Volvo Ocean Race: Mixed emotions and a storm is brewing

12:58 PM Fri 23 Jan 2009 GMT

'Ian Walker/GBR (pictured)' Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race &copy Click Here to view large photo

Volvo Ocean race boat news from day six of the journey to Qingdao.

GREEN DRAGON LEG FOUR DAY 6 QFB: received 23.01.09 0338 GMT

As we start day six on our 2500-mile slog to Qingdao, I have very mixed emotions.

On the one hand, I am gutted that all our good work of the last few days has been undone by the breakage of our headstay and we are slowly slipping back from the fourth place we comfortably held.

On the other hand, I am relieved to still have our mast intact and to still be racing, albeit slightly wounded. When the headstay breaks, the only thing stopping the mast from falling down is the strength of the headsail cloth until the crew can secure a halyard forward to the bow. The crew's quick reactions in unloading the sails and securing a safety halyard saved us from this potential eventuality. For now, we should be grateful we are not heading to Manila under engine.

Back to the race and Delta Lloyd has slipped past us and right now we can clearly see Ericsson 4, who would have crossed behind us a few hours ago but instead chose to tack to leeward. Maybe they couldn't bring themselves to sail behind us! In two hours since, they have pulled 15 degrees of bearing over us so soon they will be able to tack and cross us.

We are sailing along OK, but our only viable headsail is now the code 4, which sets on an innerstay. In the medium winds we have had for the last 24 hours this sail is too small. We have managed to make a temporary headstay to secure the mast out of a spare runner cable that we carry onboard but this is not strong enough to fly a headsail from. The good news is that the wind will soon be building to over 20 knots and then the code 4 will come into its range and we should be more competitive.

The result of this leg could still depend on how everybody fares in the strong winds forecast. As always, these do not look as bad as previously thought but still I fully expect up to 40 knots on the nose and 4-5 metre seas. That will be enough to test each and every boat out here.

One thing the Green Dragon crew has proven, over and over again, is that we never give up and we have not given up on a good result in this leg yet. Not only do we have a real test of heavy weather seamanship ahead, but we also have some large tactical options including a major decision about which side of Taiwan to sail. This could be a real make or break decision for every skipper and navigator and one Ian Moore and I have been mulling over all night.

For now we are trying to eat as much as we can, preparing all our equipment and 'battening down the hatches' for a bruising two days. Just existing on a Volvo 70 upwind in gale or even storm force winds will be hard enough.

Ian Walker - skipper

Driver Ian Budgen helming Green Dragon, on leg 4 - Guo Chuan-Green Dragon Racing-Volvo Ocean Race &copy Click Here to view large photo

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PUMA LEG FOUR DAY 6 QFB: received 23.01.09 0839 GMT
Did you know that there is fairly strong front coming? Only from about 500 sources if you are an avid Volvo Race follower. Which makes notes like this a bit tricky.

First of all, to friends and families of the 11 guys on this boat: we know there is a storm coming and we are 100% ready for it. Whew. I said it and I feel a lot better. In fact, the mood on the boat is as upbeat as I have seen. Not that we are really looking forward to two days of discomfort, but I think we all are in good spirits because we are doing well in the leg and we are as prepared as we ever could be for this little issue that is coming our way. Do the best we can and really, really try not to break the boat to take us out of the leg or, worse still, the race.

And it is a nice time to have seasoned veterans on a boat like this, who have seen it all before. We have talked through many different scenarios and there wasn't much that we could bring up that someone on the team didn't say - 'oh yeah, when I was on 'so and so' in the 1994 'such and such' race...' You get my drift.

We are really sorry about our friends on Green Dragon breaking their headstay. Good guys on a good team that deserves better. Plus, we have the exact same headstay, so we are watching all parts and pieces with interest. Ours is brand new and we are quite comfortable with it at this point.

Media man Ricky Deppe is crawling around the boat with his video asking everyone 'how they feel' with a storm on its way. Well Ricky, we all feel fine and we are looking forward to 48 hours or so from now when the winds back off and we can get back to full time racing. But for now, we will go into a bit of common sense mode and make our way from the Philippines to Taiwan. Two places that again I never thought I would be writing about when I was racing a sailboat. We have great PUMA friends and supporters in both countries and we want to pass along a big hello and simply ask that next time, order us a bit better weather when we come through.

Kenny Read - skipper