Weekly Roundup: Decision time for Volvo fleet
Leg 5 Week 2 - 15:55 GMT Friday, February 27, 2009. |
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| With the satellites all back up and working after their re-organisation in space, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet found itself approaching the Doldrums on their port reach south towards the islands of Fiji, an area where receiving satellite weather information is key to success. |
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Huge clouds approach Ericsson 4, in the Doldrums, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael / BRA) was the first boat to ‘officially’ park as the wind died and the backmarkers started to make serious inroads in to the lead. The fleet was picking its way through the Marshall Islands, a group of 29 atolls and five islands and an area so interesting that most of the teams were absorbed in the digital version of the Pacific Pilot book. Ian Walker had elected to keep Green Dragon as far to the east as possible, a move that would take a week to play out.
PUMA (Ken Read / USA) had closed to within 21 nm of Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson / SWE) was just three miles further back. But the gap of over 200 nm separating Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking / NED); who had started 19 hours after the rest of the fleet after a ‘rocky’ experience at the start; had begun to close and both she and Green Dragon started to cash in. |
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Rough weather for Green Dragon, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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On day 10, February 23, Green Dragon had a close encounter with a whale, which breached the surface about three boat lengths to windward while the boat was reaching at a steady 17 knots. "It does make you wonder what the impact would be if you hit one of these fantastic creatures," queried Ian Walker. "Probably better not to think about it too much," he added. Spirits were high on the Chinese / Irish entry as they continued to breeze through the Doldrums with very little interruption.
Day 10 was also the day that the fleet passed from the northern hemisphere into the southern hemisphere. Onboard second-placed PUMA (Ken Read / USA), they marked the occasion by having Frenchman Sidney Gavignet steer until the dials reached zero and then, Kiwi Rob Salthouse took over as soon as they officially entered the southern hemisphere. A party was also held on board to celebrate the safe arrival of Michi Mueller’s daughter. Contraband Rum was consumed from a bottle marked ‘sewing machine oil’ and huge Cuban cigars were handed round. |
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Skipper Ken Read tracking the line squall onboard PUMA Ocean Racing, in the Doldrums, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Ericsson 4 continued unchallenged on day 11, while a battle raged behind for second place; as Ericsson 3 appeared on the horizon and took up position alongside PUMA. Telefónica Blue and Green Dragon swapped placed briefly on the leaderboard and continued to gain more and more miles on the fleet. Hatches were opened to freshen the air down below and everyone took advantage of the first rain showers to have a wash for the first time since the start of the leg.
The novelty of being able to wash in fresh water had worn off by day 12, February 25, when much of the 24 hours was taken up by dodging the heavy rain clouds laced with vicious squalls. Ericsson 3 continued to be the constant companion of PUMA, much to their annoyance. Telefónica Blue was in fourth place but closing quickly and Green Dragon continued to plough a lonely, but successful furrow, 86 nm to the east. |
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Transition time from very wet to hot and dry on Telefonica Blue, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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By day 13, the fleet had all but left the squall zone behind and was rumbling down the race track towards Fiji. Fiji is not a mark of the course, or a scoring gate. However, it is a significant mental milestone for the five teams who were not even a third of the way through this leg, despite having been at sea for nearly two weeks.
Another whale was spotted, this time by Ericsson 4 and the crews were enjoying flat sea and good breeze with beautiful stars at night. With 8,402 nm still to run to the finish in Rio, the fleet was spread just 70 nm from first to last, but 102 nm west to east.
Day 14 and there was a big dilemma in the fleet. Somehow after racing many miles in the lonely Pacific Ocean, an island; or, to be more an accurate, two islands (Fiji) with a gap in the middle; were in the way and causing much head-scratching for the navigators as they wrestled in their decision as to which way would be the most favourable way to sail. |
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Bowman Martin Krite takes in the reefs during leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race en route to Rio De Janeiro.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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During the past week, the fleet had been clawing as much easting as possible. But now it seemed it might not have been quite enough, at least for the majority of the fleet.
Green Dragon (Ian Walker / GBR) had been committed to the east for over a week which, up until now, had paid big dividends. If this team were to tack to clear Fiji, it would be for much less time than any others who chose this route.
"Who would have thought that Fiji would have such a big part to play in determining the strategy in leg five? I didn’t even know exactly where Fiji was when we left China two weeks ago! Now I am cross examining every member of the crew who has ever been there on holiday, trying to find out the nature of the island the possible local effects of the wind," said Ian Walker. |
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Grinding onboard Green Dragon, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Still leading the fleet was Ericsson 4 and Torben Grael was heading straight for Vanua Levu, the eastern and smaller of the two islands, while PUMA peeled off with certainty to the west. The weather models did not favour the west at all, showing huge zones of no wind on that side of Fiji over in the next couple of days. But for Ericsson 3, the dilemma remained unsolved.
"Now we have to a choose side, very late. If we want to be east, we will have to beat upwind for many hours in light breeze, which will be very expensive. So, take a probable big loss by going west, but with a chance to sneak through without too much pain? Or, invest even more in the east and take a certain short term loss of maybe 12 hours, to stay in an area where the probability for more consistent breeze is higher than in the west," questioned navigator Aksel Magdahl.
Magdahl discounted the option of going between the islands because of the team’s experience with the uncharted Spratly Islands on leg four.
"It is déjà-vu with the ‘Dangerous Ground’ from the last leg really, with a big unsurveyed area. There are still charts though, but we don’t trust them, so we will try to stay away from there," he said. |
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PUMA Ocean Racing on the horizon underneath huge rain clouds in the Doldrums, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Not so for Bouwe Bekking. The Dutchman looked set to take Telefónica Blue straight through the gap between the two islands, which at its narrowest point is only 2.5 nm wide and expands out to about 40 nm at its widest point.
The recent decision-making in the fleet led to a temporary shake up on the leaderboard. PUMA moved into first place, and Telefónica Blue took up second, pushing Ericson 4 back to third for the first time since day two. Ericsson 3 was fourth and Green Dragon fifth.
The fleet was hard on the wind, making painfully slow mileage. Everyone was hoping that the wind Gods would soon smile and free the fleet up. But it was decision time and many considered that the leg could be won or lost at this point. |
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Michael Pammenter updating his job list while Simon Fisher is checking the floating jammer, on leg 5 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Qingdao to Rio de Janeiro.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 4 Day 14 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) DTF 8,364
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +18
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) +20
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +41
Green Dragon IRL / CHI (Ian Walker / GBR) +78
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bérmudez / ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news! |
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