12:15 AM Sat 22 Nov 2008 GMT
Bouwe Bekking, Telefonica Blue, on the first week of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Big seas, strong winds, giant squalls, breakages, sickness, sailing through huge amounts of krill - 'like sailing through a smelly brown soup'-. The first week of the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race was anything but boring.
From the start in Cape Town, the fleet went south before turning east to the scoring waypoint at 58?E and, now, finally north heading towards the finish and the Indian port of Cochin. Reading through the quotes from the boats received since last Saturday, one finds all manner of the difficulties to be suffered when sailing the Southern Ocean.
'A tough day in the life of a Volvo sailor', Bouwe Bekking wrote on Wednesday, after sailing day after day in winds consistently blowing 30 to 40 knots and waves up to 6 metres with '70% of the crew out due to a combination of flu, seasickness and throwing up'. Some tough handicaps for the Dutch skipper and no time to relax, with seven other boats in the race just as focused on obtaining the maximum speed no matter how extreme the conditions or difficulties.
Running downwind in strong breeze is the last condition Bouwe would have chosen given the power to decide, but it is just what the first 1,500 miles of this leg offered up to TELEFONICA BLUE and the rest of the fleet.
These heavy running conditions caused more than one crisis point across the fleet. One of the most bizarre expressions found in the reports from the boats last week was 'Chinese Gybe'. It sounds like a kung-fu move, but when you are sailing in big seas in the middle of the Southern Ocean, it is substantially more painful than that, according to Bouwe: 'Basically you lose control. The boat rapidly turns the wrong way, away from the wind and the mainsail moves at speed to the other side of the boat.'
'The problem is that the mainsail can't fly all the way through the gybe because it gets trapped by the runner that is still on. The mainsail becomes pinned in the middle, so you don't have any steerage and the boat ends up going head to wind. Once you realize what is happening, the best solution is to get the new runner ready, so that you can ease the one pinning the main. Once you have steerage again, most people would opt for a rest to get their nerves back under control! We don't have that option. We drop the spinnaker (if it is still one piece), gybe back to the preferred course, pack the spinnaker, hoist it immediately and off we go again. We make it sounds easy, but often you lose 10 miles or more; plus in the immediate aftermath of the unintended gybe you need to realise that the boat is heeled over up to 60 degrees, so walking is impossible. Climbing skills come in handy. Even with a totally professional crew which knows exactly what to do it takes precious time.'
Fortunately, this week, TELEFONICA BLUE managed to avoid executing any Chinese Gybes, but Bouwe knows exactly what it feels like when the boat starts its unstoppable turn: 'there is only one expression coming to your mind: 'Oh sh&$#!'. You know you are in trouble. The main concerns when that happens are whether somebody goes over the side and, of course, breaking the rig. We suffered a Chinese Gybe in the Leg 1, but the one I remember to be the worst in my life was on movistar in our practice run to Cape Horn - inearly 2005 -. We lay on our side for three hours in 40-plus winds and lost 4 sails over the side in the process.'
Along with unplanned gybes, giant jumps from wave to wave are the other major risk when sailing at full speed on the fastest monohulls in the world. This type of sailing is dangerous enough during the day, but seemingly crazy when it is pitch black. 'Experience, trust. and balls!' are the three main ingredients Bouwe adds to the pot when sailing full speed at night.
Better conditions ahead
After almost one week fighting the conditions around 40? South, TELEFONICA BLUE and the rest of the fleet are now leaving the Southern Ocean behind, heading north to India. 'The Southern Ocean is a kind of love and hate relationship; on the one hand it is exhilarating sailing, but at the same time you know you are on the edge. It is cold, wet and painful. Every mile that we are going north it will get warmer and warmer, and that's good news for the people on board.'
'My hope for yesterday's wish has been fulfilled: we passed TELEFONICA BLACK and Puma just before reaching the scoring waypoint, cashing 1 extra point', Bekking wrote on Thursday, as his boat crossed the 58?E. 'Just under 3,000 miles to go to Cochin, and we know we are not going to see heavy running conditions anymore. Our stronger points of sailing are coming now!'. In his daily report, early today, Bouwe was even more optimistic: 'We are fast, the boat is behaving like a dream, ripping along, two fingers steering and slowly eating the miles up against the boats around us.'
The second Equator crossing of this Volvo Ocean Race is waiting for the fleet before getting to Cochin, meaning a new challenge: the Doldrums (again). Theoretical light winds conditions, good news for TELEFONICA BLUE, although Bouwe prefers to stay cautious: 'There's not much information about what to expect at the Doldrums right now, but for sure it is going to be light air affair. and maybe even a Neptune visit on board.'
www.bouwebekking.com
by Bouwe Bekking
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