VOR: Battle of Nerves

Silhouettes on leg 6. Image copyright Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race.

by Cameron Kelleher

According to the Art of War, the Chinese military treatise, you keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Well, in the skirmish on the South Atlantic battlefield, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is taking Sun Tzu’s advice. None more so than PUMA.

“The two Ericssons are in sight,” says PUMA's navigator, Andrew Cape, gesturing towards the sisterships. “Telefonica Black behind us there, to windward, Telefonica Blue out to sea in front, Delta Lloyd abeam of us just in front by 20 miles.

"It will be interesting to see how it works out as we are the leeward boat and we’ve got to hope we can hang in here for another day. If the wind suits us down here then we’ve got to make our play for the big island.”

The “big island” is Fernando de Noronha, the scoring waypoint on Leg 6. As Cape was speaking it was a 700-mile drag race away to the north. Now that they are in the south-east trades it should be champagne sailing. Forget it says, Delta Lloyd’s Wouter Verbraak. It’s more cheap lager than Laurent Perrier.

As for strategy and tactics, it’s trench warfare on PUMA, according to Deppe. “We don't worry too much at this stage of the game about having all the fancy stuff the same way we did at the start of the race, it’s just head down in the trenches trying to get the job done with what you have.”

Meanwhile, the emails from the boats over the past 24 hours are dotted with references to clouds and squalls and potholes. There has been a spate of raids on sail wardrobes as a result.

According to Ericsson 3’s Gustav Morin, conditions overhead have been clouding the crew’s performance. “We have not been sailing very well the last couple of hours,” he said. “It has been very tricky conditions with a lot of squalls and we been on the limit of the range between two sails.

"We have changed from the masthead zero to a smaller headsail about six times in four hours. We have also lost a lot to most of our opponents. Most obvious we lost a lot to Ericsson 4 who had been just beside us for a long time.

"We are generally trying to avoid the big squalls but it seems that we sometimes just have to go straight into them. Once early this morning we were really happy to being able to avoid a big cloud while Ericsson 4 didn't. Unfortunately for us they got more wind inside the cloud and took off a couple of miles while we were lying still with no breeze at all. It’s tricky to foresee which cloud will pay off and which will not.”

Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker concurs. “Some boats lose more than others in the clouds which get dealt fairly randomly, particularly at dawn and dusk,” he said. “In the last 24 hours we have done fairly well at stopping the losses and that would seem to vindicate our slightly more offshore position.

"Our job now is to work hard to stay as close as we can for when the race opens up later in the leg.”

Hard work was the order of the day on “the night of the clouds” on Telefonica Blue, said skipper Bouwe Bekking. “The only thing I can say is that we survived, it could have been way worse. We parked up three times, and with parking I mean zero boat speed for a while. But we are still in front, I have seen several times in similar conditions, that the losses can be worse.

"We worked our butts off. I don't know how many sail changes we have done, so very irregular sleep, you could be just 10 minutes in the bunk and you were called up again, but since it is warm, I don't really mind.”

The fruits of Bekking’s labour are reflected in the leaderboard standings. By the 16:00 GMT Position Report, Telefonica Blue was maintaining her lead over Ericsson 4 (+10 miles Distance To Leader). Taking an offshore routing, Bekking and his men were within 200 miles of the Itabuna lighthouse on the Brazilian coast.

In the same bunch as Telefonica Blue was Delta Lloyd (+18) and Telefonica Black (+26). On the eastern flank, along with Ericsson 4, were Ericsson 3 (+23) and PUMA (+29). Green Dragon (+37), more centrally-positioned, was hanging in there.

Volvo Ocean Race

Audi MedCup: One Month Left to Prepare for First Regatta of 2009

Five regattas on the 2009 Audi MedCup Circuit means that each single regatta this season is more important, leaving less opportunity for crews to learn, change and optimise on the race course. With just four weeks left to the first regatta of the season, the curtain raiser that is the City of Alicante Trophy, TP52 and GP42 is coming up fast on the horizon.


Audi MedCup TP52s in port in 2008. Audi MedCup supplied image.

by Audi MedCup media

For teams who have to complete the preparation of their new boats, time will slip away quickly. The new Matador, having been built in Spain for Alberto Roemmers’ Argentinian team, will race this week at the Palma Vela regatta in Mallorca where three or four Audi MedCup TP52’s will compete as an important part of their build up to Alicante. So too John Cook’s Palma based Cristabella and both of the Russian boats Valars 3 (ex Mean Machine, Podolsky Kirill) and Synergy (ex USA 17) be competing at the big start of season regatta.

Time will be short for the two Cookson New Zealand built boats Artemis (Torbjorn Tornqvist, SWE) and Emirates Team New Zealand’s first TP52 which are due to come off the ship in Valencia during the first couple of days in May (Spanish holidays permitting!). Thereafter the following weekend in Valencia a number of boats are expected to train and practise race, before a final work up off Alicante.

2008 Audi MedCup Champion Quantum Racing has been training and tuning recently and has been optimised through the winter months too: “We"ve developed the aero optimization and sail development and introduced changes to the deck detailing and layouts as well as modifications to the structures to further improve the boats dynamic behaviour.” Confirms Shaun Carkeek of designers Botin Carkeek.

Jose Cusi’s 2008 Audi MedCup runner up Bribon was also due to be in action at the weekend and this week, but not racing on her native Palma waters. “We had not really planned it until we realised that we have a good opportunity with so many of the Bribon crew here to race at Palma Vela and a number are based here anyway and so it is a good opportunity.” Says Ignacio Triay, Bribon’s project manager.

Eleven TP52’s and six GP42’s seems likely to be the entry for the City of Alicante Trophy regatta, but both Triay, and the TP52’s class manager Rob Weiland confirm there is still a promising level of interest and activity from all around the world for possible charters for TP52’s for single and two or three Audi MedCup regattas this season.

“I think we might yet still see the same size of fleet at some regattas this season as we had last season which is quite encouraging. There is interest from several different countries which is very encouraging.” Comments Rob Weiland, TP52 Class Manager, who helps match potential charters to existing, available boats.

Racing at the City of Alicante Trophy starts with the Practise Race on Tuesday 12th May, thereafter racing for the TP52 Series points starts on Wednesday 13th May and the GP42 Series points racing starts on Thursday 14th after a Practise Race Wednesday.

Audi MedCup

VOR: Ericsson Racing Team Hones in on Leg 6 Lead

The Code Zero headsail on Ericsson 4 is sheeted tight as the crew works upwind in the Volvo Ocean Race. Image copyright Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race.

by Victoria Low

A 330-nautical mile run in 24 hours is pedestrian for the Volvo Open 70 yacht, but it's been enough to push Ericsson 4 onto the stern of Telefónica Blue in the battle for the fleet lead on Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Spanish boat has held the lead since Sunday morning, but overall race leader Ericsson 4, skippered by Brazilian Torben Grael, has steadily closed the gap. In the past 24 hours Ericsson 4 has halved its deficit to 8 nautical miles at the 1307 GMT position report.

"A couple of active cumulus clouds kept us busy last night but seem to have done us no harm as we managed to gain some ground on Telefonica Blue and open up a few miles on the chasing Ericsson 3, Puma and Telefónica Black, with whom we had spent most of yesterday," said Ericsson 4 bowman Ryan Godfrey.

Grael's International crew separated from the pack in a cloud line, while Ericsson 3 languished behind.

"We have lost a lot to most of our opponents. Most obvious, we lost a lot to Ericsson 4, which had been just beside us for a long time," said Ericsson 3 media crewman Gustav Morin.

"We are generally trying to avoid the big squalls, but it seems that we sometimes just have to go straight into them," Morin continued. "Once early this morning we were really happy to avoid a big cloud while Ericsson 4 didn't. Unfortunately for us, they got more wind inside the cloud and took of a couple of miles while we were lying still with no breeze at all."

The fleet is making way towards Ilha de Fernando de Noronha, an island about 200 nautical miles northeast of Natal, Brazil, and the lone scoring gate of the leg. The gate stretches eastward from the island along a line of latitude. The first boat earns 4 points and each boat thereafter a half-point less.

At today's position report, the wind was blowing mostly from the east-northeast between 10 and 12 knots, fast reaching conditions for the VO70s whose boatspeeds were nearly equal to the windspeeds. But the wind is forecast to soften tomorrow and the crews will have to chase the cloud lines in the search for pressure.

"The next 18 to 24 hours or so will be mainly a boatspeed test and some careful cloud management," said team meteorologist Chris Bedford. "Tomorrow, there could be nervous times for everyone while the breeze goes into a 12- to 24-hour period of less than 10 knots and possibly down to 5 or 6 knots at times. Also, another batch of squalls is expected with a shake-up possible from that. Once through the light spot, the final 24 hours into the scoring gate look reasonably good with recovering east-southeast/southeast pressure, but still a few squalls around to possibly mix things up."

The fleet departed Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday afternoon and is expected at the scoring gate on Thursday night.

Sailing approximately 170 nautical miles southeast of Salvador, Brazil, means the yachts are navigating the many oil rigs off the Brazilian coastline.

"It's quite impressive how the oil industry has grown around this area with a large amount of oil rigs and ships around. They look like cities when you see them in the distance at night," said Ericsson 4 trimmer Horacio Carabelli.

"The temperature has been rising as we get closer to the Equator," Carabelli continued. "There have been a lot of dolphins around, jumping like crazy and going in all directions, probably feeding. They paid a bit of attention on our yacht, but soon they went back to their fishing business."

VOLVO OCEAN RACE LEG 6 LEADERBOARD
(At 1307 GMT, Apr. 14, 2009)
1. Telefónica Blue, 4,232 nautical miles to finish
2. Ericsson 4, +8 NM
3. Delta Lloyd, +14 NM
4. Ericsson 3, +20 NM
5. Telefónica Black, +21 NM
6. Puma, +25 NM
7. Green Dragon, +32 NM

Ericsson Racing Team
Volvo Ocean Race

VOR: Green Dragon - Staying in Touch

Light and tricky on leg 3. Image copyright Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race.

by Lucy Harwood

The last 24 hours have seen yet another day of snakes and ladders as the fleet made progress overnight and this morning to close the gap on the leading boat Telefonica Blue. But the latest position report shows that the fleet have made losses, after one step forward it is a case of two steps back for the chasing boats. Ericsson 4 have moved up to second 8 miles behind the blue boat whilst the newly re-fitted Delta Lloyd is holding onto third. The rest of the fleet are staying close with 12 miles separating fourth to seventh. After the offshore position yesterday Green Dragon has moved further inshore and now find themselves in the middle of the fleet, the Ericsson twins remain close to the east with PUMA once again stuck nearby. You can see all the positions on the map here.

Speed across the fleet is consistent is they all head north east at around 11 knots, but conditions remain tricky. In an interview with the Dragon’s navigator Ian Moore last night he said, “We have a few patches of disturbed light air which are moving off the Brazillian mainland overnight and into tomorrow morning. Our focus is to make sure that we don’t get trapped by that and that we are far enough offshore to avoid it. The boats that are a little bit further forward probably won’t affected as much so we are just trying to stay in touch and make sure that we don’t fall off the back and wait for some opportunities further up the track”.

Conditions remains patchy as they fleet navigates through the potholes in the weather, it is anything but consistent. Whilst some boats have been caught in squalls over the last 36 hours, and as a result have damaged sails, Green Dragon seems to have had a relatively incident free start to Leg 6, “We haven’t had many squalls or anything like that, I think the most breeze we have had has been about 16 knots, and no repairs, no damage to the boat. A few guys managed to pick up man flu leaving Brazil, but that is about the most exciting thing that has happened so far!” Ian Moore.

Leg Six Day 4: 1500 GMT Volvo Ocean Race Positions
(boat name/country/skipper/nationality/distance to finish)

1. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 4232 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) + 8
3. Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermúdez/ESP) + 14
4. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) + 20
5. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) + 21
6. PUMA Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) + 25
7. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +32

Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

Green Dragon Racing
Volvo Ocean Race

VOR: ERICSSON 3 LEG SIX DAY 4 QFB: received 14.04.09 1339 GMT

by Gustav Morin

"It's tragical"

This morning I said to Magnus Olsson:
"Have you thought about that it is only about two months until we will arrive in Stockholm?"

He instantly changed from the smiling Magnus we are used to, to become very serious. He answered with a grumpy face and his head down:
"I know, it feels tragical. I don't want to think about it. Can't we just continue and make another lap straight away?"

"So you would actually want to do that?" I asked.

"Of course, without a doubt!"

I would say that everyone onboard Ericsson 3 is pretty enthusiastic about sailing, and many of us are not saying that we won't do this race again. But no one is as clear about it as Magnus.

We have not been sailing very well the last couple of hours. But it has been very tricky conditions with a lot of squalls and we have all the time been on the limit of the range between two sails. I think we have changed from the mast head zero to a smaller headsail about six times in four hours.

We have also lost a lot to most of our opponents. Most obvious we lost a lot to Ericsson 4 who had been just beside us for a long time.

We are generally trying to avoid the big squalls but it seems that we sometimes just have to go straight into them. Once, early this morning, we were really happy to being able to avoid a big cloud while Ericsson 4 didn't. Unfortunately for us they got more wind inside the cloud and took of a couple of miles while we were lying still with no breeze at all. It is very tricky to foresee which cloud will pay off to hit and which will not.

Volvo Ocean Race

VOR: GREEN DRAGON LEG SIX DAY 4 QFB: received 14.04.09 1338 GMT

by Ian Walker (skipper)

Not quite sure what to write about today as nothing has really happened. Conditions are fairly benign as we fetch pretty much down the rhumb line to Fernando. Every now and then we have changed from the Masthead to the G1 headsail but other than that there is little excitement and there are no real tactical options.

Some boats lose more than others in the clouds which get dealt fairly randomly, particularly at dawn and dusk. In the last 24 hours we have done fairly well at stopping the losses and that would seem to vindicate our slightly more offshore position. As seems to often be the case, our job now is to work hard to stay as close as we can for when the race opens up later in the leg. We are not carrying our new upwind code zero on this leg as we cannot use it on every leg without it falling apart and we are missing it right now as the wind heads and decreases. There has been little or no wildlife to speak of but I expect the flying fish to get going soon. The water is warming up quickly and onboard temperatures are rising.

Fortunately it is not too bad sailing upwind as there is wind over the deck. Other than that all I can report is a lot of discussions about what everyone is going to do when the race is over. It feels strange to be racing towards a point we have already been to (Fernando) and in some respects this closes a loop. For me our loop around the world will be properly closed when we return to Galway in May.

Volvo Ocean Race

VOR: ERICSSON 4 LEG SIX DAY 4 QFB: received 14.04.09 1437 GMT

by Ryan Godfrey (bowman)

Good afternoon sports fans.

Well here we go again. Four hours on, four hours off. Life has quickly returned to its usual routine aboard Ericsson 4 and after a couple of days getting into the swing of things, our bodies have adjusted back to our watch system and the time is flying by.

Matters are also made better by the fact that we now have a decent strength breeze and are making reasonable speed towards Fernando de Noronha. A couple of active cumulus clouds kept us busy last night but seem to have done us no harm as we managed to gain some ground on Telefónica Blue and open up a few miles on the chasing Ericsson 3, Puma and Telefónica Black, with whom we had spent most of yesterday.

Conditions are pretty warm and humid down below but our trusty bedside fans are serving us well. Also, I dare not complain about the heat as it’s looking like near freezing conditions for the approach into Boston. I personally would much rather be hot with warm sea temperatures than bitterly cold with water around the 5 degree Celsius mark that we are expecting. As such I will save my whinging for later this leg.

The only real situation aboard has been the scent of Stu's (Stu Bannatyne) socks that has turned to near gag inducing. Quite an achievement considering that we have only been at sea for 50 odd hours! Hopefully we have rectified the situation by banishing the socks to above decks and getting Stu to do some work on the foredeck in the hope that the extra water up there might give his shoes a much needed flushing.

That’s all for now.

Volvo Ocean Race