10:14 AM Mon 15 Jun 2009 GMT
Latest emails from the boats in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet. Telefonica Blue's collision is on everyone's minds. The fleet is changing positions and unfortunately for Ericsson 4, the lurgy is overtaking the boat. Read on...
ERICSSON 3 LEG NINE DAY 1 QFB: received 2300 GMT
We have been in a very close battle with Telef?nica Black almost since the start. They have been in the front most of the time but a while ago we peeled to the big A4 gennaker a bit before the Spanish and we managed to pass them. Now we have a gap of a couple hundred metres.
This is actually the first time I have sailed this boat in waters I know, and this make it a bit clearer how fast these boats really are. We are passing city after city sooner than can upload pictures. This is by far the most intense leg in the race.
In the next coming hours we will gybe and start heading for the island ?land and we will go between Sweden and Bornholm.
We are trying to get some sleep and we have a couple of guys lying in their bunks on standby watch, which means they are ready to get up for any manoeuvre. Last leg we think we lost a lot from pushing too hard with no sleep and everyone had a down turn at the same time, which had a big effect on the decision making.
'The boat goes faster with more guys on deck, but only to a certain point, it is hard to find the balance', says Magnus Olsson and continues: 'We are trying to be a bit smarter with the sleeping this time.'
Gustav Morin - MCM
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ERICSSON 4 LEG NINE DAY 2 QFB: received 15.06.09 0537 GMT
The sun was up around 02.30 GMT and we had managed to slip to the front of the pack - then at 0300 we started a small gybing duel with Puma, both sailing against the shift to get offshore to a little more breeze. Then as Puma gybed back onto the favoured angle, we just covered, putting ourselves between the opposition and the mark.
Ericsson 3 is also part of our little gang, so it is sure to be a classic struggle as we head north to Stockholm.
0500hrs - We have Puma just about 10 boat lengths behind us and Ericsson 3 a little further back and slightly to leeward. It's about 22 kts of wind and we are sailing at around 18 - 20 kts - not bad really. Some sleep has been had as it hasn't been the full peeling and gybing frenzy, but I'm sure that the sleep time will vanish over the next few
hours.
0520 - We are just peeling to our fractional reacher as we head further north and expect the breeze to head.
Jules (Jules Salter - navigator) has kindly brought the lurgy onboard, so we now have a few of the lads feeling a little poorly - who knows it's most likely 'man 'flu', so could be deadly!
Guy Salter MCM
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PUMA LEG NINE DAY 2: received 15.06.09 0526 GMT
The start of this leg was madness. The number of boats on the water watching, the starting line pinned up against the rocks, the crowd of people on the rocks watching, the conditions- which went completely flat half way up the first beat. Then.THE COLLISION. Telef?nica Blue with THE ROCK. Enough to make you sick to your stomach watching. A grotesque sight that you never want to see or be part of.
We were following about 10 boat lengths behind Telef?nica Blue in second place heading south when it happened. Capey (Andrew Cape - navigator) was sitting next to me and saying that we were going to have to come up or down in the near future. We were going about 13 knots. And then...BANG. Their entire transom came out of the water right in front of us. I said to Capey, 'UP OR DOWN!' To which he said, 'UP!!!' We climbed off the stricken boat by about three lengths and made it through.
The bottom line is that no one wants to see something like that happen and for sure we are thrilled that no one was hurt. We hope they get back in the race by Stockholm. It just isn't the same without the entire fleet together for the finish in St Petersburg.
That's it for now. More of a report of the racing later.
Kenny Read - skipper
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GREEN DRAGON LEG NINE DAY 1 QFB: received 14.06.09 2132 GMT
We have now rounded Skanor, pretty much the southern tip of Sweden and again set our masthead running spinnaker. Delta Lloyd has done the same and closed slightly on us behind. It is going dark and conditions are very pleasant with flat water and 16 knots of wind.
Ian Walker - skipper
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DELTA LLOYD LEG 9 DAY 2 QFB: received 15.06.09 0418 GMT
Good morning,
We passed Green Dragon and Telef?nica Black and made good gains on the rest, so after a rather disappointing day yesterday, this start of the day is better. The crew is eager not end up in the back of the fleet again so fighting spirits are high and sleeping hours low...
Cheers
Sander Pluijm - MCM
 | Delta Lloyd, skippered by Roberto Bermudez (ESP) and PUMA Ocean Racing, skippered by Ken Read (USA) at the start of leg 9 from Marstrand to Stockholm - Dave Kneale-Volvo Ocean Race © |
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TELEF?NICA BLACK LEG NINE DAY 1 QFB: received 14.01.09 2250 GMT
Dear All
Right now Telef?nica Black is 12 nm due south of Trelleborg, a little town on the Swedish south coast. We rounded the south west corner of Sweden, Falsterbo Rev, in third place, a few hundred metres ahead of Ericsson 3. The westerly breeze picked up and we were not surprised to see Ericsson 3 pulling away from us, as we now are running instead of reaching as earlier today...
One weather model makes us run to Olands Sodra Udde and then reach home fast, to finish evening. The other model is a bit more complex with little wind around Gotland tomorrow and arrival in Sandhamn early morning Tuesday.
The race had a soft start with light breeze and choppy seas, partly because a large armada of spectator boats.
When we had made our little loop on Marstrandsfjorden, the fleet set off close to the coast, even inside some islands and rocks. We were in 5th place with only Delta Lloyd and Ericsson 4 behind. Telef?nica Blue was leading and, at the small island Bussholmen, they had to choose going inside or outside some skerries further south. Our plan was going outside as we thought the slowly increasing westerly breeze would be stronger further off the coast.
Suddenly we could see Telef?nica Blue running around, in front and a bit to leeward of us. One boat close behind her turned more west fast and we continued our planned more westerly track with the rest of the fleet. A very tragic incident but luckily no one was hurt, but the surely the boat went back to Marstrand to be hauled out. I think we all felt a shaken up of this incident and realise how easy things can turn from good to bad.
The wind picked up fast from West North West and we had a very fast passage down to Oresund, The Sound, between Sweden and Denmark. Telef?nica Black impressed by keeping Ericsson 3 behind, but we had to accept that Ericsson 4 and Puma were a bit faster. It has been all about speed from Marstrand all the way so far as the strategic alternatives have been very limited. It could be some kind of mono hull record as we sailed from Marstrand to Helsingborg, the beginning of The Sound, in only six hours! 120 nm in 6 hours, not slow...
All the best from
Roger Nilson - navigator
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