11:25 AM Sun 14 Dec 2008 GMT
The Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 started from Cochin India and continues on to Singapore.
Read the latest news from the Volvo 70's.
PUMA
We have gotten exactly what we expected so far in the first 20 hours of this leg. Hot, light, tricky and very variable conditions.
But first, back to the beginning of the adventure. Leg 3, India to Singapore. What a send off it was.
A Volvo Ocean Race send off is becoming a bit second nature. Meet in the morning at the PUMA shore base, team meeting, weather briefing, then team walks to the beginning of the dock, but this time it was different. At the beginning of the dock there were thousands of spectators waiting to see the teams as they paraded to the boats. Just a final reminder of how hospitable the Cochin stop was for all of us. We all learned so much about a culture that we had never laid eyes on before. It was the people who made the difference, hospitable, friendly, inviting, and really, really interested in the Volvo Ocean Race. It was just a reminder that we are ambassadors for our sport in so many ways- bringing sailing to places which have never even heard of a sailboat race before- never mind this travelling circus called the Volvo Ocean Race.
This was also the first place I have been to where we chose to get towed off the dock. The main reason was all the floating weed, small trees and various other stuff in the water. And when I say there is a lot of it, I mean almost you can walk on water thick. There was no way to protect our propellers from all the muck so we decided to tow around the parade and show off the boats to the tens of thousands who lined the shores of the bay to just get a glimpse of the boats.
The parade also gave us a chance to meet our new friend, Bollywood movie star Dino Morea- good guy. He joined us with Jochen Zeitz the CEO of PUMA and Martyn Bowen who oversees PUMA India (in addition to many other regions)- all great guys. There did come a point where we finally had to hurry them off the boat just minutes prior to the start.
Bang...gun goes and we are off. A good start for the home team and an early lead, but this is becoming a bit of a theme. In the evening the lead evaporated as did the wind and all of us took turns at the front of the pack. As morning came, the entire fleet was stacked up on top of each other- a long night with nothing to show for it but a re-start.
On board life is very familiar. il mostro is really beginning to feel like home. Sitting in front of this computer, a lot of the same jokes, a bunk that always has gear underneath poking me in the back, bad food and warm water...pretty much status quo. The plus side is that for this leg at least there is no large low pressure brewing as of yet to knock our socks off as the last two legs have.
We have a fairly light and tricky beat across the Bay of Bengal after rounding the southern tip of Sri Lanka, this is all new for us- places that I never imagined I would be racing.
Should be a very interesting 10 days or so- stay tuned.
- Kenny
www.pumaoceanracing.com
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DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 1 QFB: received 13.12.08 1357 GMT
We are about 3 hours into the start of leg 3. Right now the entire fleet is sailing due south along the west coast of India. We are currently enjoying a very nice westerly sea breeze. We are flying our A4, big downwind sail and cruising along nicely at 10 knots of boatspeed in 9 to 11 knots of wind. This wind won't last forever. I expect the wind to die in about 2 hours...we will most likely come to a complete stop. Wind is coming however. The winter Monsoon wind, and its northeast gradient should come to save us and propel us along to the south once again.
Volvo has place an exclusion zone around the south coast of Sri Lanka. There is a gang of pirates that occupy the region of the exclusion zone. Apparently, they even have their own 'air force'. In an effort to avoid starting a 'turf war', the race will pass to the south of a line of virtual marks that will give us a safe distance between 'the bad guys' and us.
Once we pass the landmasses of India and Sri Lanka we will be able to head east across the Bay of Bengal. The northeast Monsoon winds will still be our driving weather pattern through this 1000-mile stretch of open ocean. Sailing mostly on port tack, at maximum upwind angles we will have a couple strategic decisions to make during this section of the course.
To the north of our track is more wind. To the south, a light and shifty convergence zone that is full of clouds, rain and not much wind. However because of the mechanical forces that propel the boat through the water, going south is quite easy, going north is very difficult. We can reach a bit, to sail faster, but we will be flirting with being swallowed up in the convergence zone. While sailing to the north seems like the obvious choice, we can only sail so close to the wind, so getting to the windier areas might be costly if we have to sail in full 'upwind mode'. It will be very costly if we have to tack to starboard to get more wind....we'll all just have to wait and see what micro weather systems exist when we turn east.
The last 600 miles of the race will be incredibly tricky as we sail down the Malacca Straights- the waterway between Sumatra and Malaysia. This is a narrow strip of water that is full of fishing boats, fishing nets, commercial shipping, more fishing nets, and, yes, more pirates. But this is also an area of very little wind and an opposing current. This section of the race is bound to be incredibly difficult.
If we are lucky, we will be in Singapore by Christmas. For the past couple days, all the wives and girlfriends of my teammates have asked me if my forecasting models will get us to Singapore in time for Christmas... I didn't have the heart to tell them directly what I was thinking. The truth is, I don't care when we get to Singapore. All I want for Christmas this year is a podium finish.
Matt Gregory - Navigator
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GREEN DRAGON LEG THREE DAY 2 QFB: received 14.12.08 0806 GMT
After a good start off the line, it was frustrating to get swallowed up and spat out by the fleet. We seemed way off the pace and for two position reports we were bringing up the rear of the pack. The only good thing was that this gave us the freedom to carry out our plan of staying in close to the shore.
After losing three boats by being too offshore in the last day into Cochin, it was a case of once bitten twice shy for the Dragon. We had no intention of letting anyone inside us and even gybed in at 90 degrees to our course at one stage to be best place to catch the end of the sea breeze and the start of the breeze off the land.
Fortunately, this seems to have been what transpired and Steve Hayles can rest in the knowledge that his first call as navigator has been a good one. It not only took us from last to first, but it is doubly important as we have now sailed into a freshening breeze and although Telef?nica Blue has passed us, our lead on the pack has grown dramatically.
This morning we had every boat in the fleet in sight but now we can only see Telef?nica Blue in front of us, Ericsson 4 a few miles behind us and Puma a further 6 or so behind them. I think the fleet will compress again at the turning mark but for now, it is nice to be up with the leaders.
The atmosphere is good onboard especially as I think we all know deep down that it will take forever to get to Singapore and Christmas onboard could well be a reality. We have had no problems with the boat apart from the distraction of a stowaway cricket. As Justin (Justin Slattery/IRL) succinctly put it as he was trying to get to sleep: 'it sounds like we're camping'. Fortunately, the noise seems to have gone away since some decent breeze came in - maybe he has taken a swim.
Right now, we have 160 miles to the turning mark off Sri Lanka and we are reaching at 18 knots in 20 knots of wind under full main and jib top. I suspect this is the fastest we will be going at any time on this leg but I hope I am wrong.
Ian Walker - skipper
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KOSATKA TEAM RUSSIA LEG THREE DAY TWO QFB:received 14.12.08 0239 GMT
All doubts about the 'new route' must have been wiped out with the Cochin stopover. India and the city of Cochin have been a fantastic host to the fleet; people welcomed us with such a friendship and enthusiasm. Even though coming here was difficult for us at the end of leg 2, I wish to come back again.
We started this leg with two new faces on board, Scotty (Scott Gray/GBR) our rigger as second bowman as Oleg (Zherebtsov) has left for St. Petersburg and Sergey )Sergey Bogdanov/RUS) as new media crew member. Both have been sailing with Kosatka extensively over the summer and know boat and the team well.
The first 15 hours in the race have been closer racing than ever before, this morning the fleet was summoned within sight of each other and at one stage, at dawn, we would have been able to talk directly to il Mostro and Ericsson 3 at the same time. What a great race and it feels good to be able to race the other boats that close.
We are sailing the boat in light mode, having just taken the bare necessities onboard. Everything we had the slightest doubt whether we will need it, was left behind, I hope that pays off. Thanks to Nick Bubb and Ben Costello for the great effort put in.
Andreas Hanakamp - skipper
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ERICSSON 4 LEG THREE DAY 1 QFB:received 13.12.08 1456 GMT
Leg 3 starts and we are all wondering where all the time is going. We had a great stop in Cochin and I am sure you will be hearing India being praised by all teams. It was a fantastic and friendly place and I for one would be more than happy if the race returned here. Admittedly there are a few people who didn't enjoy the culture as much as others did, but this probably has more to do with 'Deli Belly' and the power of the chilli pepper, than the place itself.
I personally enjoyed feasting on different strength curries for every meal and I was in heaven here!
We are sailing in 4kts of wind right now and are in sight of most of the fleet. We have Puma just in front; Tele Blue and E3 are just offshore of us. Last we saw was the Russians, Green Dragon and Tele black inshore.
I hear the boys talking and they seem most concerned about the 3 inshore right now - we were looking good against them last sched, but the worry is they have more wind and are slipping up the inside - I guess we will know in an hour and a half.
The night air is not only light, but also warm and we still feel over dressed in t-shirt and shorts. The moon is bright - in fact, yesterday the moon was the closest it had been to earth in 50 years, it is so bright that everything is casting a shadow. On the negative side, the tides will be very strong!
Everyone is still on deck and it will take a little while to get used to the watch system and life onboard once more. It is a journey into the unknown once more and I am sure it will make everything that little more exciting again.
Guy Salter MCM
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TELEF?NICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY ONE QFB:received 13.12.08 1455 GMT
We had had a great farewell from the people of Cochin. The parade down the dock took a little longer as anticipated and the sun was burning down on us, a good practice for what we expect over the next week, but the atmosphere was great.
After some sailing around past all the spectators, we headed out to the start line. A bit different here than in Alicante and Cape Town - a gentle breeze and no worries with spectators boats, as there were hardly any out.
We had a good start, but Puma got their nose out just half a boat length, and that made it a bit difficult for us as were dictated by them, just follow the leader. The two Ericsson boats were right on our hip, and we sailed for about two hours, slowly stretching on them. Then all of a sudden we lost speed. A quick look through the endoscope, and we learned that we had weed on the keel and rudder, and they both rolled us. Amazing such a bad effect some pieces of weed have on the performance.
Right now, the breeze has dropped to 4-5 knots and we still sail at around 6 knots, hopefully the breeze stays in. ERT 3 is half a boat length in front of us, and we can read their instruments. In about 20 miles we should get more wind, coming back from the east, at least that is what our own weather model predicts. The team that sticks its nose in this first, for sure will get a jump on the rest. Right now we are spread out, some right on the beach and us about eight miles off. Time will tell who comes out best.
Cheers,
Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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