Damage For Telefónica Blue
Leg 2 Day 9 - 14:41 GMT Sunday, November 23, 2008. |
 |
Just when everything seemed to be going right for Bouwe Bekking and his men on Telefónica Blue, it all went wrong again. The boat was loving the conditions, the crew were pushing hard and slowly but surely, climbing back up the leaderboard, when the crew heard a big bang and everything changed.
"We snapped one of our daggerboards, the boards which prevent the boat from slipping sideways," explained skipper Bouwe Bekking. "We destroyed it and had to stop the boat for 45 minutes," he said. Even worse for the crew, the little speed they were able to do, was on the wrong tack and sailing away from the finish in India and they lost 10 precious miles. |
|
Iker Martinez leans over to help fellow
spaniard Pepe Ribes from Spain checking the broken
daggerboard onboard Telefonica Blue.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
The crew found hammers, chisels and hacksaws to try and cut the board free, but in the end, Pepe Ribes from Spain was lowered into the water to get rid of all the bits and pieces so that the board could be raised again.
The team is underway again, but sailing much slower than they would like. The good news is that Laurent Pages from France, who was injured in the big weather last week when he was washed down the boat, is back up on deck and even trimming the mainsail.
"You can’t stop him," says Bekking. "He [Laurent] was getting very, very bored, so we have given him this joy, as the conditions are not too bad." The crew have braced Pages between two spinnakers and made a little stand to lock his feet in to. His injured arm is hanging limply beside his body and he is still unable use it. |
|
Injured Laurent Pages looks at the
sunset onboard Telefonica Blue, on leg 2 of the Volvo
Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin,
India.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
The jury is clearly out on Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) as to whether the crew should attempt to repair their broken boom or not. Skipper Ian Walker says the boat is still going well with no boom.
"When we have the mainsail set up, it looks good. The problems are when we need to react quickly to shifts of gusts as have about four sheets hanging off it." He says repairing the boom could be more of a distraction, especially as even with the repair, it will far from 100 percent. |
|
Justin Slattery repairs the rigging
onboard Green Dragon, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race,
from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
Meanwhile, Tom Braidwood / AUS and Damien Foxall / IRL have been busy fixing other things, including water leaking badly through the glue joining the port daggerboard. While they were making the repair, the steering sheave, which prevents the boat from Chinese gybing, came off.
Braidwood assessed the damage and decided on stopping the leak first, as the team was able to steer with the leeward wheel. Braidwood is in the mood for repairs and is keen to have the challenge of repairing the boom, but he is waiting for Ian Walker to give him the go ahead. If the repair is attempted, Braidwood says it will be from a combination of mainsail battens, glue, carbon and anything else he can find. He says it will look ugly, but if it works, he will be very happy. |
|
Oleg Zherebtsov grinding onboard Team
Russia, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape
Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Mark Covell / Team Russia / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| Meanwhile, the Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) crew was unfortunate enough to catch about seven metres of heavy, arm-thick rope around the port rudder, which stalled the boat and slowed it down.
|
|
Skipper Chuny on the wheel during a
sail change, right after the Delta Lloyd turned north
to the Indian Ocean, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race,
from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Sander Pluijm / Team Delta Lloyd / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
The fleet is all beam reaching towards the finish in Cochin, India, and is in, or almost into the tradewinds. There will be around three more days of these fast conditions before the teams arrive at the lottery of the Doldrums for the second time in this race.
It will be interesting to see how the fleet tackles this obstruction. "For sure, there will differing opinions," says Bekking. Mark Chisnell looks in detail at the fleet’s strategy for the next three days in today’s TEN ZULU report at: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2008/november/TEN-ZULU-REPORT-L2-D9/index.aspx.
|
|
Magnus Olsson left and Jens Dolmer
trying to bring life to Ericsson 3's radar, on leg
2 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Cape Town, South Africa
to Cochin, India.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| Today at t 13:00 GMT, the lead had swapped and it was Ericsson 3’s (Anders Lewander / SWE) turn at the front, seven miles ahead of yesterday’s leader Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA). Ericsson 3 is creaming along at around 19 knots, the highest average in the fleet. |
|
Ryan Godfrey looks at the main whilst
Stuart Bannatyne checks the incoming wind on leg 2
of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa
to Cochin, India.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
| Telefónica Blue and PUMA have both overtaken Green Dragon, to move up to third spot and fourth respectively. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) has swapped places with Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) and Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) brings up the rear. |
|
Sidney Gavignet at the mast onboard
PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race,
from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
|
 |
|
|
Leg 2 Day 9 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander / SWE) DTF 1885 nm
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +7
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +34
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +43
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +53
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) +98
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) +135
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez / ESP) +154
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for
all the latest news! |
|
|
|
