4:06 AM Fri 20 Mar 2009 GMT
Telef?nica Blue has crossed safely through the scoring gate at Cape Horn to grab two points. This puts her on 46.5 points overall, just half a point behind Ken Read's second placed Puma, and still in the hunt.
'Obviously we are relieved to get to Cape Horn, we had a bit of a party onboard and now we can think about getting to Rio and giving the guys in the shore crew time to prepare the boat for the in-port race and restart,' said skipper Bouwe Bekking. 'We are really pleased with the way the boat has performed even though we have been jury rigged since we broke the forestay earlier on,' he added.
Continuing to lead the fleet is Magnus Olsson and Ericsson 3. Olsson has managed to position his boat between the chasing pack and the finish in Rio, a position he would like to keep until the finish gun sounds, but the weather is complex and gains and losses are expected in the next two days as the fleet negotiates the patches of high pressure with varying degrees of success.
Although their advantage is currently 50 nm, a gain of five miles in the past 24 hours, it is not a comfortable lead. 'We are sailing through an area of high pressure bubbles,' says Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl. 'My biggest concern is the high we will have to negotiate in two or three days' time. It can easily be a parking spot,' he said.
'Already tonight we will have to try and get ahead of another light patch developing between the two highs to our north and south. It looks like we might just manage that,' he added.
The team has also had to deal with kelp attaching itself to the keel and rudders, which meant sailing the boat backwards to free it.
In third place, 136 nm behind Ericsson 3, Puma reports flat seas and light breeze, which has encouraged sound sleeping among the crew. Green Dragon's Ian Walker, who still has his sights set on a podium finish, also reported enjoying the longest and best sleep he has had in this entire leg.
The top three boats are spread in a line north/south. Puma's Ken Read says that the spacing of the boats is proving to have just enough room to create its own little weather situation, which can be significantly different from the other boats.
TELEF?NICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 34 QFB: received 19.03.09 1456 GMT
Just went in great style around Cape Horn. Not meaning blasting around, the opposite is true, only four knots of breeze, so it gave us a splendid opportunity to have a real rounding party.
The cigars were out, home brewed grappa was served and each of us got a golden earring. Plenty of time for individual pictures and interviews, with a big sign Cabo de Hornos in front and the Cape on the background.
David Vera and Mike Pammenter were, on this occasion, allowed to pose in their Speedo swim shorts, as that is what they wear on Telef?nica Negro when it is warm. But here onboard we have the rule to wear 'proper' clothing, so they can pack them away until Rio, where they probably will exchange them for some tangas instead.
This was my seventh rounding, and number four in very little wind, even now I'm not sure what I prefer. The breeze gives you the classic rounding, but in little wind there is more enjoyment and actually the opportunity to live the moment is more intense. Of course this was a way better rounding then last time, when the night before we nearly sank. We talked a fair bit about that experience and still realize how lucky we were at that time. But we talked as well about the old days when the square riggers came around; they must have sometimes been completely handed over to the will of King Neptune and praying for survival when rounding in a gale.
Yesterday we had some big breeze, up to 35 knots and beam reaching, so the fire hose was continuously on and very uncomfortable on deck and downstairs as we were slamming hard. I gave up trying to count the number of slams in minute, as it was nearly every second we bounced off the waves. We had to slow down, and hoisted a small staysail. So today is the complete opposite. Now slowly heading north and every mile we sail it will get warmer, especially good news for some of the Spanish guys, who still and never will get used to colder temperatures.
Bouwe Bekking - skipper
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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 24 QFB: received 19.03.09 1439 GMT
It's an interesting concept - time. Or maybe it's just the fact that we have been out here for so long with little contact with the outside world that we are starting to show the developed signs of insanity?
The routines onboard carry on regardless of time and we are now noticing the fact that we have overtaken the date regarding local time. When we set off on this leg we were firmly in the eastern side of the globe and therefore we would have 'our day' at the start of the world day sequence.
Now we have moved into the western side we should have our day towards the end of the world day. This would normally be taken care of around the 180 degree line - the opposite of the Greenwich mean line - known as the International Date Line.
Onboard Ericsson 4 we didn't bother with this and as always just kept on UTC time or the correct time for Greenwich (0 degree line). Time for us doesn't really have the same meaning as ashore. We don't need to know what time the news is on or if it's time the dog should go for it's walk. All we need to know is what time the watches start and what time is meal time - all of which rotate on an eight hr cycle (a meal every eight hrs and an off and on watch every eight hrs).
But we now are really noticing onboard that we have run back into ourselves somewhat with the date. On the yacht we feel that it's the morning of the 20th March as far as our daylight schedule goes, where as our watches tell us it's the 19th! Just a little confusing it has to be said (although not as confusing as the babble you have just read no doubt!)
So, the fact of the time being a little out of kilter and the fact that, over the last few days his off watch has either been in the middle of a sail change or that no off watch has existed due to sail changes, has meant Dave Endean has had very little sleep.
So it also doesn't help Dave that the watch hanging in his bunk and owned by Tony Mutter is firmly in NZ time and on a 12hr setting. What it has basically meant is that for the second time this leg Dave has sprung out of his bunk and got himself prepared in all is thermals and outwear only to find that he is on deck a full hour before he needs to be - he read the watch to say 10am when it was actually 10pm NZ - 13hrs different from our UTC.
This doesn't sound much, but when you are running a four hrs on and four hrs off schedule, the time off is the most valuable thing ever. In your four hrs off you need to get undressed, eat, get dressed and to do your business if you get my drift, so it doesn't leave much time for sleep, which at present is probably about two hrs max if you consider the thermal layers to get in and out of. It doesn't help to spring up an hour earlier as you can't really just go back to bed, as by the time you have undressed, it's almost time to get dressed again.
At present we are jib reaching on port (be interesting to see time spent on port for the leg as a percentage as I remember moaning about it some time ago!). The sea is very flat and it is slightly overcast and quite chilly on deck. There seems to be a flurry of emailing and writing as it seems everyone is either typing away furiously or queuing to use one of the boat's computers. These chances don't appear too often as the nav area is usually involved in some tactical play or being used to hatch some cunning plan to take over the world.
Ryan Godfrey has been gloating at his winning the sweep stake - he was just under three hrs out - not bad considering we made the bet 6000 miles away from the Horn. He is, however, suggesting a date when we all meet up to help him drink his winnings!
Guy Salter - MCM
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