VOR: ERICSSON 3 LEG SIX DAY 15 QFB: received 25.04.09 1050 GMT

by Aksel Magdahl (navigator)

Sudden craziness spread onboard this morning when we tacked in the high pressure ridge. Not linked to the results, as we were still waiting to see how Telefónica Blue was getting along with the ridge behind us.

Maybe it is the change from breeze and quite cold, to no breeze and dry on deck. It certainly made it easier to stack, but nothing to justify the screaming, joking and laughing from everyone. Guess we start smelling the finish in Boston.

Hopefully, we will get through this ridge without parking, and it will be the last obstacle of the leg. Just as I write this, I get the latest position report and see that Ericsson 4 has indeed parked just west of us, and that the boats behind are closing in quickly. Excitement again!

Prior to this report, we were very happy to be in the position we are, particularly after losing miles to Puma and Telefónica Blue when at important places the last two days, and having sailed a bit slow the days before.

Just as we had launched a spinnaker yesterday morning, it came loose at the top and we sailed over the whole chute with 25 knots of boatspeed. It was still hanging from the bow, had entangled itself in a rudder and it was hard to slow the boat down enough to make it possible to pull the parts up on deck. This happened when we were aiming for the northern tip of the light wind area that stopped Telefónica Blue, and we had hoped to pass just north of it and gain on Telefónica Blue and PUMA. It probably took half an hour to get going again after the incident. We still gained big time on Telefónica Blue and PUMA through the light patch, so we were happy enough. We hit it at the narrowest, at a decisive time.

Then, the second low pressure created problems. In increasing breeze, we got everyone on deck to do the painful headsail change. Just one minute after we got the big headsail down, we got slammed by 40 knots breeze in the front. It did not seem like the others got it, we lost 10 miles in the next sched.

Two days ago, I lost my ‘lucky’ sunglasses when a huge wave got me. The cockpit was covered in 0.5 metre deep water, so I assumed they were gone.

This was sailing fast with the spinnaker, ploughing up huge amounts of water on the end of every surf. So it was very surprising that a couple of hours and a million tonnes of water washing through the cockpit later, Eivind Melleby came down below with them. He had found them in the cockpit, lying a foot short of being washed off the stern. They certainly are lucky ones!

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