VOR: ERICSSON 4 LEG SIX DAY 13: received 23.04.09 1700 GMT

by Guy Salter

In the middle of all our cloak and dagger tactics of the stealth play we had a disaster onboard Ericsson 4, we discovered - or I should say Phil Jameson discovered that we had an issue with our watermaker. Dave Endean was quick onto the situation and discovered that we had blown a fitting off the end of the water membrane, through which salt water is pushed under high pressure and some of the smaller water molecules are separated from the sea water.

So it’s definitely not an ideal situation to be in, as water is the only thing that we will really need over the next few days - we drink it, we cook with it and occasionally we wash in it!

We have immediately banned coffee and tea and our meals will be significantly reduced. We have decided on a dangerously low 1.5 litres per person to drink and have separated up each quota into a bottle, which the individual will be responsible for. I have been given the task of managing the water - I have become the water boy - so I expect some grief from everyone as they get dehydrated and start to get the withdrawal effects from the lack of caffeine.

We have taken out the larger of our emergency watermakers, which are a reverse osmosis, hand operated device. So we are now taking it in turns to pump for 30 minutes which is no mean feat. The prize is a slow dribble of water which should, fingers crossed, add up to around three litres per hour. Anyone who avoids their duties will be named and shamed and I hate to say it, but there are a couple of likely candidates onboard who may try to avoid their share of pumping.

We do carry 50 litres of emergency water onboard but it is unknown as to whether, if we did use this, we would be open to a penalty at the discretion of the race committee - so we are trying to avoid the consumption of the contents of that jerry can in particular.

Dehydration is one of the biggest problems in this race and you are always forcing everyone to glug down as much fluid as possible as even a few per cent of dehydration can result in a significant decrease in brain and physical performance - if you feel thirsty it is already way to late. So having such a small amount is far from ideal.

Looks like it will be a tough last few days onboard and discussion is already leading to the rain water we are likely to confront in the next weather system we are due to meet in the next 12hrs.

Other than that we have been having a good ride with speeds often around the 30kts mark - but that’s all I’m allowed to say at the moment until the stealth play has lifted.

Volvo Ocean Race