10:13 PM Sat 7 Mar 2009 GMT
Latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, on Leg 5 to Rio.
PUMA Leg Five Day 22 QFB: received 07.03.09 0321 GMT
At 2217 hrs on the 6th we tacked back onto port and finally we have our bow somewhat pointing at 'The Horn', a little under 4000 miles away. That's the good news, the reality is somewhat bleaker.
Who would ever have imagined that we would be in the Volvo Ocean Race actually beating in the Southern Ocean, and I don't just mean beating for a few hours, we're talking days here.... it's madness and not much fun either. The boat is constantly heeled over at a 23 degree angle and bouncing around violently as we launch off hundreds of waves every hour. I just counted 14 in the last minute - proof enough.
The galley is destroyed again and throughout the rest of the boat the tack has left little bits of humanity everywhere - hairs, socks, mini kit-kat wrappers. If you can imagine it, I guarantee its in the bilge somewhere on this boat, No doubt its pretty much the same story throughout the fleet which is I suppose some consolation... at least I'm probably not the only one who's a bit miserable!
I wonder how my fellow MCM's are all doing. Hopefully they are in good spirits and like me trying to figure out the best way to tell this story now that the obvious (having a competing boat right next to you) is no longer an option.
Until the scoring gate, the race was playing out hour by hour, from here on the timeframe of the race will be measured in days and possibly weeks. In fact the race's winning decision may already have been made, let's hope not.
Unfortunately, I doubt we'll see a close finish like the last two!
Rick Deppe - media crew member
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TELEF?NCIA BLUE Leg Five Day 22 QFB: received 07.03.09 1407 GMT
Hi there,
It has been a couple of days since I've written and much has happened in some ways and not a lot in others!!
We had a good final run down to the first scoring gate and then put some really good miles into our 'southern mates' on Ericsson 4 as we headed east from East Cape, NZ. We sneaked across the ridge of the high that we were all suddenly sailing north of (the traditional route would have you south), and before we picked up our shift to tack north again, BANG, we lost our forestay and our ability to go upwind with any pace at all in 10 to 20kts of wind (and there is a lot of that wind strength around).
From here, we were in a world of hurt, sailing back into the high towards the Chatham's as we cleaned up and then finding ourselves unable to take advantage of our shift and dribbling north to try to minimise the losses. It was out with the jokes, iPods and stories while we limped along. There was lots of talk about possible ways to get some bigger jibs to work with our jury setup, but we won't be trying anything like that until after Cape Horn in reality. The rig is held in the yacht with strops and halyard locks - not ideal by any means.
We are almost back into the real world again now. Back on port heading for the ice way lines and seeing some good lifted breeze that is letting us sail a bit more like a racing yacht again. Another 24hrs and we should have some angles that we can use at close to 100%, so we are all really looking forward to that. Until then it's managing the transitions from cruising boat to racing yacht as the conditions allow!
Some great work by the guys on Ericsson 3 to have the courage of their convictions and go hard for what they felt was right. I'm sure we all saw the north option was there as we headed down to the scoring gate, but only they went for it with 100% and it shows now!
Better run, we are in racing mode again now. Right in the sweet spot of one of our two headsails. Doing lots of work on revising our polars and sail crossovers but in reality its a pretty simple solution with only 2 jibs designed to cover the extreme ends of the wind range - our Code 0 headsail used upwind in 0-11kts and our J4 designed to be used in 24+. It's just about working out where the join in the middle has to be. It's a very simple life here on TELA at the moment!
Tom Addis - navigator
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ERICSSON 4 Leg Five Day 22 QFB: received 07.03.2009 0700 GMT
I don't know what the fleet has done to deserve it - but we are still going upwind. If the race were to be like this next time I doubt there would be any repeated appearances by any of the crews - me included.
I can't say that I loved the southern ocean experience last time, but there were definitely good times as well as many harsh and hard times which were not even close to being pleasant. But that still beat going up wind in a boat designed to do the opposite.
We hope that the sleigh ride is just around the corner so we can really let Ericsson 4 do what it does best. The ride onboard won't be any easier but the daily totals will be healthier and the time to RIo should drop dramatically. The sooner we get in, the more time to relax away from the race. As it stands, we often don't get much down time due to preparations for the in-port racing. The shore teams do a great job, but they too look drained at the quick turn arounds.
The last day or so has passed slowly but we have hopefully passed the halfway stage and we can look forward to counting down the miles.
So here's to getting their safely and living a normal life for a while where everything that should be stationary actually is - this bouncing around lark is losing its fun a little.
Guy Salter - Media Crew Member
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ERICSSON 3 Leg Five Day 22 QFB: received 07.03.09 0830 GMT
Hi
I am sitting here by the nav desk with a couple of guys, eating our best freeze dried meal as a celebration of my 30th birthday. I have received greetings by email, and even got sung a birthday song from 170 Norwegian Ericsson 3 fans while doing a live interview over the sat phone with an event in Norway!
It will be an unforgettable birthday, really. We are sailing straight into the middle of the low pressure with a bad sea state and variable breeze, trying to nail a big lead on THE leg of this Volvo Ocean Race. Stopping dead becalmed in the centre of the low, and then screaming out on the other side straight for the second ice gate, gaining 50 miles a sched.
We went well up in the North, reaching at good speeds for the last two days. All are happy onboard even though it once again is wet, difficult to eat, difficult to do anything. This morning I got smacked by a bad wave whilst trimming the main. I bit my tongue in pieces, gained a little whiplash and discovered how it feels to just have been hit hard in the face and guts at once. Martin Krite (bowman) had a similar one, or actually - two!
We are enjoying this different 10-minute birthday party handing out Ibuprofens for the different bruises.
Best regards from E3
Aksel Magdahl - navigator
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