by Gustav Morin
Edgy manoeuvre
"Finally!” we thought, when we succeeded with the port start and got away with a pretty good position. It was a bit of a daring manoeuvre, but we got away with it in a very nice way.
Unfortunately we couldn't be happy for very long. A few minutes after the signal we got the signal for restart.
The racecourse was very tight and located just outside the race village, so everyone could watch the action from pretty close. Many spectator boats were out and in total I think we put on quite a show.
The second time we went for a more traditional start on starboard tack. We were pretty good in the beginning but an unfavourable shift made it hard for us on the first beat and we were sixth at the top rounding. Even so we will never forget that rounding.
At this time a thick fog had swept in over Boston and the visibility was more than poor. When there were only a couple of minutes left to the mark we suddenly saw an enormous tanker coming out from the mist and steering straight towards us. It was surrounded by police boats with screaming sirens and I believe the captain was pretty irritated when we tacked straight in front of the ship to quickly come around the mark.
Delta Lloyd tried to sneak in in front of us but we closed the gap and they had to sail around the ship before they could hoist. It felt pretty edgy to tack in front of an enormous ship coming in 10 knots. But we got away with it. Magnus Olsson thought it was really cool and laughed about the whole situation.
Currently we are in fourth position. It is already very cold outside and the mist doesn't make that part better. We have been doing 24 knots at max so far and it seems like the wind will increase soon. We are looking ahead of a pretty rough night....
Volvo Ocean Race
Monday, 18 May 2009
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