Volvo Ocean Race, con gli occhi aperti
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingTeam Delta LloydTeam RussiaVelaVolvo Ocean Race 21 Dicembre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=1165,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Cochin – A poco più di duecento miglia dalla conclusione, la terza tappa della Volvo Ocean Race continua a regalare emozioni e colpi di scena. Come pronosticato dei meteorologi alla vigilia della partenza, la navigazione nello Stretto di Malacca si sta rivelando estremamente impegnativa. I tattici, ancor più dei navigatori, devono dar fondo a tutta la loro esperienza per cercare di interpretare i continui salti di vento tipici di questo trafficatissimo tratto di mare.
Proprio un’intuizione tattica azzeccata ha permesso a Telefonica Blue di tornare in testa alla flotta ai danni di Ericsson 4, che lo aveva superato poche miglia prima dello scoring gate. A premiare il VOR 70 dell’Equipo Telefonica è stata la scelta di spingersi molto vicino alla costa, dove refoli residui e consistenti hanno dato al team di Bouwe Bekking lo spunto in più. A seguire Telefonica Blue, e a salire in seconda e terza posizione, sono stati Ericsson 3 e Il Mostro, lontani appena uno e quattro miglia dal nuovo leader. Torben Grael, rimasto più al largo, si è avvicinato alla costa solo nelle ultime ore ed è staccato di sette miglia da Telefonica Blue.
Secondo Jennifer Lilly, meteorologo della Volvo Ocean Race, le brezze leggere che hanno caratterizzato le ultime ore verranno ben presto sostituite da venti freschi da nordest, che dovrebbero agevolare la discesa verso Singapore, dove gli equipaggi sono attesi per la tarda serata di domani, presumibilmente in volata.
Come detto in precedenza, i team, oltre a guardarsi dalle insidie del vento, dovranno stare con gli occhi aperti per evitare il via vai di navi da carico. Proprio per limitare il rischio di collisione, i VOR 70 hanno attivato il sistema AIS, un trasponder che trasmette un segnale radio in un raggio di venti miglia: “Sui monitor di chi entra nel campo d’azione nostro AIS appare un punto con la scritta ‘Kosatka racing yacht, limited manouuvrability’ – spiega Wouter Verbaak, il navigatore di Team Russia – In questo modo la nave in questione può manovrare per tempo”.
Leg 3, day 8, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 220 nm
2 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +1 nm
3 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +4 nm
4 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +7 nm
5 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +28 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +49 nm
7 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +60 nm
8 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +203 nm
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PRESSURE ON IN HOME STRAIT
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Although the Volvo Ocean Race fleet is in the final stages of the 1950 nm leg three from Cochin to Singapore, nothing is certain and a nail-biting finish is in store. At 10.00 GMT today, it was all change again and Telefónica Blue snatched back the lead. Ericsson 3 had moved into second place, just a mile behind and Puma had clawed her way up to third, just four miles astern. Former leader Ericsson 4 had slipped to fourth, as the pack takes it in turn to apply the pressure.
The fleet is sailing up the Malaysian side of the shipping lane in the Malacca Strait. Closest to the shoreline is Puma with Telefónica Blue and Ericsson 3 side by side. Green Dragon and Ericsson 4 opted for the outside lane, but both teams have now tacked back towards the shore, Green Dragon taking a hit in doing so and letting Telefónica Black slip ahead. Kosatka Team Russia is now also heading for the shore, but 60 miles further back.
All the teams have activated their AIS system, which is mandatory for racing in the Malacca Strait. This device sends the direction and speed of each racing yacht to all commercial shipping within a 20 nautical mile radius of each yacht.
Wouter Verbraak, Dutch navigator on Kosatka Team Russia says, “We appear on their screens as a dot with a tag: ‘Kosatka racing yacht, limited manoeuvrability’. So far, this has worked like a very powerful insect repellent. None of the cargo ships want to have anything to do with us, and whilst we are blasting (or drifting like last night) along, the armada of cargo ships magically opens up in front of us! Brilliant.”
Ericsson 4 had been reeling in Telefónica Blue, but once darkness fell, the blue boat had the upper hand again. Skipper Bouwe Bekking says that his team often seems to make their best gains in the hours of darkness. Ericsson 4 is sailing in ‘light mode’ having relinquished comforts such as mattresses, sleeping bags and some clothing. They even considered taking a smaller crew. “We felt that it was still early enough in the race and the leg was still long enough not to go too extreme, so we will still have all our crew onboard and a reasonable spares package,” says watch captain Stu Bannatyne/NZL.
Puma is back in the race and right in touch with the leaders, but, after chipping away so hard, earlier this morning, their fairy tale came to an abrupt, but temporary halt when they parked about 30 miles off the coast of Malaysia and watched the rest of the fleet sail up behind them.
“Telefónica Blue got back around us and we are completely drifting as we speak, “wrote Kenny Read at 04.08 GMT this morning. “Amazingly, Ericsson 4 never has really gotten reeled in by their own personal ‘glass off’ of no wind, not yet anyway. My guess is that all our times will come at some point,” he said. Perhaps that point has now arrived?
Yesterday, Telefónica Black was caught with seaweed entwined around the keel and rudders. “We had to stop the boat and sail backwards to get rid of a v-shaped stick next to the bulb and some seaweed close to the hull,” explained Mikel Pasabant MCM. The team also had a small issue with the mainsail clew, which came off. The crew put in the first reef, but a repair was made quickly and the sail was fully hoisted pushing the boat back up to full speed.
This team is enjoying sailing in the Malacca Strait. As they entered the region under the cover of darkness, they were able to watch a Volcano erupt just in front of them.
At the tale end of the fleet, Delta Lloyd is making good progress. The team has managed to tack the boat gently and are confident that they will reach the finish under sail, but about a day behind the rest.
“We were a bit nervous about our first tack,” writes navigator Matt Gregory. “We had to sail around an island yesterday afternoon. We made it very slowly and had three guys with their heads in the keel ram compartments as we rolled through the tack. There were some crunching and cracking sounds from the broken side of the boat, but all seems to be OK,” he said.
Race Meteorologist, Jennifer Lilly says that over the last 48 hours, the wind speeds have stayed slightly slightly stronger than expected, but the wind direction has not been favourable and the teams have had to continue sailing upwind into Malacca Strait.
Looking ahead, Jennifer says, “initially the winds will decrease to nearly calm conditions, but after a period of light and variable winds, the fleet should start to see the wind direction become more favourable. In fact, by 12.00 GMT today, the winds should be out of the north to northeast. This will allow the teams to ease off, sailing at a faster angle to the wind. Meanwhile, the winds speeds will start to increase with some acceleration down the axis of the Straits. Still, as the fleet sails south, the sea space will decrease and the chance of squalls will increase. At the moment, neither the satellite nor the radar images are showing any significant squalls in the course area; however, any squall development could slow the fleet before they finish.”
Leg 3, day 8, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 220 nm
2 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +1 nm
3 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +4 nm
4 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +7 nm
5 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +28 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +49 nm
7 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +60 nm
8 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +203 nm
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