12:31 PM Wed 10 Jun 2009 GMT
Latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race boats on Leg 8.
The general feeling onboard is the same - everyone is suffering from a lack of sleep during this leg.
GREEN DRAGON LEG EIGHT DAY 4 QFB; received 09.06.09 1742 GMT
You can tell when people are really tired as they don't bother to try and get in a sleeping bag; they just collapse in their wet kit wherever they can. This has been life onboard the Green Dragon for the last two days.
Non stop manoeuvring and double stand-by watches means a maximum of two hours sleep in eight if you are lucky. There has seldom been a period where we have settled on a tack long enough for people to get any sensible rest. Having to go to Rotterdam and sail a two mile loop was the last thing anybody needed to do right now, but it is done and now we are back on our way.
It has been a bizarre day as we spent ages beating upwind only for the wind to shift 180 degrees and leave us gybing back down to the mark we spent all day trying to get up to. Although Ericsson 4 took the lead we did well to prevent the whole fleet turning inside out. We were happy to pass Telef?nica Black when they had spinnaker problems and reclaim second place. This is where we remain, but as we sit becalmed as the wind transitions back the other way, it is only a matter of time before we get caught from behind. Sailing can be cruel and although we have sailed a good leg so far, it counts for nothing until we get to Marstrand.
We have been given a demonstration of pure boatspeed by Ericsson 4 today. It was an honour that they felt the need to repeatedly cover us, but as they ease out a half mile or so further ahead every hour I doubt they will be covering us for long. Still it is always fun to be ahead of the race leaders even if it only lasted a day or two. Who knows we may find a way back past them yet. For now I will settle for holding off the others - two of whom I can just see appearing over the horizon behind.
Ian Walker - skipper
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TELEF?NICA BLUE LEG EIGHT DAY 4 QFB: received 09.06.09 2211 GMT
This race is seriously dangerous for your health...
This morning we entered the windward leeward in front of Amsterdam just after seeing all the other guys flying away with the spinnaker towards Denmark while we were still upwind.
When we finally hoisted the chute we were feeling quite 'lonely' looking at all the spectators boats and thinking 'yes we're last, this is the end of show, now you can go back home, thanks for coming...', but things were about to change dramatically once again.
During the first position report after sailing the loop, we realised that Ericsson 3 was missing and that they probably got caught out of the pressure. So we weren't last anymore. A big relief and a shy smile appeared on some of the boys, especially when we started catching up with Delta Lloyd. Hour after hour we reduce the distance from eight miles down to zero, until we overtook them. 'Who said Telef?nica Blue was slow downwind???' Today was an historical moment for us, after spending the whole race trying to optimise our 'Yellow submarine', finally we did it!!!
We finally overtook a competitor downwind in heavy air and we were the fastest boat on a position report!! Of course there is the other side to the coin, sailing the boat with double standby is really hard work, but it pays off when you see the results. And what a result!
After overtaking Delta Lloyd we found out that PUMA had got caught on the wrong side of the low for gybing too late and Ericsson 4 is just 10 miles ahead. Today we've been taken from hell to heaven directly, in a matter of a few hours... only thinking about what happened today makes my head ache...
Surely there is someone in a world of pain right now, thinking 'this isn't a yacht race, this is a divine punishment'. But as never before, during this leg conditions change so quickly and are out of our control so we have to be calm and wait until we cross the finish line.
Another crazy 24 hours until the end.
Gabri Olivo MCM
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PUMA LEG EIGHT DAY 4 QFB: received 09.06.09 1618 GMT
We have been in a heavy weight prize fight for days now and fighting off blows to the head and sleep deprivation.
Sailed back into third today and then amazingly blowing our big spinnaker up sailing downwind just after the Rotterdam loop. Then the chain reaction occurred and the culmination of it all is a complete split from the fleet and hoping beyond hope that this new tactic works.
After the chute exploded, we had to put up small sails and, in turn, we sailed a higher course than the rest of the fleet. We aren't allowed to carry extra big spinnakers and when that goes you are in trouble. Just broke. Right below the head patch. Absolutely no warning. So, we simply lost touch with the rest of the fleet by sailing higher.
We worked the boat all morning as hard as we could to stay in touch with the small storm spinnaker. Then all of a sudden the wind started to lighten. A quick gybe to sail out of the light air and back into the pressure right? No problem, still plenty of wind? And actually a good shift to gybe on. Wrong. It got lighter. Then lighter. And before you knew it, we were drifting. The centre of the low had engulfed us. Unreal.
So now our best hope is to try and punch through the centre of the low and wait for the rest of the group to hit their light air eventually. We simply can't get back to where the rest of the fleet is, so drastic action unfortunately is required. It may work, it may not. We will keep fighting though...
It is interesting how many times the most obvious tactical move may not be made by a certain boat, and almost always there is a good explanation as to how or why the decision was made. And, most often, that decision is because there was something out of the ordinary that happened that simply changed the way you had to play the game. We have had our fair share of tough breaks on this boat and they have routinely occurred at some pretty inopportune times. And the team always rallies to make the best of all situations and we typically have our best legs at that time.
Just try to take it in stride. Just hurts because this is exactly what we didn't want to do. We had Telef?nica Blue back in the fleet and we were making ground toward the front. Ouch.
We have to try and make the best of this. Sure the team is down right now, but all realise that we can't quit and need to press on. Sometimes it just doesn't go your way. Today may have been one of those days for us as time will only tell.
Keep fighting.
Kenny Read - skipper
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TELEF?NICA BLACK LEG EIGHT DAY 4 QFB: received 09.0-6.09 2016 GMT
Onboard Telef?nica Black we have been going through three very hectic days, the last day more so than the others.
Sleep management has been an issue and I can hardly recall a race with less sleep. No hallucinations, but having a hard time to remember certain simple things. The intensity of the racing has been high and have left very little time over for 'charging our batteries'.
When we approached the Channel Islands, it was obvious that we had to face some nasty foul tide, in order to stay in some descent wind pressure. At the SW corner of Alderney Island we were still ahead of Dragon. The question was, should we pass through the nasty Alderney Race east of the island, or go through the gap close to the north of Alderney, south of a bunch of nasty rocks...? Both alternatives risky.
We decided to split gybes with Dragon and let them go into the infamous tidal race east of Alderney and we stayed close north of the island.
What I did not know was that the tidal race immediately north of the island was as bad as Alderney Race. Suddenly we were caught in a tidal river, gybing back and forth in the 1000 metre passage, between rocks. The ripping tide going against us gave us the extra apparent wind to make progress. One missed gybe and we could be have been thrown upon the rocks. The tidal race brought up some scary waves that picked up the stern of the boat and kicked us around.
Well clear of the island, we saw the topmast navigation lights of Dragon a mile or two ahead. They had won this little battle but we passed them again just north of Cherbourg...
The passage of Dover Strait was less dramatic, but after the strait a new challenge was waiting. A weak low covered the southern North Sea and our weather models suggested an easy crossing, right onto the exclusion zone near Rotterdam, in a clocking breeze.
But things turned out differently as the little low decided to be a bit further south, causing the breeze go left instead of right. Dragon was on our heels all night, beating among hordes of shipping and oilrigs.
A few times we negotiated with the officer on watch and made more than one ship change course for us.
We realised we had to tack to get further south east to get the benefit of the south westerly winds on the south east side of the low.
At the first daylight we broke through into the fresh south westerly and could hoist our largest gennaker. Dragon was right there behind us but suddenly appeared another player out the mist, Ericsson 4, who had been smart to push into the south east to catch the favourable running conditions.
It did not take long for Ericsson 4 and Dragon to overtake us running in 22 knots of wind. Just after they passed, our 400 sqm nylon gennaker exploded and we lost the last battle to the loop in Rotterdam, so close to be first there after near 800 nm of exciting and very variable sailing....
After waving goodbye to the Dutch spectators who had the interest to watch us flying by at 8 AM, we set off north, handicapped by having our large gennaker badly broken. Dragon and E4 disappeared north in the hazy morning and soon also PUMA came from behind and passed us in the same manner as we had experienced before.
But it is not over yet and our great team on Telef?nica Black will do our very best to find a way back to the top of the leader board...
Yours
Roger Nilson - navigator
 | Telefonica Black, skippered by Fernando Echavarri (ESP) ? Ronald Koelink - foto-nautiek.nl - Volvo Ocean Race © |
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ERICSSON 3 LEG EIGHT DAY 5 QFB: received 10.06.09 1121 GMT
It ain't over
No breeze and an ETA which said we had six days to go to Marstrand. That's what we were looking at this morning and, at the same time, we were still at the back of the fleet, with only PUMA behind us. And they were doing good speed.
Now, at lunchtime, we have got some breeze back, around 10 knots from 300 degrees and it seems that the centre of the low pressure has now moved from our shoulders. Nice.
We spent the time in the light to sleep, repair and telling stories. Our sailmaker Martin Str?mberg was the busiest. Our big gennaker needed some love. We ripped the foot of it in a gybe yesterday and Martin now repaired it with spray glue and some 'sticky back'. The clew also needed some reinforcement which Martin solved with some good old needle and thread work.
Of course we are not to happy about our situation here along the coast of Denmark, but we keep on struggling, hoping that some kind of over taking lane will show up as we get closer.
'This place is always very tricky. On the Round Sjaelland races I have sailed the wind has always done unexpected things', says Thomas Johanson.
'Well, we will for sure not give up before the fat lady has sung', Richard Mason concludes.
Gustav Morin - MCM
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