11:28 PM Mon 16 Feb 2009 GMT
The islands of southern Japan are now safely behind the Volvo Ocean Race fleet and the five teams have now plunged into the Pacific Ocean on their way southwards towards New Zealand, which must be left to starboard.
'The boat was practically flying,' said MCM Gustav Morin as Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) took off in a 40-knot gust, reaching 36 knots of boat speed. 'When you reach speeds like that, you know it isn't going to last for long. King Neptune usually puts an enormous wave in front of the boat on occasions like that, just to see some action and make his everyday life, looking at a deserted sea, a bit more fun,' added Morin.
'It has been a tough 36 hours, with winds in the 20s and 30s (knots) and lots of pressed- up reaching. The decks have been awash and it has been survival suits, lifejackets and harnesses all round, day and night,' wrote Ian Walker from fourth placed Green Dragon.
Walker is missing the helming skills of his Olympic partner John Merricks, who was tragically killed in 1997. Today would have been John's birthday. 'How he would have loved to have been doing what I am now. We could have done with his driving skills onboard last night as we fought to keep control at up to 30 knots of boatspeed in the pitch black. He was one of the best heavy-air sailors I ever sailed with or against,' Walker said.
The high-speed reaching conditions have been boosted by four-knots of the warm-water Kuroshio Current, also known as the Black Tide, but there is little chance of any passing lanes on this course of sailing. King Neptune has continued to amuse himself by testing the fleet in any way that he can. Thankfully, for now, the white water spray that is constantly dousing those on deck is relatively warm, due to the Black Tide, but that will change once the fleet is in the Southern Ocean in approximately 14 days time. The water temperature has risen from six degrees to just over 20 degrees centigrade in 24 hours.
Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) leads Puma by 16 nm. During the night, as the team passed Korea, they saw two Japanese boats fishing together. At 25 knots of boat speed, it was too late to alter course and the team sailed straight between the two, hoping that they were not connected. 'Ten seconds later, we could breathe again and keep on going, looking for the next group,' explained trimmer, Horatio Carabelli/BRA.
Puma has had some problems onboard including snapping a wheel in half when ploughing into the bottom of a big wave, and a mechanical issue with a steering quadrant. 'A loss of about 15 miles over a couple of hours, but a small price to pay now that we have peace of mind that it is all fixed,' said skipper Kenny Read/USA/.
Overnight, Ericsson 3 passed Green Dragon and the other later starter, Telef?nica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED), is also making good progress. She is now just over 10 hours (197 nm) behind Ericsson 4. 'We are staying honest with ourselves and sailing a course which we think is best for us - even if it is similar to the others,' explained Tom Addis, the navigator onboard Telef?nica Blue for this leg. 'Better and less risky opportunities will arise further down the track I am sure,' he added.
Meanwhile, Puma has been enjoying the company of a small pod of playful dolphins. Ken Read has taken this as a good omen and is hoping that it is a sign that Puma's passage through the Pacific will be swift and safe.
There is a long way to go.
PUMA LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 1206 GMT
I think our average wind speed so far this leg has been in the mid 20's and we peaked out at 44 knots while reaching through a small group of islands just south of Japan. That was fun.
Sitting below staring at the computer, making calls through the deck com system as to what we should expect next with regard to wind strength and direction, all the while navigating through a small gap in the islands and stepping into the Kurishio Current (this part of the world's Gulf Stream) which runs at about four knots. Oh yes, in a pitch black night while travelling at an average boat speed of 25 knots in bad seas!
My dear friend Sidney Gavignet came off watch as we were entering the islands and started to chuckle when he said 'being a skipper at times like these is a lot of fun isn't it?' We made it through and actually made some nice gains on that three hour sched. Wild. That period of time will make it into the memoires some day.
We have a few nicked up bodies. Nothing major. Just some bumps and bruises dealt by these vicious boats. They get angry when they go fast. And the fleet has been fast since about five hours after the start.
We had to stop for a bit with steering problems yesterday, but as always the boys on board got it all up and running again within an hour or so. The problems included snapping a wheel in half when ploughing into the bottom of a pretty gnarly wave, and a mechanical issue below decks with the steering quadrant. A loss of about 15 miles over a couple hours, but a small price to pay now that we have peace of mind that it is all fixed. Funny thing with these boats. You build every part and piece as light as it can be--and sometimes things break...go figure.
And now we are finally out into the Pacific. Sounds nice until you look at a chart and see how large the Pacific Ocean really is. After leaving the cliffs of Japan we were escorted that morning by a very playful family of dolphins for quite some time. I guess the romantic in me thinks that is a sign. That our passage through the Pacific shall be swift and safe.
We shall see. There is a long way to go.
Kenny Read - skipper
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ERICSSON 3 LEG FIVE DAY 3 QFB: received 16.02.09 1051 GMT
A rough night
Our navigator usually knows when something is about to go down. And at one moment tonight he had that gut feeling that something. He was right.
Suddenly the wind speed increased rapidly to 40 knots. We were reaching in 36 knots boatspeed and the boat was practically flying. Aksel made himself ready. He wrapped his arms around the closest vertical beam and held it tight.
When you reach speeds like that you know it isn't going to last for long. King Neptune usually puts an enormous wave in front of the boat on occasions like that, just to see some action and make his everyday life, looking at a deserted sea, a bit more fun.
And this time was no exception.
We dived into a big wave and crash stopped. Aksel managed to hold on but he was worried that something was going to break. When 40 knots of wind is pushing the boat forward and a massive wave is holding it back, the loads on sails and rig are huge.
Both the boat and Aksel got through the situation without problem. Jens Dolmer though, who was sleeping in the bunk just next to navstation, wasn't so lucky.
When the boat went down in the dark cave, it leaned over to leeward and water found its way in through port primary winch. I thought we had found all the places were the boat is leaking, but no, here was another one. Water was literally flooding down from the roof and hit Jens right in his face. He woke up in shock, trying to brush the water away.
We had too much sail area up, but we decided to survive for a couple of hours. It would have been tricky and risky to take it down and we knew we would get some lee south of a Japanese island.
So we did. And that was lucky. Just after the change, the wind increased heavily again.
During the night we passed the Green Dragoon and we can now see them behind us.
'We have a few rough days and nights in front of us with a lot of reaching. For the moment it's all about endurance. We will for sure be tired and have sore eyes from all the saltwater spray after this. Luckily the water temperature has increased. It went from six degrees to over 20 in just 24 hours', says navigator Aksel Magdahl.
Gustav Morin - MCM
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Leg Five Day Three: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 11,653 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +16
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +63
Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +74
Telef?nica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +197
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telef?nica Black ESP (Fernando Ech?varri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
www.volvooceanrace.org
by Volvo Ocean Race
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