Sport-heute: Sailing - Vom Chinesischen Meer in den Pazifik

16. Februar 2009, 15:34

Vom Chinesischen Meer in den Pazifik

Die Crew der Telefonica Blue hat sich wieder an die Renntempi gewöhnt. Heute um 0810 GMT sind sie in den Pazific eingefahren. - Ein tolles Gefühl in den Pazifik einzufahren. Hier bin ich zu Hause. Ein grosser Unterschied ist auch die Wassertemperatur. Gestern waren es nur knapp 7 Grad und heute bereits 21 Grad C. Wir können die Handschuhe und Sturmhauben für ein paar Wochen ausziehen. Die Geschwindigkeit ist gut und liegt bei 27-30 Knoten- Tom Addis - Navigator

VOLVO OCEAN RACE 2009, 16.2.09 (mk) In den letzten sechs Stunden haben wir besseren Wind, als die Jungs die vor uns hier durch sind. Es hat uns sehr geholfen, dass wir aufgeholt haben. Das stärkt die Moral. Wir haben lange gegen einen unsichtbaren Feind gekämpft, jetzt haben wir ihn besiegt. Das Problem ist allerdings, dass wir vor uns keine echten Bahnen sehen, so dass wir, wenn wir ehrlich sind so segeln wie es kommt. Wir werden aber im Moment weniger Risiko eingehen.

Endlich haben wir Gelegenheit unsere Gedanken zu platzieren, nach dem verspäteten Start in Quingdao. Nach einem 500-Meilen Tag ist es bitter nötig ein paar Minuten für sich zu haben. Wir sind jedoch glücklich - wir sind wieder dabei.

Alle Originalberichte von den Yachten in Englisch

GREEN DRAGON LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 0604 GMT

My geography lesson is continuing as we have now swept past Korea and Japan out of the Yellow and China Seas into the Pacific. At daybreak today we had some stunning scenery as we threaded our way through two Japanese islands (well volcanoes actually) called Kuchino Shima and Nakano Shima. That's the closest I have ever been to Japan - these islands look a great place to explore.

It has been a tough 36 hours with winds in the 20's and 30's (knots) and lots of pressed up reaching. The decks have been awash and it has been survival suits, lifejackets and harnesses all round, day and night.

Sail selection has been key as changing sails costs you many miles because you have to slow the boat down to give the guys on the bow a chance to set up the change. Slowing down from five knots to 15 knots for 20 minutes costs you over three miles as well as what you lose sailing lower. Some we have done well, and some we haven't. All the time we have been trying to remember that it is a long leg and we don't need to take unnecessary risks too early on.

At the moment the boat and sails are in good shape. Everybody is pretty tired onboard as sleeping and eating is not easy in these conditions, but right now we have a slight reprieve with winds of under 20 knots. We are catching up on chores like tidying the boat, checking for damage, eating and bailing out the water that finds its way into every compartment of the boat. The good news is that the water temperature has risen from five degrees at the start to 21 degrees now, so slowly the thermals, hats and gloves are coming off. I'm sure it won't be long before we are moaning about it being too hot.

As far as the race goes, we are hanging on to the coattails of Puma and Ericsson 4 but that is no easy task in stability reaching conditions, where they have a clear speed advantage. It was fun to lead Ericsson 4 for a few scheds in the lighter air, but rather daunting at the ease with which they overhauled us and Puma. That boat flies on a reach, as does Ericsson 3 who are about three miles directly ahead of us. It's always fun to have a boat within sight as you have something to gauge your performance against. They have done well to get back in the race after starting late, but they have taken advantage of far better wind than us since they started. I suspect it won't be long before Telefónica Blue is back in the mix too.

Today would have been the birthday of my good friend and former sailing partner John Merricks. How he would have loved to have been doing what I am now. We could have done with his driving skills onboard last night as we fought to keep control at up to 30 knots of boatspeed in the pitch black. He was one of the best heavy air sailors I ever sailed with or against.

Ian Walker - skipper

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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 0828 GMT

Hi!

It was good to keep going in the race and, for the start, Qingdao showed us what we were looking for during our stay, a beautiful day with clear sky, where we could appreciate the mountains and landscape behind the city, excellent conditions for the spectators as well. While we struggled to go out in the light wind we could see Ericsson 3 fighting to get in - good to have them back in the race!

During the evening, the wind picked up and by midnight we were blasting through the Yellow Sea in the high 20's, really cold on deck with gusts over 30-knots, I was already using all the equipment I have prepared to go deep in the South! (A good test so I can improve it for when we are there).

By the time we were abeam of Korea, we passed hundreds of fishing boats that were some times trawling in groups, some groups we passed to windward and some to leeward depending on what course we could steer, but there was one particular pair where we decided to pass between them. We noticed that both of them were trawling with long cables from their transoms. Too late to take any action and we just hoped that they were not connected!! A moment of scare and tension when you think how strong the cables must be, or how much the load will be on the yacht if we get into something like it, making 25-30knots!!! Ten seconds later we could breathe again and keep on going, looking for the next group.

Approaching the southern Islands of Japan, we had the relief of the high temperatures of the current, pretty amazing - probably hitting 20deg C which makes it a real pleasure to be hit by the constant spray and tons off water coming over the deck, at least this makes the second night a bit less stressful.

The wind has dropped quite a bit which makes the sailing pretty nice and we are still making good speed. If it's something good about this leg is that at least we are going home to Brazil. We have even stuck a picture of Corcovado and the Christ on the forward watertight bulkhead, just in front of the heads, so when you spend those precious moments you could say that we are looking forward to get there!!

Horacio Carabelli - trimmer
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PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 1206 GMT

I think our average wind speed so far this leg has been in the mid 20's and we peaked out at 44 knots while reaching through a small group of islands just south of Japan. That was fun.

Sitting below staring at the computer, making calls through the deck com system as to what we should expect next with regard to wind strength and direction, all the while navigating through a small gap in the islands and stepping into the Kurishio Current (this part of the world's Gulf Stream) which runs at about four knots. Oh yes, in a pitch black night while travelling at an average boat speed of 25 knots in bad seas!

My dear friend Sidney Gavignet came off watch as we were entering the islands and started to chuckle when he said 'being a skipper at times like these is a lot of fun isn't it?' We made it through and actually made some nice gains on that three hour sched. Wild. That period of time will make it into the memoires some day.

We have a few nicked up bodies. Nothing major. Just some bumps and bruises dealt by these vicious boats. They get angry when they go fast. And the fleet has been fast since about five hours after the start.

We had to stop for a bit with steering problems yesterday, but as always the boys on board got it all up and running again within an hour or so. The problems included snapping a wheel in half when ploughing into the bottom of a pretty gnarly wave, and a mechanical issue below decks with the steering quadrant. A loss of about 15 miles over a couple hours, but a small price to pay now that we have peace of mind that it is all fixed. Funny thing with these boats. You build every part and piece as light as it can be--and sometimes things break...go figure.

And now we are finally out into the Pacific. Sounds nice until you look at a chart and see how large the Pacific Ocean really is. After leaving the cliffs of Japan we were escorted that morning by a very playful family of dolphins for quite some time. I guess the romantic in me thinks that is a sign. That our passage through the Pacific shall be swift and safe.

We shall see. There is a long way to go.

Kenny Read - skipper

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ERICSSON 3 LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 1051 GMT

A rough night

Our navigator usually knows when something is about to go down. And at one moment tonight he had that gut feeling that something. He was right.

Suddenly the wind speed increased rapidly to 40 knots. We were reaching in 36 knots boatspeed and the boat was practically flying. Aksel made himself ready. He wrapped his arms around the closest vertical beam and held it tight.

When you reach speeds like that you know it isn't going to last for long. King Neptune usually puts an enormous wave in front of the boat on occasions like that, just to see some action and make his everyday life, looking at a deserted sea, a bit more fun.

And this time was no exception.

We dived into a big wave and crash stopped. Aksel managed to hold on but he was worried that something was going to break. When 40 knots of wind is pushing the boat forward and a massive wave is holding it back, the loads on sails and rig are huge.

Both the boat and Aksel got through the situation without problem. Jens Dolmer though, who was sleeping in the bunk just next to navstation, wasn't so lucky.

When the boat went down in the dark cave, it leaned over to leeward and water found its way in through port primary winch. I thought we had found all the places were the boat is leaking, but no, here was another one. Water was literally flooding down from the roof and hit Jens right in his face. He woke up in shock, trying to brush the water away.

We had too much sail area up, but we decided to survive for a couple of hours. It would have been tricky and risky to take it down and we knew we would get some lee south of a Japanese island.

So we did. And that was lucky. Just after the change, the wind increased heavily again.
During the night we passed the Green Dragoon and we can now see them behind us.

"We have a few rough days and nights in front of us with a lot of reaching. For the moment it's all about endurance. We will for sure be tired and have sore eyes from all the saltwater spray after this. Luckily the water temperature has increased. It went from six degrees to over 20 in just 24 hours", says navigator Aksel Magdahl.

Gustav Morin - MCM

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Telefonica Blue/Volvo Ocean Race David Vera driving at high speed in cold temperatures onboard Telefonica Bue

Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, visiting 11 ports over nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier ocean yacht race for professional racing crews.