Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 Rio to Baltimore

VOR newbies Gurnard Nipper and Budgie get a visit from Neptune.


GO WEST YOUNG MAN

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 10:33:08 UTC

The wind’s up, the conditions are perfect, the boats are trucking and ABN AMRO ONE has just posted the first 400 mile 24 hour run of the leg.

Over the weekend the fleet blasted through the doldrums with hardly a hiccup. The satellite image that Chris Bedford sent with the latest weather story shows that the fleet found a very narrow channel through the doldrums clouds and all but Ericsson sped through unscathed. Ericsson tangled with a couple of clouds which slowed her up for a while and caused more frustration and ABN AMRO TWO have been struggling with less wind for days now and whatever they seem to do makes no difference. Perhaps they will have to wait until the boats ahead get to the entrance to the Chesapeake to get back on terms – though there might be a chance for some different tactics to be employed when they get close to the Caribbean.

Last night, or rather this morning, ABN AMRO ONE lost a small amount to the chasing pack, going from a lead of 29 nautical miles at 2200GMT to 25 at 0400GMT. But, business at usual at 1000GMT today, with the lead up to 31 miles, the most it has been. ABN AMRO ONE led the move into 400 mile days for the first time this leg, posting 413 miles at 0400GMT this morning, then all the boats turned in 400 mile days by 1000GMT with ABN AMRO ONE posting 447, Ericsson playing catch up at 433 and Brasil 1 pulling away from Pirates of the Caribbean and putting in a 432 24 hour run in the process.

We don’t have to tell you who was leading at 1000GMT, but movistar was 31 miles astern of whoever it was, Brasil was a further 35 miles back, and Pirates next, 73 miles from the leader and seven miles from Brasil 1. Ericsson has lost four more miles on the leader but is holding on to Pirates 18 miles behind.

At 0400GMT ABN AMRO TWO trailed by 149 miles, but by 1000GMT she had dropped back to 156, their biggest deficit so far.

Emails

Conditions out there are so good that the crew seem to have time on their hands and are sending in carefully constructed – in some cases – funny emails and in the case of Brasil 1 are still using that furry Teddy bear as a photographic model. Funny how people change from steely-eyed professional sailors to raving loonies when the sun’s out.

But first, something serious, a submission from Sebastien Josse to the adjudicators of the Musto seamanship award, putting forward a selfless act of heroism on the part of Scott Beavis, “Today Scott Beavis showed utmost seamanship to bring some level of humanity back on board. With temperatures soaring into the 40’s and dehydration and heat stroke an imminent and likely danger, all the cooling fans went down onboard ABN AMRO TWO today.

“Without any thought of self preservation, Beavis dove into the sweltering cabin, armed with nothing but his Kiwi ingenuity. Finding a faulty connector at the back of the starboard lower fan, he proceeded to remove the troublesome plug, strip the ends of the wire with his teeth and hard-wire the fan and supply back together with his bare hands.

“It should be noted that the whole system was live and throughout the ordeal shocks of a heart-stopping 12 volts were being experienced by Beavis. At one stage the entire 12 volt domestic system shorted out and went dead onboard, threatening even further the yacht and her crew. Luckily it was during the hours of daylight or the crew could have found themselves plunged into the frightening uncertainty of darkness at sea.

“Further risking bodily harm, Beavis went forward into the galley area where he was met by a crowd of hot angry men, sweat and body odour. Locating the correct breaker was difficult as by this stage he was covered in sweat and it was running into his eyes. Thankfully he quickly remembered the safety briefing about which breaker was what – four down two across. Upon switching it on, the fans sprung to life with a cheer of relief from the crew.

“But the drama was not over. During the short period of overheating downstairs, the glue holding the plastic fan mounts onto the carbon fibre hull had melted.

“Now some of the fans hung perilously down from their wires.

“One particular fan caught Beavis’s eye, the one above Hans Horrevoets’s head. He knew that if the fan and Hans’ chocolate locks combined, it would be a nasty medical incident. Quick thinking Beavis grabbed some 3mm Dynex line and lashed the still spinning fan to the bunk. It was somewhat like watching a man dealing with the head of a weed whacking garden tool.

“After what can only be described as one of the most death defying and spectacular feats of seamanship I have ever experienced, life at the extreme onboard ABN AMRO TWO, the street fighter continues.”

Phew!

Bringing a little sense to the proceedings, Bouwe Bekking sends us this assessment of the other boats in the race, “Seventeen knots of breeze. It feels nearly like sailing in a storm when you are inside of movistar after a week of light air sailing. All the familiar sounds & noises appear again, and the best part of it is making good miles towards to finish.

“The balance so far: won’t say a word regarding, ABN AMRO ONE, that speaks for itself.

“The Pirates: Paul was in the same situation as we were last time with Amer Sports, late, very late on the water. He had a lot at stake, but it just shows his character; he is a winner, likes challenges and loves this type of sailing. Love him or hate him, don’t forget he is one the personalities our sport needs. Well spoken, good writer and a proven winner. He has put together a very slick campaign, but as on movistar, they had their fair share of problems. Their speed is still a bit inconsistent, but his solid positioning saves them a lot of times. Never, ever count Paul out.

Ericsson: with Kostecki and Ross Halcrow onboard it looked like they got the change they were hoping for. But some bad luck put them back and then the achilles heel is coming up. Their speed up to now is still not as good as the Pirates, who is have the same hull. They have gone for very heavy deck equipment, but won’t blame that for the speed difference. I think they still suffering in their sail and rig programme, were the last one and you can’t do anything about it. They made a very late change just before the start of the race from Doyle to North sails, and made a huge improvement, but it still mend first generation sails for their campaign. Hopefully for them they still have a lot of sail buttons left, so they can still improve their wardrobe and their speed.

“Brasil 1: in my opinion a rocket ship, fastest Farr boat upwind, fast downwind and reaching, if they would stick with the fleet a bit more, very dangerous.

“ABN AMRO TWO: they can be very fast, no doubt at all, but the loss of some key crewmembers has played it’s toll. I think they are fighting a bit against themselves right now, and maybe they feel the growing pressure of being in second place overall.

It looks as though John Kostecki agrees with Bouwe about Ericsson’s sails, “We are currently hauling the mail in the north easterly trade winds. Wind speed 20 knots, boat speed 20 knots. Very powerful boats these Volvo 70’s yet very sensitive to sail combinations and the set up of the boat. We are learning tons about our new and improved sail inventory and how to get the best speed out of the boat.

“We exited the doldrums early today after having a tough go versus our competitors. We found ourselves caught up under a couple of massive clouds that sucked the wind away, and watched as our competitors sailed away. But, now it is totally different sailing. It is a full drag race for around the next 2,000 miles across the trade wind section of this leg. This will be a real test on which team can get the most out of their boat.”




© Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006
Updated 10/04/06 11.28