by Kenny Read
It is amazing how short a human being’s memory can be. Well, maybe just offshore sailors.
Today we are sailing in 12-15 knot easterlies, reaching right at Qingdao, with flat water and bright sunshine. It’s a bit chilly. No need for ice cubes in the water that's for sure. But, it is beautiful, none the less. Spirits are incredibly high and there has been almost no mention of the wild scenes we have dealt with for the past week. In fact, I think that we all got our first good sleep in a week and it has made all the difference in the world. Life is good again for PUMA's il mostro team. Our short term memories have been wiped clean, but not so for some of our colleagues.
We have heard of the severity of the damage caused by the weather done to Delta Lloyd, Ericsson 3 and Telefónica Black, which caused them all to seek safe harbour. Thank goodness they all made it in with no further issues. Let’s just hope that the damage is manageable so they can get back on the starting line soon. This race needs them all.
From a racing perspective, we reeled in Tele-Blue to about 30 miles from over 200 a couple of days ago, but my guess is that they have a plenty safe lead from here on out. Ericsson 4, on the other hand, is approximately 1.601 miles dead ahead (I have them on radar right in front of me). They were about 120 miles ahead a couple days ago. Here we are, in a drag race with them as usual. And given the severity of the weather and the different routes and even the fact that we all left the Philippines at completely different times, it is unbelievable to me that we are right next to each other again.
Tonight should be interesting. Hopefully we can create a passing lane with our buddies. There are some serious fishing nets out here that we have seen today - mostly unlit and unmarked. Don't be surprised if a fishing net helps determine the difference between second and third place. Oh yeah, and it will be a bit chilly tonight as well.
Finally, as I mentioned the cold earlier, we are really getting a bit of a reprieve for this time of year. Typically, we would still be going upwind here off of China, and that would be a lot colder than what we have now. This time last year the harbour was frozen where we are going, hopefully they won’t be breaking up ice to get us in there. If that’s the case this year, it would be the perfect ending to this leg!
ps: As I am writing, we just hit and broke through a fishing net that the boys on deck said you never would have guessed would have been in our path. It felt like we were sailing into quick sand - then broke free. Whew. One bullet dodged. Many more to come I would guess. It’s going to be a long night.
Volvo Ocean Race
Thursday 29 January 2009
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