8:29 PM Tue 25 Nov 2008 GMT
A traffic jam of Volvo Open 70s is developing in the Indian Ocean as they try to avoid the pot holes lying in wait in the Doldrums. The gaps between the boats is falling while at the navigation stations, the stress levels rise.
A concertina effect is unfolding as the leaders find buffer zones which their pursuers have yet to hit on the final approach to the finish. Delta Lloyd's gain of over 100 miles in the past 24 hours bears that out.
Telefonica Blue navigator Simon Fisher and his skipper Bouwe Bekking have been mulling over the entry point to the Doldrums - with differing views. The option of tacking cropped up with Fisher for and Bekking against. The skipper won the day and it seems to have paid off with a profit of 22 miles.
'To say the last 18 hours of my life have been stressful would be an understatement,' Fisher revealed. 'Limping along with our busted wing (read broken daggerboard) we found ourselves last night in all kinds of bother, a massive header (wind shift) that we couldn't escape by sailing high which had me biting my nails, pulling my hair out and staring at the computer screen in disbelief as the guys around us wound out massive amounts of easting (gains).
'I was even looking at the option of tacking. In retrospect that was a pretty ballsy option so it was good to have Bouwe there to counter the reasoning. Trying to work out what the hell to do is one of the reasons I enjoy this sport. Coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas and then trying to rationalise the solution, albeit in this case do nothing and go straight, is one of the challenges.
'At one stage it looked like we were headed to the bottom of the fleet by virtue of our westerly position but the situation is looking slightly brighter. Perhaps luck has got us into this situation so maybe it will get us out too. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Doldrums and we'll wait and see what happens.'
'We and Ericsson 4 have lost many miles to the fleet.'
Stress, and claustrophobia, on E3 as well ... and soccer analogies. 'It is extremely close racing,' reports Media Crew Member, Gustav Morin. 'For the last few hours we have been able to see Ericsson 4. I thought the race mode was at its highest level before but now it has taken a few steps up.
'It is just as hard to cope with the stress that the competition creates. Some people have a hard time watching a game of soccer when the score is equal and there are just a few minutes to go. We are experiencing the exact same feeling.
'But we have been feeling it since the scoring-gate and we will probably have to cope with it until we reach the finish line in about four days. A few hours ago the wind dropped and we and Ericsson 4 have lost many miles to the fleet behind us.'
Morin's observations are underlined by the 16:00 GMT Position Report. The numbers between the leaders and the pursuing pack are shrinking, a sure sign that the onset of the Doldrums is kicking in.
Last night's heavy reaching conditions have given way to 10-15 knots of smooth sailing.
Ericsson 4 still leads the way with Ericsson 3 still within striking distance at +12 miles Distance To Leader (DTL).
PUMA (+15) hold third place with Telefonica Blue (+25) and Green Dragon (+29) jostling for fourth with 64 miles separating them east to west.
Telefonica Black (+100), still the furthest west, were a casualty of the aforementioned surge of Delta Lloyd (+88) and have slipped behind the Dutch boat. Team Russia (+137) have also made gains with a 24-hour run of 419 miles.
Skipper Andreas Hanakamp explains their position thus. 'We have left the trail and try our own path, we believe we learned the hard way in the Atlantic Doldrums. Our luck lies in the east, so we hope, no we are convinced. Tomorrow afternoon we expect to leave the trades again and hit the Doldrums. Expect lots of sweaty sailors on board Kosatka.'
At the head of the fleet, revenge has been dished out on E4 over the past 12 hours, by Phil 'Blood' Jameson.
'We have a wind angle of roughly 100 degrees. Anything in that sort of region means some serious fire hosing on deck,' he says.
'For (fellow bowman) Ryan Godfrey and I, this is where we get a sort of revenge on the rest of the crew. We spend our lives completely underwater up on the foredeck while the other boys take great delight in laughing at us.
'At this angle, they get a taste of it, but still no way near as bad as the front end. It humours us to hear them complaining about the water.'
With just over 1,000 miles of leg two remaining, PUMA navigator Andrew Cape, suggested in a chat with Guy Swindells, that the arrival time to Cochin is moving back.
Currently it is early Sunday morning. 'Capey' added that the Doldrums will have the final say in who wins this final passage to India.
by Cameron Kelleher
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Cape Byron, NSW
