The rise and fall of Telefónica Blue
Leg 6 Week 2 - 14:43 GMT Friday, April 24, 2009. |
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She’s been in the lead for the entire leg. She was first at the scoring gate. She had a lead of over 100 nm, but, she lost it all when Ericsson 4 came steaming in to steal her thunder, rain on her parade. How? Why?
On day 9, April 19, Telefónica Blue was making fast miles towards the finish in Boston and was in the enviable position of being able to watch a battle unfold over 100 nm astern. Ericsson 3 had moved up into second place and was just holding off Ericsson 4. PUMA was only a little over three miles back while Telefónica Black and Delta Lloyd were engaged in a private battle of their own. At the back of the pack was the Dragon, who raced alone.
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Daryl Wyslang driving the boat fast under Bouwe's control, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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It was on day 10 that the pressure on Bouwe Bekking and his men started to manifest itself. The team had begun to sail into a ridge of high pressure, which was checking their rapid progress and giving the rest of the fleet slice of the action. Their lead of 104 nm had been cut to 61nm. The weather ahead was complicated and making the skippers and navigators nervous.
"The weather models look so horrible that I am contemplating making lots of coffees for the guys, going on deck to help out, check clouds etc. Anything to get me away from the computer and the horrible stuff it is spitting out at me," said sixth placed Delta Lloyd’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak.
Forty miles further back, Telefónica Black had an eventful night, breaking their gennaker sheet and then having a scare when they collided with a whale. When daylight broke, the crew checked for damage and apart from some paint shaved off the forward edge of the keel glade, no other damage was found. The crew, nevertheless, was shocked.
"All onboard love the sea and its animals, and it has been a real shock for everybody to hit one of them," said a subdued skipper Fernando Echávarri. |
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Onboard Telefonica Black, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Anton Paz / Telefonica Black / Volvo Ocean Race.
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By day 11, April 21, Telefónica Blue had reached the same latitude of St Martin in the Caribbean. It was hell for the blue boat as they watched their triple-figure lead whittled down to a miserable 30 nm, but heaven for the chasing pack that were romping along and enjoying the sailing, Caribbean style.
No more goggles, helmets and full foul weather gear, just Caribbean style shorts and t-shirts. Rum was shared among the crew of PUMA to celebrate the passing of Antigua, the home of crewman Shannon Falcone.
"Do some research into the long relationship between sailors and Rum, especially here in the Caribbean," said MCM Rick Deppe, who added that the one mini-bar sized bottle shared among five probably amounted to about the same amount of alcohol as a teaspoon of cough medicine.
Roger Nilson and crew of Telefónica Black took a shower and dried out their clothes, while Wouter Verbraak dreamed of a barbeque on the back of the boat, a chilled bottle of white wine and some fresh yellow fin tuna. "We could be cruising along just nicely," he said.
But, there was no fun to be had on Green Dragon who was still trudging along at the back, looking for opportunities or for the rest of the fleet to make a mistake. |
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Green Dragon with the sunset lighting up the sea, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Guo Chuan / Green Dragon Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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On day 12, April 22, things in the fleet were tense and the bleeding should have stopped. Telefónica Blue should have been in good breeze, her margin increased to a safer distance from the hounds on her tail in full cry. She should have been looking ahead to a clear win in Boston, but the Wind Gods were not cooperating and Ericsson 4 was closing for the kill.
The margin was down to 22 miles and the weather ahead was due to change. A low pressure was expected to sweep over the fleet giving gusty winds and squalls.
At 07:00 GMT the following morning, Ericsson had inched to within six miles of the blue boat and skipper Bouwe Bekking was faced with an important tactical decision.
Now running hard downwind, the new wind direction had called for a gybe and Bekking’s dilemma was when, exactly, should he carry out the manoeuvre? He took the only decision he could and played his Stealth card, keeping secret, at least for 12 hours, the moment he made his move. |
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Very tense moments at the navigation station. Bouwe Bekking, Tom Addis and Jordi Calafat looking at the weather, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Gabriele Olivo / Telefonica Blue / Volvo Ocean Race.
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The route to Boston for the fleet was complicated, not only by the approaching cold front, but also by the risk of collision with one of the world’s most critically endangered whales, the North Atlantic right whale, of which there are less than 400 individuals left.
The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a region off the Boston coastline, is a critical feeding area for a number of large whale species including the North Atlantic right whale. Therefore, an exclusion zone had been put in place by the race organisers to keep the fleet away from the area.
Meanwhile, as the rest of the fleet prepared for some cold, windy weather, at 10:00 GMT, Torben Grael too reached for his Stealth card. For Ericsson 3, who has been constantly keeping pace with Ericsson 4, it was disappointment.
"We have gone from rookies in this race to actually winning the longest leg in its history. Of course, we are still very humble, and of course we know that we have a lot more to learn. But once you have done well you want to do it again and again and when the results don’t come, times get tougher," wrote Ericsson 3’s MCM Gustav Morin. |
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Trimmer Martin Strömberg onboard Ericsson 3, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Gustav Morin / Ericsson 3 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Yesterday, Ericsson 4 managed to slip away by a few miles. "We couldn’t do much other than checking everything was OK with the boat and just struggle on," Morin said.
The crew on PUMA were also licking their wounds. "A few days back I was ‘complaining’ about being next to the two Ericsson boats all the time. Well, I should have known better. Be careful what you wish for," said skipper Kenny Read.
However, onboard Delta Lloyd, there was no lack of boatspeed and navigator Wouter Verbraak reported great sailing in 20 - 24 knots of wind. For Green Dragon, at the back of the fleet, the crew just wished for an extra 1,000kgs of lead in their keel bulb to help their performance.
Later on day 13, when the two boats in Stealth emerged, it became clear that it had been a catastrophic 12 hours for Telefónica Blue, who had dropped to third place on the leg leaderboard, and a victory for Torben Grael and Ericsson 4, the runaway leaders in the Volvo Ocean Race. Worse of all, by 19:00 GMT, Ericsson 4 was 50 miles ahead and Telefónica Blue was down to fourth place.
"The outcome during our stealth period has been really bad," wrote Bouwe Bekking on his website. Bouwe had warned two days ago that the time of the gybe could be a leg winning call and he admitted that his team had mistimed it and made a huge mistake.
"The reality was that we couldn’t hold off Ericsson 4. They were sailing much faster than us last night, but, by gybing too early, we lost against the rest of the fleet," he wrote.
"Heartbreaking for them, but the sweet smell of blood for the Ericssons and us," wrote PUMA’s MCM Rick Deppe. "It looks like a four-way fight to the finish," he added.
In the middle of all the cloak and dagger tactics onboard Ericsson 4, the crew had a disaster when they discovered their watermaker was damaged badly. |
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David Pella trimming and Nick Bice helming onboard Delta Lloyd, going strong with 23 knots in 20 knots of breeze, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Sander Pluijm / Team Delta Lloyd / Volvo Ocean Race.
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"We have immediately banned coffee and tea and our meal will be significantly reduced," explained Guy Salter MCM. "We have decided on a dangerously low 1.5 litres per person to drink, and have separated up each quota into a bottle, which the individual will be responsible for," he said.
Dehydration is one of the biggest problems in this race and the teams are always forcing everyone to drink as much fluid as possible. Even a few per cent of dehydration can result in a significant decrease in brain and physical performance.
The leading four boats, Ericsson 4, Ericsson 3, Telefónica Blue and PUMA have now popped out the other side to the ridge of cold pressure, while the remaining three are still dealing with big seas and 30 knots of breeze. Ericsson 3’s MCM, Gustav Morin, described conditions onboard as ‘organised chaos’ as they struggled to change to a smaller headsail and reef the mainsail in the worst of the weather.
"All hands are on deck. The sea state has quickly become pretty bad. The boat is slamming into the waves and the entire boat is rocking from the sails flapping when the helmsman sometimes has to steer head to wind in attempt to take the boat through this crazy front," he said.
Right back in the game is Ian Walker’s Green Dragon, who made an excellent crossing of the front and are only nine 11 miles behind Delta Lloyd. Telefónica Black who although made a good job of crossing the front and has a favourable angle to the finish in Boston, has dropped to seventh place, but is only six miles behind the Dragons.
"It looks like the last miles to the finish are going to provide us with ocean racing at its best. Close racing in the fleet, the Gulf Stream, fronts, and a light wind high-pressure system to cross. What more do you need?" asks Wouter Verbraak, Delta Lloyd’s irrepressible navigator. |
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Torben Grael making water after the watermaker failed onboard Ericsson 4, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Guy Salter / Ericsson 4 / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Scoring Gate Results Fernando de Noronha
1. Telefónica Blue - 19:58:56 GMT 16.04.09 - 4 Points
2. Ericsson 4 - 22:55:36 GMT 16.04.09 - 3.5 Points
3. Delta Lloyd - 23:28:32 GMT 16.04.09 - 3 Points
4. Puma - 23:29:31 GMT 16.04.09 - 2.5 Points
5. Telefónica Black - 23:42:20 GMT 16.04.09 - 2 Points
6. Ericsson 3 - 00:14:28 GMT 17.04.09 - 1.5 Points
7. Green Dragon - 01:27:26 GMT 17.04.09 - 1 Point |
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PUMA Ocean Racing, on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston.
Photo © Rick Deppe / PUMA Ocean Racing / Volvo Ocean Race.
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Leg 6 Day 14 - 13:00 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(Boat name / country / skipper / nationality / distance to finish)
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael / BRA) DTF 487nm
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson / SWE) +36 nm
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking / NED) +40 nm
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read / USA) +62 nm
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez / ESP) +116nm
Green Dragon IRL / CHN (Ian Walker / GBR) +125 nm
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri / ESP) 131 nm
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp / AUT) DNS
Visit www.volvooceanrace.org for all the latest news! |
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