Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09

October 12, 2008 14:03 by Bang The Corner | 0 comments

ERRICSON SET FOR ONE TWO FOR THE FIGHT TO BE FIRST INTO THE ATLANTIC.

Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 from Alicante, Spain

It was high octane action as Mother Nature supplied the start with some testing conditions. Here is a taste of what happened on the water at the start of the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race.

There was high drama right at the start of the 37,000 mile race around the planet. Even before the first warning signal for the first offshore leg; to Cape Town, South Africa. Inside the safe confines of Port Alicante, the breeze was blowing hard with waves smashing into the breakwater. A vicious storm that had been raging for several days had whipped up the waves to well over 3 metres in height and the wind speed was not far off gale force. This was going to be a baptism of fire for the eight yachts in the 10th edition of the race.

The first yacht to raise its sails was Green Dragon, Americas Cup and Olympic helmsman, Ian Walker, was at the helm as they strutted their stuff; manoeuvring inside the tight confines of the harbour entrance then suddenly….bang! The strop taking four tons of load from the headsail snapped and the sail went crashing to the deck. Quick as a flash, one…. then two crewmen were hoisted up the 30 metre rig to sort out the problem. A huge bombardment of fireworks and thunder crackers must have made communication with the crew aloft impossible.

Ian Moore; navigator for Green Dragon and late of Americas Cup Team New Zealand, came on the radio; “ Race Committee, Race Committee, how far away is the start line from the harbour wall?” Enquired Moore with a sense of urgency. “About two miles” was the unemotional response from the Race Officer.

With just enough time to make the start line, Green Dragon decided to abandon their attempt to fix the problem and go for the start line; they couldn’t use their fractional halyard which meant they had to put up a far larger sail than planned, putting the yacht close to the edge, nearly out of control in a rapidly rising tempestuous sea. Allegdely, they then had a problem with the canting keel forcing them to start on port. It looked like the luck of the Irish had deserted them!

With the wind speed gusting over 25 knots, the start gun fired, the hopes and dreams of millions of well-wishers was willing the yachts a safe passage to Cape Town, some 6,500 miles and 23 days away. Soon they would be gone but thousands of spectators were treated to a short windward leeward leg before the fleet disappeared over the horizon.

Erricson 4 completed the short course first, hoisting a fractional spinnaker and staysail, they reached away, spray washing down the deck like a fire hose as they hit a speed of 25 knots or more. Puma were not far behind but a gybe peel to a smaller kite looked like it cost them several boat lengths on their rivals, next it was Telefonica Blue; blast reaching with a fractional code zero and staysail, next Ericsson 3, closely followed by Green Dragon with no option but a masthead spinnaker. They were trucking along at a ballistic speed but losing height to the fleet with a headland looming. Delta Lloyd and Team Russia were some way behind. It was interesting to note that there was a huge variety of sail combinations.

At speeds of 25 nautical miles an hour it wasn’t long before the Volvo Open 70s disappeared from the view of the spectator boats but they were chased by a Spanish navy destroyer. At 27 knots the ship was having trouble keeping up with race yachts as they lit up the south coast of Spain. The breeze continued to build and was now close to gale force.


PUMA Ocean Racing/Sally Collison

Aloft in a helicopter, Sally Collison was taking some amazing aerial photographs of Puma. “The pilot was first class.” Explained Sally, “at one stage we were flying backwards in front of Puma, the black hull was clean out of the water, right up to the mast; it was the most amazing sight.”

As dusk fell the wind speed started to come down but if you thought this would mean the crew could take a rest, you would be very wrong. A cat and mouse chase, at night, began to unfold as the eight Volvo 70s went in search of more wind to try and win the race to Gibraltar, the gateway to the Atlantic Ocean. Constant gybing means all hands are on deck and besides the excursion of manoeuvring the boat, there is moving the stack; two tons of gear must be moved from one side of the boat to the other, by hand on a wet pitching and rolling deck. This procedure is back breaking, in the race to Gibraltar through the night it may have required the crew to do this over and over again.

Ericsson 4 and Ericsson 3 look to have won the race to Gibraltar, hugging the shore line looks to have paid off. Every minute they are in the Atlantic longer than the competition will put them about 400 metres ahead of their rivals. The International and Nordic crew from Ericsson look to have won the first skirmish and Telefonica Blue have reportedly slowed down due to damage to their steering. Green Dragon were in third place approaching Gibraltar, a tremendous effort after their early set backs, apparently they have managed to get the yacht back to 100%.



Dave Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

There will be other battles during the leg to Cape Town and many, many more before the fleet reaches St.Petersburg in Russia in June 2009.To follow the race go to
http://www.volvooceanrace.org

The Volvo 70s will be sending back text, pictures and HD video from the yachts thanks to the advanced capabilities of FleetBroadband, Inmarsat’s new maritime broadband service – delivered to the yachts by Stratos mobile satellite services via Thrane & Thrane SAILOR satellite equipment – This will allow an expected global audience of more than 1.8 billion people to follow the world’s premier yacht race on HDTV, radio and the internet. FleetBroadband, supplemented by Inmarsat Fleet 33 and Inmarsat C services, will also be used to deliver online navigational and weather updates, report vessel position and course heading for teams and race organizers, and provide essential safety communications for the crews competing in one of the world’s most dangerous sports.