Telefónica Black Leads Pack Through Marine Minefield
Leg 4 Day 4 - 15:38 GMT Wednesday, January 21, 2009. |
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Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) is the new leader of the pack today. This happened after the Volvo Ocean Race fleet made its first proper manoeuvre of this leg, tacking onto starboard last night when the predicted windshift occurred.
Since then, the tracks of the boats have wavered as the crews carefully pick their way through the minefield of reefs and shoals that clutter this part of the South China Sea.
The weather is due to close in approximately three days from now and the sailing is about to get serious. |
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Telefonica Black battle through the
squalls, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Singapore
to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Mikel Pasabant / Telefonica Black / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"Approaching the North Lucoma Shoals, the water depth goes from 1,000 metres to three metres," explains Kenny Read / USA, skipper of PUMA.
"We had three charts of these shoals. One said we ‘could’ go through the middle, one said ‘maybe’ and one said ‘no way’. We chose the ‘no way’ route and along with a breeze header, had to dip the shoal along with Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA)." |
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The crew of il mostro drag sails up
on deck, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore
to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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There is still just over 30 hours before the fleet reaches the ‘weather waypoint’ set at South Rock Light, positioned near Manila in the Philippines. The fleet has to keep to the east of this point to protect them from the full force of the expected bad weather.
However, the mark is directly upwind and between the fleet and the mark lie the notorious Spratly Islands. |
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Ryan Godfrey repairing sails onboard
Ericsson 4, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from
Singapore to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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There are have been no systematic surveys of the area for many years, which means there are vast patches of uncharted coral reefs, atolls, rocks and sand banks, all capable of causing major damage if struck. Those that are charted, may have moved, making the passage through the Spratly Islands, named after an English mariner who charted them in the 19th century, an extremely precarious affair.
"Much of this leg will be raced in darkness and navigators and skippers will be looking for the quickest way through to gain an edge of the rest of the fleet," explains Will Oxley who was a navigator in the 2005-06 event. Oxley says that the reefs could be up to six miles out of place, so much of the navigation will be by sight. |
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Tom Braidwood helming Green Dragon,
on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Singapore to
Qingdao, China.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"If the fleet has clear visibility during the day, they should be mostly OK," says Oxley. But Oxley added, "In the dark, it could be tricky, especially if there are squalls too."
"Of course," says Kenny Read, "you could go way out and around this massive area of shoals, but that would be a race loser. We will all be short tacking through the shoals and reefs. From thousands of metres of depth, to virtually nothing. Really fun at night especially. A little skill and a lot of luck. Both are needed," he said. |
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Martin Stromberg and the crew, grinding
onboard Ericsson 3, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race
from Singapore to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The fleet is now spread over an inshore/offshore divide of 91 nautical miles. Ericsson 4 is the closest inshore, just 43 nautical miles off the coastline of Palawan Island with Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez / ESP) and new leader, Telefónica Black joined together and furthest offshore.
Frits Koek, the Dutch navigator of Delta Lloyd explained that as they moved closer to the coast of Brunei, they got the impression that the near the shore the conditions looked less favourable. The team tacked in the dark, squally night and moved further offshore. They had to tack twice more to manoeuvre into a safe position. |
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Delta Lloyd, skippered by Roberto Bermudez
(ESP) at the start of leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race,
from Singapore to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Rick Tomlinson / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Added to the difficulty is the amount of debris floating in the water. Telefónica Black collided with a stray log, which made contact with their starboard rudder, however the team reported that there was no damage.
At 13:00 GMT today, Telefónica Black had moved up from fifth place at 13:00 GMT yesterday to dislodge PUMA and take the lead. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED) also slides one place down the leaderboard largely due to ‘parking’ for a long time. |
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Stacking for Pepe Ribes onboard Telefonica
Blue, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore
to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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| Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson / SWE) moves up to fourth place from sixth yesterday, Delta Lloyd is level pegging with the Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) in fifth and sixth place and shockingly, race leader, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) is bringing up the rear, 51 nautical miles adrift. |
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A log floats past Ericsson 3, one
of the many hazardous debris the fleet have to deal
with, on leg 4 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Singapore
to Qingdao, China.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 4 Day 4 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
1. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DTF 1,674 nm
2. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +5
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +9
4. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +28
5. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bérmudez / ESP) +29
6. Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +29
7. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +51
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
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