

The main problem has come from the steep seas caused by the wind blowing against the prevailing current, resulting in a sharp, steep sea state.

Over the past 12-hours, the fleet has been short-tacking up the coast of the Philippine Island Luzon, seeking whatever shelter it could find near the shore.

'We have been
sheltering behind Luzon Island for most of the day after trying to go upwind in 45+ knots, ' wrote Guy Salter, MCM onboard Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA). 'All I can say is that it was far from pleasant. We ended up sailing the last few hours under storm jib only, slowly creeping our way closer to the top of the Philippines before waiting for an ease in pressure to attempt the crossing over to Taiwan and through some very tidal seas, which could be boat-wreckers to say the least," he said.

His words seem prophetic, as some of those ahead who ventured out into the Luzon Strait, found it didn't take long for the challenging conditions to exact a toll.

At 0200 GMT, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) turned south while in the lead and headed downwind. They have now anchored in a bay. Ken Read said in an interview at 1000 GMT, 'We're busted and we are in a harbour. It's pretty disappointing. Quite a devastating day for us. We have broken our boom in half. At the time, there was 50 knots of breeze and 20-foot seas, with waves breaking over the top of the boat. We haven't suspended racing, we just don't happen to be sailing right now.'

At 0530 GMT, the new leaders, Telefónica Black (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP), who had been sailing conservatively under storm sails pulled off the racecourse to investigate a crack in the hull.

By 1000 GMT, the team was back on the racecourse, heading across the Luzon Strait behind sistership Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED), the new leader, however the crew became increasingly concerned by damage to the hull and at 1130 GMT they turned back to the coast. They will now take the necessary time to assess the damage. They have not suspended racing and the crew is in good shape.

Meanwhile, at 0715 GMT, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) turned back from the Luzon Strait for the calmer waters of the coast to repair a damaged steering wheel, ripped mainsail and a damaged mast track. The team suspended racing at 1010 GMT, (under race rules for a minimum of 12 hours), and is currently anchored in harbour with Green Dragon, in a bay just north of Vigan.

At 0830 GMT Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR), already nursing a damaged rig, followed Delta Lloyd's lead and headed inshore. The boat has suffered damage to the forward ring frame and is heading for a safe haven, just 10nm north of PUMA.

'Our intention is to make some repairs and get underway,' Ian Walker said moments ago in a radio interview. The forward ring frame has disintegrated, so the crew has to try to reinforce it and re-bond it to the hull. 'We have some materials and some know-how and we will use a bit of ingenuity,' Walker said.

For those teams making repairs, timing is critical. According to Walker, there is a three or four-day window to get to Qingdao before the weather turns bad there, so the teams will have to leave their safe havens when it is probably still rough, in order to get to China before the weather closes in.

Green Dragon has not retired from the leg. The team will try to make a good repair and carry on as best they can.

Telefónica Blue is now tackling the Luzon Strait. Bekking says is will be a case of 'survival' now, for the next 36 hours or so. 'We are going to take it easy, there is too much at stake,' he said.

Leg Four Day 7: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 1022 nm
2. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +78
3. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando EchÃ¡varri/ESP) +79
4. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +80
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +107
6. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +125
7. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) SUSPENDED RACING
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

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ERICSSON 3 LEG FOUR DAY 7 QFB: received 24.01.09 1421 GMT

Sledge hammered

It takes a while to get use to it. And you will never be entirely comfortable with it. I'm talking about the movement of the boat in seas over two metres.

Today we have seen wind of almost 50 knots and seas that I'm pretty sure measured around eight metres'

You're looking straight up in the sky when it hits you, and well over the top it's free falling. One, two three and bam!

When you land, you don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's surrealistic. Like sitting in the head of a sledgehammer when the world's strongest man is smashing it through a block of cement.

Inside the boat, at the front by the galley, it's worst. The bangs and crashes are sometimes so brutal that you really wonder when and not if the boat is going to break. And, if you don't hold on properly, and have a good place too put your feet, you will hurt yourself, badly.

Biggest problem is that the boat isn't really made for sailing in these kinds of conditions and it's essential to look after it all the time. Our boat captain Jens Dolmer is actually not taking part in the watch system anymore. His main task now is to take care of and look after the boat, so we know how hard we can push.

For the last couple of hours he has been occupied with fixing a diesel leak. Usually there is a really bad smell inside the boat, containing sweat and dirt, but this is almost worse. Now we have an intense sticky smell of diesel occupying our nostrils. The emergency tank started leaking during the bumpy ride but I am not worried, there are very few things our farmer/sailor Jens can't fix.

Gustav Morin - MCM

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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG FOUR DAY 7 QFB: received 24.01.09 1254 GMT

What a day. We knew this was going to be hard and it's proving to be like that. Since last night, it's impossible to sleep, to eat, nearly to do anything apart of hanging on. Today the wind has been increasing constantly, 30-35-40-45 then, slamming onto a wave, we lost the instruments. We managed to reduce the sail area down to the minimum, storm jib and three reefs.

Puma decided to turn around just before leaving the coast, so we were left alone to go out onto the open sea together with our fellows Telefónica Negro. To be the first one to go into something unknown is never a pleasant thing. We had some discussion about the Puma decision (we assume there is not any damage on their boat) and we all agreed to carry on.

Once we were out, we had a blast of wind for about three hours, but luckily, the sea state wasn't as bad as we thought and of course, we are very happy about it. We are now slowing down a lot and taking it very easy, trying to take care of our lady. She's been very faithful so far and this is no time for heroism.

Gabriele Olivo - MCM

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ERICSSON 4 LEG FOUR DAY 7 QFB: received 24.01.09 1208 GMT

A very odd day indeed for the fleet. We have been sheltering behind Luzon Island for most of the day after trying to go upwind in 45+ knots. All I can say is that is was far from pleasant. We ended sailing the last few hours with storm jib only - slowly creeping our way closer to the top of the Philippines before waiting for an ease in pressure to attempt the crossing over to Taiwan and through some very tidal seas - which could be boat-wreckers to say the least.

As it happens Telefónica Blue have gone for it, whilst the rest of the fleet cower in the shelter - this will either be a stroke of leg winning genius or complete stupidity (if the boat breaks!).

Life below has been very unpleasant and I must admit to feeling very queasy whilst trying to operate the media desk - meanwhile the real men on this yacht have been toughing it out on deck without any rest.

We also have had a few wind instrument issues with the masthead units not being able to withstand the high wind speeds combined with the huge
slamming and pounding we have been taking whilst heading north, but I'd hate to think of how many Gs the wands would be seeing as the boat stops after launching off a very steep wave.

The problem with these boats is that they just want to go fast and even with just the storm jib, we have been going 9kts. With more up it's hard not to be doing 12kts and when you come off a wave at these speeds there is usually some damage - usually a sleeping bag or a sock launching off an upper bunk but potentially much worse. I honestly cannot see that the media desk as a whole will stand much more - I'm thinking of painting a black and yellow quartered circle on the top of it as it really does go through what a crash test dummy does. In fact, we are all dummies come to think of it and I'm sure there are some real cracking bruises around the class.

Cooking has been very hard work - pouring the hot water has been what I consider to be an extreme version of the feature about cub scouts eating their packed lunch on a roller coaster on 70s classic kids TV programme 'Jim'll Fix It' - it's worth checking out on You Tube.

The boys are getting ready to put the sails up and the hammer down and throw ourselves in to the nasty conditions once more - guess I'd better get the computer away safely and strap myself down as its going to get nasty.

Guy Salter - MCM

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GREEN DRAGON LEG FOUR DAY 7 QFB: Received 24.01.09 1724 GMT

Salomague Bay in the Philippines is not exactly what I had planned for tonight, but here I am, sedately typing away in a beautifully calm anchorage.

We have decided to 'suspend racing', which means we have to wait at least 12 hours to rejoin the race but we will need at least that to fix the Dragon.

It has been a day of attrition in the Volvo Ocean Race and having been out there, I can see why. Conditions were not horrific, but 40+ knots and fairly big seas made for tough going upwind. We thought long and hard about stopping for 24 hours to save the boat and sails, but instead decided to carry on at a far reduced pace. This compromise would mean 12-24 hours of hard going, but then very good conditions from then on.

Unfortunately, we didn't last the tough going as we sustained damage in the bow of the boat. Fortunately, we spotted it quickly and managed to stop the boat and get downwind before damaging the hull skin.

As I type this at 3am Tom Braidwood, Neal McDonald and Justin Slattery are chiselling, sanding, cutting and preparing to bond back all the broken bits. We have to hope their repair holds out to get us to Qingdao. Tomorrow Phil Harmer will supervise taking off and repairing the mainsail as well as two other sails damaged in the onslaught. Everyone else is resting right now after a full on day apart from Budgie (Ian Budgen/GBR) who is on 'anchor watch'.

I am hoping to get underway again soon - as soon as the conditions subside. The race is on to get to Qingdao before the weather turns against us again up north. It feels totally bizarre to be anchored during a race and I am quite looking forward to daylight to see what this place looks like. The funniest thing is that no more than 100 metres away from us sits Delta Lloyd, who must also have turned back and sought shelter - the locals will not know what has hit them when they see two Volvo 70s moored outside in the morning.

I am still hoping locals in canoes offering us chilled Heineken and fresh fruit may yet greet us, but maybe I'll have to leave that to my dreams. Time I went to bed!

Ian Walker - skipper

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Sander Pluijm/Team Delta Lloyd/Volvo Ocean Race At 0715 GMT, Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP pictured) turns back from the Luzon Strait for the calmer waters of the coast to repair a damaged steering wheel, ripped mainsail and a damaged mast track. The team suspended racing at 1010 GMT, (under race rules for a minimum of 12 hours), and is currently anchored in harbour, in a bay just north of Vigan.

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race PUMA Ocean Racing, skippered by Ken Read (USA), breaks their boom in over 50 knots of wind and 20 feet high waves, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China. The crew were able to save two broken sections of the boom and are putting together a jury rig boom with which they intend to continue to race the remaining 1,100 miles. The team have sought shelter in a small harbour in the northern end of the Philippines, where they are waiting until the worst of the storm passes.

Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race Ericsson 3 head towards the unknown on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore to Qingdao, China

Gabriele Olivo/Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race Pablo Arrarte trying to hide from the wave