Martin Stromberg repairing a sail on leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, from Rio de Janeiro to Boston. Image copyright Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race.
by Gustav Morin
Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'...
It sounds cool when the words come from the rock band Limp Bizkit. But in reality, when sitting on a sailboat, those words are not what you want to think about...
The last 12 hours we have had absolutely no wind, only massive old swell rolling in to make the boat roll uncontrollably and very uncomfortable. If you have any trouble with seasickness this is not a very nice situation to be in. I haven't seen anyone suffer from it but I do feel a bit strange, sleepy and without appetite, and I believe it hasn't got to do with the enormous amounts of wonderful Brazilian food I've had the last couple of weeks.
The big swells have also caused some problems with the sails. In light breeze we usually try to sail with our mast head zero as much as possible, but in the big swells it is risky business. The sails are flapping dramatically and sometimes the zero hits the spreaders so badly it causes rips. That has happened a couple of times the last 12 hours and our sailmaker Martin Strömberg has had a lot on his mind.
“We have to be more careful with this sail. But it is very frustrating,” he says.
Richard Mason adds, “To get four rips in the zero the first night of racing is like buying a brand new Porsche and hitting the side barriers the first thing you do.”
We still have all the boats in sight and PUMA, Telefónica Blue and Ericsson 4 are just about 100 metres away. Getting the wind first will be crucial.
Volvo Ocean Race
No comments:
Post a Comment