Sailing World - Dave Reed's Volvo Blog

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Nov. 21, 2008

Video Time, Kids

If you haven't checked out the webisodes at volvooceanrace.tv lately, well, do yourself a favor and check out the latest as they go live. There's finally some good footage (Team Russia ripping along, and it's spectacular Chinese jibe) coming off the boats. NASCAR style, and the high-speed sorta coverage we love. With media access, we're able to grab a few raw files as they become available, and thankfully my two favorites of late showed up on the server today. I've shown these to my kids and they loved it. But who wouldn't. It's amazing stuff and if it doesn't give you an appreciation of sailing these boats at full tilt, well, then, I can't help you.

It's Friday night here on the East Coast so time to check out and put an end to the work week. As I check out with the latest stats, it's all Ericsson 4 at the moment, followed by their stablemates on E4. And how about that Green Dragon? Boom (video here), who needs one? After collecting points at the scoring gate earlier this week, they're still hanging on to third. Predictably, Puma's early turn north to preserve the boat has put them deeper into an the meandering high. Priority No. 1 for Ken Read has to be get to Cochin with the boat intact.

Nov. 20, 2008

Seeking Relief

Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3

Sail change onboard Ericsson 3 as they head to the scoring gate to collect points.

Remember when everyone was complaining about the lack of Southern Ocean sailing in the new racecourse? I'm betting that right about now, the guys on most of the boats, particularly Ian Walker's Green Dragon, sans boom, are perfectly content with the heavy short-lived dose of it they received in the past few days. Man, it's amazing what carnage a single cold front can deliver.

Worst by far is the self-inflicted wounds of Puma's il mostro. Two consecutive free falls and two consecutive "cracks" to the boat's longitudinal frames has skipper Ken Read, noticeably on edge. You can see the devastation in his eyes, and you can hear it in his thankfully honest assessments in the onboard video which has come off in the past few days. The boat is existing on carbon band-aids as the hightail it away from another low and beeline to an area of lighter winds.

Speaking of videos, we're finally seeing the crash and burn that casualty vampires crave...check out volvooceanrace.tv. My favorite thus far is the footage of Team Russia's Chinese Jibe, and the masthead view of how fast they were going before they were on their side. Gnarly stuff.

This leg will certainly shake up the overall standings, but again the two-boat Ericsson effort is winning the battle of attrition and collecting points. E4 grabbed the first scoring gate points this morning, followed by E3, and then Green Dragon. If it keeps following this form, E4 will have this race in the bag well before it's over on the water. They've been lucky to avoid any major damage, but I'm a firm believer in the adage that "you make your luck." These guys, thus far, have it made.

Nov. 18, 2008

I Want My VTV

courtesy Team Russia

Team Russia's media crewmember Mark Covell.

I'm not the only complaining about the lack of media coming off the boats thus far, and especially on Leg 1. The dedicated media crewmember (MCM) was supposed to relieve the sailors of keeping us entertained with near-live video, images, and reports. As a whole, it's been a disappointment, but this dispatch today from Team Russia's Mark Covell (a Star silver medalist with Ian Walker in Sydney) gives a better sense of the task they have at hand. OK, so a little pity today, but still, how about some more video tomorrow? It's a long, one, but I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it. Here you go:

Remember in one of my blogs from leg one, I wrote about telling it like it is? Say what you see? Well I'm about to do the same again and lay it on the line as it is for me, not the crew, not the people back in whatever edit office my work goes to, but right here right now.

Right now it's 22.30 ships time (17 Nov.) and we are heading southeast at 28 knots in about 30 knots of wind. It has just taken me well over an hour to simply boil 5 litres of water and pour it into one container of freeze dried food. It took me 25 minutes to find the lighter because today we had a small issue below decks with which way was up and which down. We had a fresh 38 knots of breeze with two reefs and full A6 kite up. The speedo was showing off with glimpses of 34 knots but mostly strutting about with its shirt off showing a solid 26 pack. I was in the office doing my lippy trying to put the media station back together (reasons later). The boats motion was violent but no more offensive then normal, when suddenly I am thrown to starboard, hitting the bulkhead door and breaking it clean off. "Gosh" I said, "What the devil was that?" My question was answered as the laptop normally Velcroed down, landed in my lap, with a catch any fullback would have been proud of.

The Blue Planet
Gravity has now chosen to work from left to right on Team Russia today I thought. Shoving the Mac quickly down my trousers, I made the rest of my kit safe and solid. Thanks to Sarah from our hard working shore crew for my new pouches, nothing else fell. As you can guess, the old up and down which I had become rather fond of, had now turned into side to side. Luckily, I had the spreader camera view on the media station screen. It was showing one of those clever half underwater, half blue-sky shots you see in BBC nature programs. I could hear David Attenborough's voice softy saying; "What the Volvo Ocean Sailor is experiencing here, is a Chinese Gybe, we don't know enough about this species yet, but we believe they do this to keep cool when they over heat."

Quickly breaking out my very own retake of The Blue Planet, I hit record on my consol. I was torn between grabbing my camera and capture more of the action or capturing the essential electrical navigation kit now hanging from the chart table like strange fruit in a southern wind. Wrongly I chose safety over fame, bundling up as much as I could and wedging it behind a corner. I sorted myself out, stowing the collection of stuff rammed down my trousers and headed for the action with video in hand.

Walking down the disorientated sidewalls, forward to the cockpit I could hear voices, commands one by one clear and direct. The normal rage and rampage of the boats screams to slow down were gone. Just a quiet sloshing sound as the waves broke against the hull. As I clambered forward I noticed the sleeping bags now moving in the water, mixed with things normally stowed high and dry. It's all wrong, so wrong, but not the first time I have been in this predicament, except the last time I was sailing a Laser on holiday and the water was a lot warmer.

So we are laid flat on our starboard side, main in the water, kite still up and keel fully canted down, pinning us to the sea with no runner on the port side. Sails that were staked on the high side now trying to swim back to Cape Town, as the water flows freely washing water bottles and winch handles in and out. The crew on deck are standing on the sides of things, tailing winches from confusing angles, desperately trying to untangle the puzzle. Thank God all on deck had life jackets and harnesses clipped on. I'm now filming but desperately aware that it's not the most helpful thing I could be doing. As if the referee had finished his count of ten, slowly the boat is freed from its half nelson and the she breathes a sigh of relief as the keel bulb cants back to the good side. The lads still working hard to prevent further issues manhandle the kite down; stake the sails back in and secure runners and sheets. Sensing that my presence is not welcome and any commentary or remark would be curt and abrupt I sloped away to put my world back into place for the third time this leg.

Satan's Piercing Scream
The first time was just after our depressing, paint drying Cape Town start, when I discovering a very annoying high pitched alarm in the media desk. It was like a perverse form of torture reaching the very inner of my inner ear. I rang the makers of my media torture chamber and discovered that it was designed to alert me to an electrical short somewhere in the boat, that it could be ready to burst in to flames at any time. "Okey dokey, just tell me how to find the problem and I'll be off?" The answer was not as simple as I had hoped. "Sit at the desk and listen to hells acoustic screams and have someone else go through the boat independently switching off each electrical system until you isolate the issue." After five long hours of listening to Satan's piercing mother-in-law bang on about her bunions, I was ready to kill something or someone. We had not found the evil little short and my media desk was still not operable. I voted to disconnect or hit with a large hammer the beeper and go to sleep and try to relieve my head of an ache fit for a hangover, only achieved after a night out with Guy Swindles (the voice of the Volvo Ocean Race).

I took the former option and tried to sleep. Now as discussed before on the Volvo, sleep does not come easily. I am not allowed a bunk as I had already bust two on the previous leg, so I get a wet bean bag on the high side of the thin aisle that all the crew use to get to their bunks. It's safe to say even though I'm not on watch every four hours and have more time to sleep and shouldn't have any grounds to complain; it sucks! It just has no similarity to sleep in any way shape or form. There aren't enough sheep in New Zealand to count that would send you off on these insane boats. The common trick is to get so cream cracked (knackered) that your eyes can't stay open any longer. Sooner or later your body can't fight it and overcomes the rattle and shake of the hull and you eventually slip into dreams of warm apple pie. I ultimately achieved nirvana and enjoyed short but exceedingly good sleep, mmm Mrs Kipling's best.

Day two was another eventful one. I woke as one of the off watch crewman shed his wet weather gear down on my face and then used my slumbering bones to step up to his bunk. There was no intention of rudeness; in his need to reach the sanctuary of his pit, he just didn't know I was sleeping there.

It was still blowing the knickers off vicars, dogs off chains, frogs off drains and any other windy alliteration I could think of not too rude to print. Anyway time was getting on, I still hadn't sent any media off the boat and I had a date with a bucket. I got up in the clothes I had slept in and didn't shave or brush my teeth. I had a war to go to, the war with the water that had advanced in over night. This is a constant battle, it's as though the designers of the original Volvo 70 had thought just sailing round the world with ten sleep-deprived madmen in a turbo charged sled was not hard enough. So they introduced internal water ingress; leakage to you and me. Then to make it even harder they gave it a sailing motion about as erratic as a shopping trolley with a dodgy wheel never tracking in a smooth motion.

Freeze-dried Pina Colada and Party Hats
After the tough few days for the crew on deck, I have been trying to cook and bail as much as I can. With the media desk still not working 100% I was hoping that we would get some calmer water and I could solve the gremlins still lurking. Every time I tried to write a blog or film I would feel sick. It wasn't your standard seasickness but a battered worn down mist that everybody was now feeling. The crew were pushing as hard as they could but still not making inroads against the fleet. Moral was low and we needed a pick up. It came from the unlikly depths of the food bag, normally the bringer of all things inedible. This time we had a birthday surprise for Wouter Verbraak our navigator. I found freeze-dried pina colada, chocolate cup cakes and party hats. We had a short round of Happy Birthday and raised a smile and all forgot out worries for a while. Seeing a fully kitted out sailor in sea boots, survival suit, lifejacket and harness with a pointy party hat perched on his wet head is enough to put a smile on the most work hardened face.

Bailing Like The Sorcerers Apprentice
At the end of day two I put my head down on the pillow I don't have, with a good feeling about the team and it's fortunes. It was with shock and surprise when a worried Nick Bubb, desperately trying to get to a pipe under my beanbag, woke me. As he rummaged, he muttered words like, accident, sorry and quickly. Then he said the word I have become to loath, WATER. In filling the stern ballast tank, the quick release valve had been accidentally opened, probably in the last aft stack. The result was water in the media station of jackoozy proportions. You didn't need to use the orange dinghy bailer; you could fill a bucket direct from the sheer depth. I couldn't quite wake up from my sleep. I kept rubbing my face not believing what was going on before me. Water was occasionally sloshing in waves up onto the top of the desk and over my laptop and cameras stored in open compartment trays. This was my worst nightmare, to lose my kit and be held redundant and prisoner with nothing to capture life on board. As Nick and Mike Joubert feverishly bailed like the sorcerers apprentice, I gathered the kit up and wrapped it up in a dry shirt hoping that no serious damage had occurred. I had to take the lid off the media desk another time to check and clean up any damage. Luckily no harm done that I couldn't fix with some intense shaking and mopping with a paper towel. It took about three hours to get the area back to its normal slightly dripping but not streaming state. When would I be able to stop battling with the boat and the elements and be free to operate as my role intended?

I put the kit back together and moped out the remanding water unaware of what oriental fun and games were still to come later on day three.

I had to laugh when I got a well intended email from Volvo HQ, gently reminding me that I was behind on my media output. That reminder was about the only gentle thing that has happened to me since my daughters good bye kiss on the dock back in Cape Town.

Nov. 17, 2008

Let's Pick-Up Where We Left Off

Ahem...where were we?

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race; Gustav Morin/Ericsson 3/Volvo Ocean Race (bottom)

From Top: The fleet power away at the start of leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town, South Africa to Cochin, India. Telefonica Blue powers away from Table Mountain amongst an unruly spectator fleet. Martin Stromberg repairs Ericsson 3's jib below decks. The jib got caught on the radar, ripping the sail and bringing the radar down during a tack shortly after they started.

Last time my thoughts really went into this space (we've got our heads down putting the final pieces of our outstanding Jan/Feb issue, including our Boat of the Year winners), the boats were streaming into Cape Town after an incredible leg of close racing and record runs among the front runners, and breakages among the back half. Ericsson 4 claimed it's stake at the top of the leader board, and most certainly schooled the fleet on big-breeze sailing.

Shortly after the finish I checked in with Puma's Rob Salthouse, who confirmed that the boys on Puma were content with letting the Torben's Army get away, choosing instead to preserve the boat and themselves. In the long run, with lots more points to be had, surely a good idea. They arrived into Cape Town with the boat in great shape, allowing them to rest, go on Safari, and hit the gym.

For the this leg, and as I'm told by the man himself, Jonathan McKee is no longer with the team. Now back in Seattle, he's clearly bummed to have his pink slip in hand, and tells me the team management was looking to swap in someone with a different skill set. It's too bad, as one never really knows what happens on the boat, but for this leg, Puma has added some bigger grinder types in Robbie Naismith and Shannon Falcone. Bowman Jerry Kirby is off the boat as well, tending to his business interests, and, as planned, will rejoin the team in Rio for the remaining legs.

One point of interest is the fact that Ericsson 4 has no crew changes; a starkly different mode than in the last race where turnover in the management department of the boat created all sorts of turmoil and inconsistent performances. Intact for Leg two as well are the crews from Telefonica Blue and Green Dragon. Here's a though: will the team with the fewest crew changes (like ABN AMRO One in the last race) win the whole thing again? I'd put my money on it.So, speaking of money, the fleet now heads to Cochin, India, where Volvo looks to gain some brand exposure at the expense of putting the race in the Southern Ocean. Much has been written of this strange leg and its uncertainties: piracy, currents, and double doldrum-like crossings, and the key strategy is getting south and east into the best wind out of Cape Town and then throwing the dice on when to turn north toward the finish. My guess is they'll all all stay in close contact and we won't see many fliers. Today, they're spread fan like north to south with Telefonica Blue holding the northern fringe, leading on the rankings and in a nice covering position.

Blue's Simon Fisher reporting in: "It has been tough out here so far, close. We were exchanging tacks for the first day and then in full view of each other as we powered downwind on the second day. With the pressure building though, the fleet is starting to spread out a little and a few of the boats who seem to go well in the big breeze are starting to shine. As for us, maybe this isn't our strongest suit but we are learning to hang in there and are focused on going as well as we can."

"Let's see how it plays out in a few days time. Standby.

Nov. 4, 2008

Dragon Keel: It Could've Been Worse

It's been 36 hours since Green Dragon arrived into Cape Town to complete the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. The first job was to assess the damage to the keel--last Thursday, Green Dragon was stopped in its tracks after hitting something.

Paul Todd/Outsideimages.co.nz

The Green Dragon comes out of the water to reveal damage to the leading edge of the keel.

Here's the team's update, from Johnny Smullen – Green Dragon's shore manager:

"The extent of the damage structurally is not as bad as we may have first anticipated, we immediately asked ourselves, what did they hit, was it a container on the surface? Perhaps a log or the whole tree! As we stood on the dock in anticipation this morning, we were somewhat relieved to see that structurally we survived. The steel keel and bearings were intact without any crazing and/or cracks, what didn't survive was the carbon fibre fairing which fairs the leading edge of the keel. In short the keel is milled out of a single billet of heat treated steel, and the forward and trailing edges are added later as these shapes would almost be impossible to machine. We added pre-shaped fairings to these areas and fortunately the forward one also doubles up as a sacrificial leading edge or simply put a bumper. Unfortunately once you loose this you have a flat section across the front of your keel…. which really impacts your speed! We also lost the keel pin fairing, this is a conical fairing, which does exactly that, it fairs the 150mm keel pin, and without these we have a very unfair underwater profile. It would have the same effect, if a Formula 1 car lost all its wings and the nose!"

So there you have it: keel damage is not fast.

Speaking of fast: I just got of the phone with Puma's Rob Salthouse, who's sticking around Cape Town for some R&R. The team is obviously pleased with its second place finish, but more importantly, they're happy to come through Leg One with a shorter (compared to the Telefonica boats) work list. The crew, he says, is injury free, the boat is in great shape. They feel they sailed the leg pretty conservatively, as their track bears out on the Virtual Spectator, and with the exception of having to shift the sail stacks for an unexpected short beat to the scoring gate (a lot of work for a short tack), the crew union is plenty happy with how it all went down. In the big breeze that propelled Ericsson 4 to the finish and multiple 24-hour records, Salthouse says they definitely kept the throttle at a safe speed, avoiding wipe outs and potential race-ending damage. There's a lot more racing to go, he says, and they don't need to win every leg. They just need to finish in the top half.

I will try and get some audio up here shortly...or at least Rob's key thoughts. Other SW deadlines are pending: Print ... web... print ... web ...the battle for time wages on.

Nov. 3, 2008

One is Done, Leg One That Is

Over the weekend, Ericsson 4 snatched its Leg 1 points off the table (is that Table Mountain?) and now sits atop the Volvo Ocean Race leader board after an early blue-sky arrival into Cape Town on Sunday. By all accounts Ericsson sailed a superb leg, and in the end, it was the team's training base in the Canary Islands prepared that them well for big-breeze high-speed sailing. Clearly their Juan K boats are not slow so they've got that department squared away. There were very few reported breakdowns on the boat (note "reported"), so they have things well sorted on that front as well. But it goes without saying that this race is still early yet.

Volvo Ocean Race

From Ericsson 4 slides into Cape Town after a 21-day leg, giving skipper Torben Grael a reason to chug. Puma's il mostro finishes second with a promise of more to come.

Grael, a man of very few words, was on form in Cape Town, offering this dockside perspective:

"We had everything. We had a wonderful journey, very rough weather for a couple of days with a lot of speed. I am very, very happy with everything we achieved.

It feels great to win. We are happy that the finish wasn't very painful. When we arrived here with Brasil1, we were 12 hours waiting outside without any wind. It was very good to have just a little bit of wind at the end and not stop before crossing the finish line.

The teamwork was marvelous, not only onboard, but as a whole team. The shore team, too. Onboard it is a little harder with one man down, a little bit of extra work for everybody, but everyone gave it best, and here we are."

Puma Ocean Racing's il mostro rolled in next, completing the 6,500-mile leg in 22d:5h:44m:50s. The two boats were "in sight" each other for what E4's skipper Torben Grael says was 70-percent of the leg, but it was those hard-charging 48 hours last week in which Torben Grael and his crew made their break in record-breaking style, even being one-man down (remember, helmsman Tony Mutter was discharged from the boat with an infected knee).

Puma's Ken Read has to be feeling good about his Botin & Carkeek design (he no longer has to "hope" his boat is fast." And as first timer himself, he must be pretty happy; he's known for his conservative style, and this leg was text book: take the middle road, stay in touch with the leaders, and push only has hard as you know you can. The Puma boys are still learning the boat and you can bet they'll be pushing it a lot harder by the time the North Atlantic leg to Ireland comes around next spring.

Here's what Puma's sage navigator, Andrew Cape, offered once dockside: "We are still learning, and for us this first leg was a learning experience. We had a good leg but Ericsson was lucky to ride that front all the way here. They made it look easy. It was tight out there, but that is what racing is about. No boats were mega fast or slow, it was a great race."

Skipper Ken Read: "We're very, very happy with our first leg and it's a big relief to be here, knowing we have a great boat. I've had a lot of sleepless nights over the last year imagining what 37,000 miles of sailing round the world on a slow boat would be like. And we don't have a slow boat. So now we're in a boat race. And we're good at boat racing. The guys on this boat were chosen because we're good at it. So in this race, don't count out the PUMA il mostro team, that's for sure."   "We had a few little issues; we had our primary water maker go down off Brazil - that was a little nerve-wracking. We actually talked about going into Brazil for a while, but Casey, using a bilge pump, put together a new water maker. We had a couple of little hydraulic problems, keel issues, but structurally, we think, the boats in good shape. We felt we were pushing hard, but clearly we have another gear shift we have to go to be up there with Ericsson 4. And we're not going to stop until we find it."

As the frontrunners enjoyed the pleasures of shore life and family, the three boats most consistently dogged with equipment problems--Ericsson 3, Green Dragon, and Telefonica Blue--rolled into town, respectively (you can read the exclusive blog by Telefonica Blue's Simon Fisher). Team Russia followed in Monday afternoon, leaving Team Delta Lloyd knocking on Cape Town's door. Telefonica Black, without a bowsprit, and sailing on an emergency rudder, will be nursing its boat in for the last 150-miles or so. Having checked in with a few media contacts, I'm hopeful we'll have a few energized interviews tomorrow. Standby.

Oct. 30, 2008

Make that 602.66 for Ericsson 4

OK, strike yesterday's mind-blowing stat. Ericsson 4's 24-hour record dash now stands at 602.66 nautical miles. Impressive indeed, a feat only 10 men can talk about. The rest of us can only imagine how intense those 24 hours really were. In a few days time, I'm sure we'll hear more than what came off the boat today from watch captain Brad Jackson.

In the interview you quickly get a sense that they're done with the record business and moving on to making sure the boat stays in one piece and the crew can recover. With a good cushion at the front of the fleet they're simply "ticking" off the miles before things go light near Cape Town. To say that they've legged out on the fleet, including Puma, is an understatement, and they've got to feel good about their chances in this race at this point. They've shown no Achilles Heel in any particular condition thus far. Their training time has certainly been time well spent.

Our friends on Puma's il mostro, put up their best effort, but were no match.

Rick Deppe/PUMA Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race

Water, water everywhere onboard il mostro, just as things start heating up this week.

Even skipper Ken Read admitted as much with his report today:

"Many things have been interesting over the last few days. We have sailed il mostro in some pretty breezy conditions pre-race but none at this fanatic pace. To be sure this is an inherent problem of a one boat program - protecting the assets. I always felt reluctant to press the boat 1000 percent in the pre-race practice because if something really bad were to happen to this boat essentially the race was over before it even started. Not a very good scenario. Plus there is the racing vs. practicing mentality. You can "think" you are pushing a boat hard when you practice but the fact of the matter it is that with a competitor next to you on in the same water you push much, much harder than in practice. It is a fact of life.

"This all leads back to where our program is at and something I have said earlier in this leg. We are learning. How hard is hard enough to push? How hard is too hard? Fact is the guys on E4 have schooled us all in these conditions and my guess is they knew where there boundaries were better than we did. We are finding them slowly, and a lot of it is getting used to the crashes and smashes that happen all around you 24 hours a day inside this base drum called a carbon fiber boat. It's funny, as this leg has gone on the sleeping or even the concentrating was often interrupted by being acutely aware of new noises, loud bangs, creaks and groans. Not to mention the occasional silence, followed by the tremendous CRASH of a hull falling into a wave trough out of thin air. The first thought - "Are we pushing too hard and maybe risking the boat?" Turns out, probably not hard enough.

"The human psyche is a strange lot. As I said, three days ago concentrating was tough as we sunk into this low pressure system and knew it was going to be a reasonably long and fast and furious ride. No lie there. But now things are different. Three days ago what I cringed about is now what I crave. I find that I can't sleep now if the boat ISN'T smashing off waves or humming only as this boat hums when the boat speed goes past 30 because all those noises aren't noises of possible problems any more. They are the noises of FAST. And to win this race will mean we have to get faster.

Mikel Pasabant/Equipo Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race

The emergency rudder is deployed on Telefonica Black.

Meanwhile, the carnage reports are rolling in from the back of the fleet with Telefonica Black sustaining damage to one of its rudders, a daggerboard, several sails and deck fittings. They're quickly vanishing off the screen with a 400-mile-plus deficit to Ericsson 4, whose sistership, Ericsson 3 has slipped into third in line to Cape Town. The Green Dragon; our leader going into the standings-stiring storm, reported numerous fire drills breakages and is nursing the boat along in mid-fleet. Behind them lies Telefonica Blue, Team Russia, and Delta Lloyd; itself nursing a severely wounded rig. The front-runner crews will be long gone from Cape Town by the time these guys show up. But they better hurry; the next leg to Kochi, India starts Nov. 15.

Oct. 29, 2008

Ericsson 4's Cape Town Express

A few days ago there was a lot of talk coming off the boats about the impending monster gale that would carry the fleet, and in particular the front runners, Ericsson 4, Puma, and Green Dragon, to Cape Town at a blistering pace. The front runners have certainly hooked into it, and in the first of what is said to be three days of back-to-back 30 knots or more, Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 has kept his team's foot on accelerator in order to put some distance on Puma. The reward: the 24-hour record, not once but several times. At 1425 GMT race data had recorded Ericsson 4 as covering 593.23 nautical miles, which is potentially a new world record for a crewed monohull (pending ratification).

Guy Salter/Ericsson 4/Volvo Ocean Race

Dave Endean and Joao Signorini celebrate on Ericsson 4 as they set a new 24-hour record. To see the video, click here .

According to race officials, the 594-mile mark was the fourth time since 0355 GMT this morning (Wed.) that Ericsson 4 had increased the speed record from its ratified mark of 562.96 nautical miles (23.45-knot average).

"The conditions are not easy. Every time you go at this speed it's pretty hard," said Grael. "We're going 30 knots very often. The wind is between 28 and 32 knots. The waves are not very good, but neither very bad. The conditions are marginal, especially during the night. It wasn't very fun at all."

You can listen in as watch captain Brad Jackson talks through a bit of the record run; note the humming in the background: that's the sound of high-speed sailing--just like on my Laser when I'm on the edge of planning and wiping out. Also, if you listen closely you'll hear Jackson say "it's just like sailing in Lanzarote, actually," (Lanzrote is in the Canary Islands, which is where Ericsson trained for months. What this tells me is that these guys were really ready for this, and as you watch them pull away from Puma on the Virtual Spectator overnight, it's pretty obvious they have the confidence to kick it into a higher gear that neither Puma nor Green Dragon have at the moment--and keep it there.

Impressive. Scary. Astounding. Oh, boy, what I'd give to be a fly on their bulkhead ...

Oct. 27, 2008

Signs of Fatigue?

The word across the fleet today is one of preparation for the big low that will carry everyone with haste to the finish in Cape Town, now merely 2000 miles away.

Mikel Pasabant/Equipo Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race

A sign of big sailing to come: helmets on Telefonica Black

This low has all the hype of a blizzard in Southern New England. They can all see it coming; the basic theme is how to get to it, stick with it and hope nothing breaks. Stop and it's sayonara. Ericsson made its breakaway move from Puma today with a jog to the southwest; positioning themselves between Green Dragon and the "mark" and dipping further south to place itself where they want to be once the big one comes rolling through. It's an incredible little battle going on there between these three.

OK, the boats have been relatively trouble free with moderate winds thus far, but there has been a bit of pounding along the way, today's email from the Green Dragon is one of the best yet from the fleet. Skipper Ian Walker has a way with words. Check it out:

Green Dragon Leg One Day 17 QFB: received 27.10.08 1505 GMT

It feels great to finally be pointing somewhere near Cape Town. I've nothing against South America but the party is going to be in South Africa and it's now time to get over there.

We have worked for days to position ourselves furthest south in the hope of more wind as we head east, and it seems to slowly be paying. In fact our biggest problem is probably going to be too much wind in the south, so we may have to keep our plan in check. For the next day or so this won't be a problem so we will wait and see how it develops.

It's taking me a while to get my head around all the weather systems being upside down and round the wrong way in the southern hemisphere but I think I am getting there. One thing is for sure the pressure on the barometer is dropping and the average speeds are going up.

It's amazing how adept you get at guessing the hull speed from in the nav station. Under 10 knots boat speed all is quiet and you think you aren't moving at all - you can't hear above Justin's (Slattery) snoring. Up to 15 knots, the water starts to rush quite fast outside the hull and you can hear the wind in the rigging, 15 to 20 knots boat speed and the hull starts to shudder and you get the odd surf and lurching motion for and aft.

Over 20 knots and the hull starts to slam even downwind - this is often followed by a stopping feeling as you plough into the wave in front. At about 25 knots the crunchometer kicks in. This is when you come off the back of waves and the flat bottom section of the hull lands with a bang, the whole centre of the boat bounces up and down (inc Guo in the media station) and you hear a loud crunch. The crunch is the vertical carbon fibre panels of the head disintegrating in compression and this only lasts about a day. After then the whole sidewalls of the head are destroyed leaving nothing to crunch and all goes quiet. A few hours ago the crunching started but the wind has now abated and the head will get a temporary stay of execution.

Oct. 24, 2008

Locked at The Horns

What was a four way tie for first yesterday on the points table turned to a five-way tie overnight last night with Telefonica Blue passing the scoring gate and grabbing its points, and man, oh man, has it been a wild 24 hours. Who would've thought that four boats would be trading places to and fro on the leaderboard with every position report?

Volvo Ocean Race

Even amongst the back of the pack there's a battle waging and plenty a sail a changin'. The crew of Ericsson 3 chalks up another. Tell me that doesn't look like a hell of a lot of fun.

This is more like a NASCAR lap than an ocean race. Boring this leg is not.

This afternoon, we're looking at Telefonica Black commanding the lead as the easternmost boat of the top four, with Green Dragon legging out to the southwest of the patch, all were diving south to get to what will eventually be the conveyor belt to Cape Town; first one to the first weather system gets on first. Green Dragon was hammering straight south.

On Wednesday I fired a few questions off to Ken Read and Jerry Kirby onboard il Mostro. The one for Kenny was for me; the one for Jerry for Portsmouth,R.I.'s Pennfield School, at which Jerry's son Shamus is a student. The kids are following along and rooting for the home team. Here's what came back this afternoon as they were engaged with Ericsson and Telefonica Black to either side.

Ken: For much of the race, and even now, you've been locked in to these boat-on-boat battles. What are the tools and techniques you use to gauge how the battle's playing out? Why didn't you use the Stealth Play going into the doldrums with the lead?

Tools and techniques--these are all the weather info that we can gather from Volvo every 6 hours which are then run throught he boats computer and several differentt software packages to see how they stack up. Quick scat charts and satalite imagery are also used to validate the electronic files as well. The boats routing sorftwatre is then used to help determine what the correct path is for the shore medium and long term path. We also use the 3 hour positioning reports on some custom software that Capy has which gives us quite a bit of information on the other boats which we can use to try and figure out their individual tactics.

As far as entering the doldrums first and using the "stealth play", First of all we were within sight of other boats the entire leg. So, Going stealth wasn't much of an option. The entire fleet knew that we were going to be parked at one point and sure enough the line from west to east was about the longest starting line in the histroy of sailing there for about 6 hours. And honestly, we didn't really have any strong ideas at the time on how it was going to play out. For boats that were behind with little to chance, it would be an easier decison to jibe away from the pack. But being ahead, we were trying to defend until things became clearer.

We were happy to get out of there with the lead group thats for sure. Could have been much worse.
- Kenny

For Jerry: In the only video coming off the boat, featuring you deploying the staysail, there's a lot grunting going on there...with the variety in the sail inventory is there a lot more changing going? One of the kids wanted to know "What has your favorite part of this leg has been so far and what is it like trying to sleep inside those noisy boats?"

P.S. On the staysail there's an Octopus and a logo that says "All hands on Deck." What's that for?

Sail changes happen! Most changes are more important than sails sometimes. Changing gear for and aft, changing sails. All in a days work. The limited inventory actually makes better all purpose sails so that may actually help not have to change quite as many.

First of all we don't sleep a lot but when we get the chance the noise and motion doesn't really matter. Although my sons put together an ipod for me and I find myself listening to it sometimes when I should be trying to sleep. Great new music. They have great taste in music.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK". PUMA marketing at it's best. Although we do have all hands on deck quite often, the logos are different on each sail near the head of the sail. Not really sure where PUMA is going with these but I am sure they have a plan.

Puma's Jr. Markenting and Communications Manger, Bridgid Murphy gives me the low down on the logo: The icons are part of all PUMA marketing. There have been a set sepcifically designed for the sailing category. PUMA uses them in unusual places; like the sail, on garment tags, on shoe boxes...To access SW's 2008-2009 Volvo Ocean Race home page, click here.

Oct. 23, 2008

Point to Point

Remember the last edition of this Volvo Race, and how, right about this point in the race two teams (Pirates of the Caribbean and movistar) were air freighting their boats to Cape Town after falling apart in the first 24 hours, leaving ABN AMRO One to start its eventual shellacking of the fleet? Not this time. We've got all eight boats on the racecourse and the dog fight at the front of the fleet is the best reason to keep us locked to our Virtual Spectator screens. How we lose so much productivity during the day. I don't know about you, but I can't resist checking back with every sked. I'm addicted for sure.

Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race

From Top: Green Dragon, first to Fernando de Nohrona, followed by Ericsson 4 (minus Tony Mutter, don't forget) with Puma visible in the background. Third around, Puma.

The story of the day today is the Green Dragon Racing team's strategic ascent into the lead and nabbing the first scoring-gate points. As they beat past the Brazilian island of Fernando de Nohrona in 20-knots with Puma and Ericsson trailing close behind, skipper Ian Walker was counting his blessings, and the strategy smarts of young navigator Ian Moore.

"I think back over all the decisions we have made in the intervening week and I am pleased and proud at our performance as a team," wrote Walker today. "We have to be careful not to make mistakes, and we did a good job of minimizing our losses and then building a strong westerly tactical position into the Doldrums, which has culminated in maximum points as we rounded the Island today."

These guys must be feeling vindicated today, and it is a testament to the talent they've assembled. That two of the top-three boats are one-boat syndicates is impressive. Of course, there's a lot more sailing ahead and not many miles between these three, so I can't wait and see what happens overnight. I've sent a few questions off to the boys on Puma's il mostro; let's hope they can break away from the fight and check back in.

This morning Ericsson 4 had nipped them at the island with what amounted to a better layline, but they Puma was chasing them down. Telefonica Black was sneaking up and had closed to within spitting distance of Puma (exaggeration implied).

At about 1300 GMT, the Virtual Spectator showed them all taking a quick jog to the east in a shift before tacking back to starboard on southerly headings. There were sparce miles between Green Dragon and Telefonica Black in the Distance to Leader column. Nice. The result of today's island roundings, by the way: A four-way tie in the point column for first. Very nice, indeed.

Oct. 22, 2008

Si-Fi's in the House

Before the start of the race, our friends at Team Telefonica, offered us exclusive weekly reports Simon Fisher, Telefonica Blue's navigator extraordinaire, and we jumped on it faster than you could say his nickname--Si Fi, if you haven't figured it out. In his last lap of the planet with the young guns of ABN AMRO Two he was the most compelling story teller by far. We're looking forward to more as he racks up the 37,000 or so miles of the 2008-'09 Volvo Ocean Race. Tune into this space weekly to see what's on Si Fi's screen.

Maria Muina/Equipo Telefonica

Simon Fisher: "That was the plan at least.

Hi there,

So far we are just over a week into the first leg of this Volvo Ocean Race and it would be fair to say for us, here on Telefónica Blue it hasn't been easy. We are now just on the other side of the Doldrums, hoping to be out and into the Southerly trades sometime today. Getting here has been quite a mission.

We started in Alicante (Spain) in a grey and windy day very much in the mid set of being conservative, not breaking anything and just getting out of the Mediterranean cleanly and without troubles. Well, that was the plan at least... Just a few short hours into the race we were going well. After a pretty average first beat we were off down the Spanish coast, blasting downwind at 20+ knots and catching Ericsson 4 fast who was leading at the time. Suddenly though there was a worrying crack and Jono [Swain] who had just taken the helm was struggling to control the boat. Something was clearly not right – Pepe ran downstairs to check and then the sickening news came. One of the tiller bars had broken and we had little to no steerage on our leeward rudder. So short into the race and we were had a major problem. We had to drop the spinnaker, watch the fleet sail by and nurse the boat downwind while we made repairs and considered the options in front of us.

As hard as it was the option to stop was a no brainer – Despite Pepe and Xabi doing an amazing job of repairing the offending tiller arm we couldn't be confident it was going to hold so we started to look for the best place to stop. However, stopping presented its own challenges and problems. Firstly the stop had to be for at least 12 hours so we had to try and pick a moment when the fleet wouldn't be sailing too fast in order not to lose to many miles. Secondly going a long way of course to find a port to accommodate us with enough water and the facilities we needed was going to be expensive in terms of miles too. Finally we settled on Gibraltar –while we were weighing up the options our shore crew was travelling down the coast of Spain by car ready to spring into action when the moment came. But then there was another problem. We were told that Gibraltar was closed, no boats were to be allowed in or out due to the storms of a few days previous. Luckily though our resourceful shore crew spearheaded Maria and Campbell managed to pull a few strings and get us into Algeciras across the water from Gibraltar and into the commercial port.

By the time came for stopping we had managed to catch back up with the fleet. We could see the stern lights only a couple of miles to weather. We had worked super hard to get make up what we had lost as being in port was only going to cost more miles.

Gabriele Olivo/Equipo Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race

Telefonica Blue, looking itself in the doldrum mirror.

After many, many sail changes, tacks and gybes we finally stopping the boat. Suspended from racing and motored into Algeciras. We were met by our shore crew, McDonalds and whisked off to a hotel for the night. It felt strange to be there, especially so early into the race but perhaps the good night's sleep and the opportunity to rest for a few precious hours would help us in the days to come...

By the time we were back in the race it was early morning, flanked the Volvo Camera boat we unfurled the Gennaker and started to sail our way down the straights and out towards the Atlantic. We had only lost 100 miles, we knew that this may grow but it could have been a lot worse. The following day was a good one, we slipped inside a band of light pressure and made good progress down the coast. However that was to be short lived and as we approached the more reliable trades the fleet ahead of us started to stretch ahead. On board everyone was optimistic and excited to be back in the race but the next few days would prove to be the hardest and would give us the biggest test we have had as a team yet...

Cheers,
Si Fi

Oct. 20, 2008
Reshuffling the Deck

Holy smokes. What an incredible change up over the weekend. There, virtually alone on the western flanks of the fleet sat the Green Dragon Team,

Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race

Happier times for Green Dragon navigator Ian Moore (and Tom Braidwood tuning out in the background).

its navigator Ian Moore, a student of the race, sticking to his convictions that the west would eventually pay off. But when? Would this time be different? They were wracking up the miles. Meanwhile, on you could literally see Puma's lead evaporating as its bow dipped into the far northern fringes of the Doldrums, marked by the arrival of squalls and unpredictable shifts.

You could just tell something was about to happen, and happen it did, with fleet inversion. Puma, conservatively tucked in the middle finds itself mid-fleet, this morning chasing down the Dragon, AND Telefonica Black. That's Telefonica Black…remember them last week, more than 200 miles at the back of the fleet, out on their westerly flyer. Oh boy. This just got interesting, and until they break free of the doldrums in a few days, it really is anyone's race (to the first scoring gate off Brazil.

"It is the start of a few tricky days ahead and a potential restart to the race," writes Telefonica Blue's navigator Simon Fisher, "whoever gets out of this windless zone first could well be leading all the way to Fernando. Needless to say with this in mind we are working our hardest right now. We are currently coasting along at 5 knots, frequently changing from one sail to the next to ensure we maintain our optimum angle whilst at the same time trying hard not to lose the little speed we already have."

Here's the latest update (as of 12:26 pm EST)

POS    BOAT    DTLC    PTTL    DTF
1    Green Dragon    0    00:00:00    4019
2    Telefonica Black    22    08:04:44    +25
3    PUMA Ocean Racing    22    06:06:43    +33
4    Ericsson 3    11    12:02:05    +40
5    Telefonica Blue    22    12:37:06    +43
6    Ericsson 4    11    06:34:19    +45
7    Team Russia    0    13:49:30    +51
8    Delta Lloyd    -4-4    17:31:05    +90

Mutter's Out of the Rotation

It's a good thing Ericsson 4 has a deep bench of top-shelf helmsmen, as of this afternoon, they're down one. Ericsson 4's Tony Mutter

Hans Berggren

Ericsson 4 helmsman Tony Mutter, who won the race last time on ABN AMRO One, was taken off the boat with an infected knee..

has been dropped off the race boat in the Cape Verde Islands with a severely affected knee. This is a big loss to the E4 effort.

Here's the update from VOR headquarters: On Thursday, the team medics aboard Ericsson 4, Phil Jameson and Stu Bannatyne, were called to put their pre-race medical training into use as they drained some fluid from the infected knee of trimmer/helmsman Tony Mutter.

But the injury didn't respond to treatment as well as they hoped and the team took the opportunity of their proximity to the Cape Verde Islands to evacuate Mutter from the boat. This was the recommended course of action by the Race Medical Team. The next reasonable opportunity to get him off the boat wouldn't come until Fernando de Noronha, some four days away.

This evening, the team made a move away from its race heading to sail towards Mindelo on the Island of Sao Vicente. Mutter was then transferred to a fishing vessel to be taken ashore for medical supervision.

Skipper Torben Grael said the decision to ensure proper medical treatment for Mutter was easy.

"The Race Doctor told us that Tony had to be evacuated because the leg had become significantly more swollen overnight, and the uncertainty of how quick his condition will improve," said skipper Torben Grael. "Both he and I agreed that it would be a prudent and precautionary measure to evacuate him from the boat. He needs to get proper treatment. In addition once we have passed the Cape Verde Islands, we have a period of some 1,300 nautical miles of open ocean ahead of us.

"Our onboard medics, Phil and Stu, have done a great job. They were told by the race doctor that had we been in the Southern Ocean, they would have to give Tony intravenous fluids with antibiotics," Grael said.

Mutter says he hopes to rejoin the team in Cape Town.

The pit-stop for E4 in order to transfer Mutter has now put them off the pace once again with Puma, which thus far is sailing a superb race, piling on the miles to the young Nordic crew on Ericsson 3.

At the back of the fleet, Telefonica Black is now paying dearly for its move to the west of the Canary Island chain, which has them staring down the back of the fleet by more than 200 miles.

Mikel Pasabant/Telefonica Black/Volvo Ocean Race

(l-r) Offwatch and off the charts onboard Telefonica Black. Sleeping off the westerly flyer hangover.

Their stablemates on Telefonica Blue, are keeping them company at the bottom of the standings. Both can only hope the Doldrums don't alllow an easy passage for Ken Read and the Puma team. But as it is, things are not looking positive for the favorite Blue squad.

Navigator Simon Fisher offers this this afternoon: Xabi (Xabier Fernandez) suggested our boat was a bit like a whale this morning - spending long periods under water then pausing briefly coming up for air. As you've guessed it, things are still pretty wet onboard, or at least they were until just a few hours ago when the wind and the nasty sea state with it eased off a bit. This is both good and bad for us.
Good as now everyone who has worked so hard over the last few days can finally catch up on some rest and sleep through the majority of their off watch. Bad as now we have a choice of sails to use but none of them are ideal for the angle we would like to sail. We daren't put up the A2 - three blow ups in three days would just be too much so we are forced to take it a little bit easier and use a smaller sails. So far we have done a good job of holding the speed despite the small sails.

Tough times for sure, but there are many more miles to cover before Cape Town. Now setting up on the racecourse is a tropical wave that could mix things up a bit. Ian Walker, skipper of the Green Dragon Team, putting on the miles of his first major ocean race is learning quickly what this race can deliver.

Walker: The reports haven't made great reading recently so I am glad to have missed them. Its tricky out here - I have no idea how it can be so shifty so far out to sea. We are focusing on lining up for the Doldrums right now and there is a 'tropical wave' ahead of us (please note that onboard whenever anybody says 'tropical wave' everyone else does a Mexican wave! - is this the first sign of madness onboard I wonder?). This will mean a fast transition for some and could spell trouble for others.

Right now it looks like the further ahead you are the better shape you will be in - we need to keep pushing hard. Anyway spirits remain high and were boosted when Damian got hit in the face by a flying fish in the night. I am not sure what was funnier the direct hit or Damian trying to get it out of the cockpit.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

For Ian Moore and Tom Braidwood, happier times inside The Green Dragon.

You can tell Puma skipper Ken Read is having a great race thus far as the mood of his e-mails off the boat remain up beat. "The Monster clearly likes this 20-knot running," Kenny writes. I suspect he and the other guys on board do as well. Who wouldn't?

TracTrac Live/Volvo Ocean Race

East, West, or straight on through: that was the big question as the Canary Islands provided the first obstacle of the 6,500-mile race. Puma played it perfectly.

Read has only mentioned dealing with a few breakages, but apparently the boat is holding together just fine, as is the sail inventory, the same for which can not be said for Bouwe Bekking's highly-favored Telefonica Blue. Despite blowing up, fixing and then blowing the A2 spinnaker once again (the sewing machine is running hot!), Bekking's boys are hanging in there with the fleet, which is still within 100 miles of each other, fanned out east-to-west.

But they've all passed through the Canary Islands, interestingly enough, with most of them taking a different route. The islands are like rocks in the roadway...and yesterday, Green Dragon Racing employed its one "StealthPlay" as it tried to sneak past. It didn't do them much favors as they their choice of route--barreling straight through the island chain, didn't work out so well. Down to fourth they dropped, allowing Puma to slide into the lead. Check out Puma's track, and you see that good, conservative sailing is getting them where they need to be. Before the race, I must have heard Kenny say at least a dozen times, "I really hope this boat is fast." I think he's pretty confident today that they'll be just fine.

At the moment, it's the Nordic squad on Ericsson 3 keeping Kenny on his toes. E3 Navigator Aksel Magdahl offers this:

The past two days has been interesting strategically. Before the Canaries we were with Puma, E4, Green Dragons and Telefónica Negro along the African coast looking for a nice shift and wind speed acceleration. Negro and later Green Dragon gybed away, and we got into lighter and lighter breeze.

Computer simulation was indifferent between the route east of the Canaries and through them, and we gybed off as well. That cost us some miles to Puma and E4, but we were happy to make a little comeback playing a huge wind acceleration and shift around Gran Canaria yesterday. As we approached the island in 14 knots breeze, it increased to 28 knots and at a very favourable angle. We went very aggressive into the shift and sailed just along the edge of Gran Canaria's wind shadow where the breeze was most favourable. We could keep this effect for the most of the day gaining all the way, making for a very happy crew as the position reports came in every third hour.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Into Thin Air

It was great to see the underdog Green Dragon Team slip into the lead yesterday afternoon. Skipper Ian Walker, in his first lap of the planet, is proving to be a formidable foe, and let's not forget that his navigator, Ian Moore, 37, worked alongside the great Juan Vila (illbruck, winner in 1988-'89) as young Irish lad.But this morning, I had bit of a scare when checking on the latest positions on the tracker...The Dragon was floating somewhere far away from the fleet, west of the Canaries...What the?Then, I see they've played their Stealth card early. This is a new element added to the race a few weeks ago whereby a team can go stealth for 24 hours once per leg.

Guo Chuan/Green Dragon Racing/Volvo Ocean Race

The Irish/Chinese entry Green Dragon Racing Team, puts the hammer down en route to the Canary Islands, where they applied their StealthPlay.

The race office knows where they are, but the rest of the fleet does not. Things typically get mixed up around the Canaries as teams try to avoid the windless holes in the lee of the high volcanic mountains. We'll see how they come out tomorrow.

With the Dragon off the virtual screen, the latest position report shows Puma leading the fleet, battling it out with Grael and the boys on Ericsson 4. Here's the word from skipper, Ken Read this morning:

"As they zig zagged all over the lot trying to prevent us from passing on the high or low side, they were effective. We let them gybe first (I was watching them move their stack with very cool night vision bino's). We decided to set up about a mile to leeward, trying to sail our own angles and see if we can boat speed them and finally break through. For sure there isn't much in it. Very fun though. Doesn't make for much sleep, that is for sure.

So, as I am sitting here at the nav station trying to dial in a good downwind mode for the guys on deck using our polars and the radar (watching our angles and speed to E4), I figured I would write about the action. Honestly, I thought the racing would be close but this is ridiculous!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Moving Targets--Volvo Ocean Race Leg 1

Four days have passed since the Volvo Ocean Race fleet of eight hustled out of Alicante, Spain, in a 20-knot hurry (you have to see the video to believe it…awesome speeds), and already, the race is as predictable and unpredictable as we knew it would be.

Here's how the oddities go thus far: Ericsson 4, the Swedish entry, which I predicted would win this leg, has stepped into the pole position, leading the fleet into the opening stages. That was an easy one to call, but I would never have thought the first critical breakdown (click to see video) would come at the expense Telefonica Blue, skippered by Bouwe Bekking. In the last edition of the race, Bekking's movistar was one of the first boats to break apart in the Atlantic. In the images from onboard that night: he had this unmistakable look in his eye. Man, did he sure look ticked.

In the first images to come off Telefonica he looked on as crewmembers tried to fix a broken carbon tiller arm. He had that same expression. Bad break for Bouwe, indeed. They tried to carry on with one tiller only, but the boat was too difficult to control.

Gabriele Olivo/Equipo Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race

(l-r) Bouwe Bekking watches on as Xabier Fernandez and Pepe Ribes attempt to repair steering damage to Telefonica Blue which occured shortly after the start of leg 1.

Wisely so, they put in for a pit stop before entering the open Atlantic, which earns them a 12-hour penalty. Simon Fisher, Blue's navigator, wrote of the gut-wrenching thought of letting the fleet get away, but lucky for he and his mates, while they bunked in hotel rooms while the shore crew dealt with the tiller-arm repair, the rest of the fleet battled the strong currents and light winds of the Strait of Gibralter. They weren't getting away easy.

But Blue is now on the racecourse (as of Tuesday afternoon) and eating up miles on an inside track on the African coast, a mere 77 miles or so behind the Green Dragon Racing Team. The luck of the Irish, indeed—no saw them leading so early on. Everyone's still clustered together, however, and should remain so over the next day or so as they follow a similar route. Now is when the subtle design differences between the boats will progressively make a difference. Look for Blue to get right back into this thing in two day's time.

Team Russia, on the other hand, is in bind as one of the rubber seals on its hydraulic keel rams had failed. Media crewmember (MCM) Mark Coville offered an update in an e-mail yesterday (Oct. 13):

…One of our ram boots, the seals that separate the Mediterranean from the inside of the boat had been torn, looking like being chewed up by some huge animal. We had problems with the boots all along, but different kind and believed them to be solved. So not again.

The problem doesn't mean imminent danger, as the boat is built in a way that the water ingress is manageable in the short term. Just the compartments around the wetbox get flooded and the rams with some electronic bits are flooded. For sure we couldn't sail like this to Cape Town.

No word yet on what they plan on doing about replacing the seal, but as they're now in the open Atlantic, they've either found a solution, or await a later pit stop before getting to the South Atlantic.

Not much out of the guys on Puma either: they're keeping things close to the chest, reporting only a "few mechanical problems onboard," and the stealthy approach appears to be doing them well. This morning they'd climbed to second, but at this afternoon's position report, they'd slipped to third behind Green Dragon, and Ericsson 4, respectively, by a half-dozen miles. A game of cat and mouse, Kenny and boys waiting to pounce on the lead.