by Martin Strömberg (trimmer and sailmaker)
The Squall-fighters
During the last couple of days I have learnt a lot about how we should deal most efficiently with these extremely shifty Doldrum conditions. Most of our sails have really narrow slots, but I have now found a setup that works all the spectra from 10 to 30 knots, even though the headsail will need to be slightly repaired every now and then...
We have been in a close fight with Puma the last couple of days, not really sure for how many days exactly how many since I completely lose track of time out here. But what I do know is that we were chasing them yesterday evening, and now they are chasing us.
It felt like they were a bit quicker than us in general. But it seems we handled the squalls better than them. When we prepared well and got the sails down and up in time before the big winds hit, Puma had to bear away to change and by that we managed to get in front.
It is tricky during the day to judge how long you should stay with a big sail when you see a big squall coming in. If you’re too late it is a big struggle and you lose a lot of height and there is a big risk of breaking the sail. During the night you can’t visualise and judge how bad the clouds will be. You only have the radar to make your bet.
Because of that we held back a bit during last night and kept our G1 up instead of hoisting the big masthead zero. All because we did not want to risk getting hit by a heavy gust and not being able to change sail in time. I think Puma pushed a bit harder as they managed to gain back and show up down to leeward of us at the crack of dawn.
During the morning we lost some height against the cat and they are now right behind us.
Today we have been laughing at Martin Krite. When he came up on deck this morning he was a bit worried about his laundry that he had put on the aft guard wires. It had been there for three days and it was only now he realised that where he put them actually is where everyone takes a leak. The clothes then disappeared pretty quickly. Wonder if he will wash them again before use.
It is really nice to still have mostly sun and calm winds. We have never stopped like in the Doldrums we passed on leg one and two and it feels really good. I just hope that my fan will stand a few days more. A few have broken down onboard and it is really hard to get any sleep without one. We want to be rested before we come far down south.
Volvo Ocean Race
Friday, 27 February 2009
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