Det är oerhört jämnt i toppen för Volvo Ocean Race när snart halva racet har seglats. På väg mot Rio de Janeiro har rollerna kastats om flera gånger. På tisdagsförmiddagen ligger Ericsson 4 först följd av Ericsson 3 (2 Nm efter) och med Puma på tredje plats (5 Nm efter ledaren). Mycket kan fortfarande hända i tätpositionerna för racet, där fem båtar deltar. Många poäng återstår dock och fortfarande kan någon av de tre båtar som inte är med på den här delsträckan återuppta sitt tävlande.
Här är den senaste pressreleasen från Race Office:
PUMA Leg Five Day 17 QFB: received 02.03.09 1526 GMT
Posted: 02 Mar 2009 08:26 AM CST
I have good news and bad news. The good news first, as I have to try really hard to be an eternal optimist in times like these. We took the lead again today and have Ericsson 3 and Ericsson 4 in our sights – literally. After over 5000 miles of sailing we crossed Ericsson 4 by about a mile late this afternoon.
They gybed a few times – we continued and got out to a three or so mile lead on them. All good right? Well not really. At least for the il mostro team. The bad news is that we are constantly sailing the torturous path of leading the pack into lighter air. We are lighter and lifted compared with the rest of the group, sched after sched. Watching any lead evaporate slowly but surely. Soon, we will have a five-way drag race to the New Zealand’s scoring gate. I guess I shouldn’t complain much because Ericsson 4 has seen a couple leads evaporate on the leg as well, due to similar circumstances. What goes around comes around?? Or something like that.
Life aboard really doesn’t have much to report. Complaints about food, dreams of ice cream, and Kirby stories fill up the day. I actually heard two new stories today that I hadn’t heard before from young Jerry (Jerry Kirby). It was an unbelievable moment in my life. He had me almost crying I was laughing so hard. I look forward to meeting a couple of his college buddies to validate these particular tales some day. My guess is that it was about 50% fact and 50% fiction. Really doesn’t matter at this point.
Justin (Justin Ferris) had out the sewing machine for a few sail touch ups and was called into duty for a few take ups in the waist of some of our shorts. I was sitting next to him and was watching him take up about an inch out of mine, then try to sew one of the pant legs shut only to run out of bobbin. Whew. Kirby wasn’t so lucky. His shorts were turned inside out before sewing the left pant leg completely shut. Hiding the mischievous deed. Right leg in, left leg didn’t quite make it. Hopping around the deck trying to figure out what happened – like getting short-sheeted only with Ricky’s (Rick Deppe MCM) camera in full swing getting the entire sequence on video. Probably not as funny if you weren’t there, but it was very amusing at the time for those of us involved.
As we approach the halfway point of this leg, all aboard is in relatively good shape. Casey (Casey Smith) and Salty (Rob Salthouse) constantly doing little jobs and the list is down to a few mundane items. That bodes well anticipating the next 10 days of much harder sailing. We have had a dream run down the Pacific and that should come to a screeching halt in about 10 hours. Turn the fire hose back on for some windy close reaching again.
The scoring gate will mark the end to the first part of the leg and the incredible chess match that has ensued. It is anybody’s to take right now. Time will only tell.
Kenny Read – skipper
Leg Five Day 17 Daily Story: PUMA leads, but the pressure is pn
Posted: 02 Mar 2009 07:41 AM CST
After more than 5,000 miles of racing, PUMA (Ken Read/USA) takes the lead, but has both Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) and Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) in sight. Slightly further west, Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) lurks just over the horizon, with Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) close by. Sailing is no different from other sports in that when the competition is close, the pressure is on to up the game.
“A little shift one way and Telefónica Blue could be leading. A shift the other way could see PUMA in front. Stuck in the middle are Ericsson 3 and ourselves,” wrote bowman Phil Jameson from Ericsson 4 earlier today, an illustration of how tense it is out in the South Pacific.
Rick Deppe (MCM PUMA) says that Ericsson 4 tried to taunt his team’s boat into a gybing duel. “We ignored them and, over the next few hours while they presumably played the clouds, we sailed straight on and put a couple of much needed miles on them,” he says, although PUMA’s skipper Ken Read said, “I don’t think we have seen the last of them.”
The scoring gate at latitude 36 degrees south is just 433 nautical miles away, a tantalisingly close distance, but still more than a day’s sail at the current speeds of around 12.5 knots. “It’s going to be impossible to predict the outcome,” says Phil Jameson. “I’m sure there will be hearts broken one way or another,” he adds.
Currently, the seas are calm and the wind moderate, and for the first time since the start in Qingdao, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet has spinnakers set. In fact, it all sounds perfect. If you were cruising and not racing that is.
“We have the big asymmetric spinnaker up, 10 knots of wind, flat water, sun shining and almost 30 degrees in the water. A cruising sailor couldn’t ask for more. But we can’t enjoy it fully,” described Ericsson 3’s MCM, Gustav Morin. “If you were cruising, you would definitely jump in the water and drag behind every now and then,” he says.
Onboard there is no escape from the heat and no refreshing drinks for those on deck whose work is exhausting in the overhead sun. Telefónica Blue’s helmsman, Simon Fisher, says it is the hottest day since the start, especially with the lack of apparent wind blowing over the deck because of their downwind course. “Grinding the spinnaker quickly saps your energy and the water in your bottle quickly becomes warm, and, quite frankly, not that refreshing,” he says.
For the off watch, conditions down below are less than pleasant. It is not a nice, air-conditioned environment, although the fans whirring away in the bunks provide some relief. Onboard Telefónica Blue, the carbon step in the hatchway has heated up to such a temperature that it will easily burn the feet of an unsuspecting crewman. There is no wildlife to watch to relieve the boredom. Bouwe Bekking’s theory is that any birdlife tends to stay close to the islands. Once down in the Southern Ocean, however, it will be a different story, with the magnificent albatrosses joining the party, something everyone is looking forward to.
Tom Addis, the navigator from Telefónica Blue, says to make the most of the current conditions as the mood is changing and today could be the last warm, sunny flat day for the next two weeks or so.
With no stop in New Zealand to break up this mammoth leg, thoughts are turning the Southern Ocean, which, for some will be a first-time experience, and for others, in the words of Rick Deppe, the ‘jewel in the crown of the race’.
“The Southern Ocean. It’s why people want to do the race and it’s why people keep coming back,” says Deppe who’s been there before. “It’s a chance to test themselves against the best sailors in the world in the most extreme sailing conditions.”
“If we imagine that the scoring gate is the start line for the race in the Southern Ocean, we would all now be in Auckland, making the final preparations for the leg. Shore crew would be crawling all over the boat, making their final check of the onboard systems. Sailors would be eating big, healthy dinners and hanging with family and friends, taking time to say their goodbyes and probably having the odd nervous moment thinking about the leg ahead. But that is just in my imagination. When we arrive at the ‘start line’ (scoring gate) in the next day or so, we will have already sailed about 6,000 miles,” he explains.
In contrast, Deppe says, “Various bits and pieces are actually hanging off our boat. Some things don’t work any more. Things leak. Items have been lost over the side. We are worried about running out of food – well the nice food anyway. And the crew is knackered.”
This will be the first visit to the Southern Ocean for Phil Jameson on Ericsson 4. “I really don’t know what to expect,” he says. “The veterans basically tell me to plan for the worst, so anything better is a bonus.”
Leg Five Day 17: 1300 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)
PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) DTF 7,578
Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +2
Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +9
Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +24
Green Dragon IRL/CHI (Ian Walker/GBR) +34
Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Länk: www.volvooceanrace.org
