Volvo Ocean Race, così vicini, così lontani
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingVelaVolvo Ocean Race 20 Marzo 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=2031,300,204,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Pacifico – Con il passaggio di Telefonica Blue, Capo Horn ha salutato tutti i VOR 70 protagonisti della quinta tappa. L’equipaggio di Bouwe Bekking, rallentato prima dalla collisione con un basso fondale, quindi dalla delaminazione della randa e dalla rottura dello strallo di prua, ha fatto il suo ingresso in Oceano Atlantico con due giorni di ritardo rispetto a Ericsson 3, dominatore della frazione sin dal momento in cui ha deciso di andare a nord.
A bordo di Telefonica Blue, che con i 2 punti incassati è sempre terzo, ma a mezzo punto da Puma, il passaggio dell’Horn è stato festeggiato a lungo. Gli uomini dello skipper olandese si sono potuti rilassare, fumando sigari e brindando in ricordo delle difficoltà patite. Una festa resa possibile dalla particolare clemenza delle condizioni meteo.
Condizioni meteo che hanno ostacolato l’inizio della risalita di Ericsson 3, bloccato per lunghe ore al largo delle coste argentine. Magnus Olsson, agitato come non mai in vista dell’arrivo, è riuscito a riposare un pò dopo giorni di iper attività. Al suo risveglio Ericsson 4 si era avvicinato, ma per Torben Grael il sogno è durato poco: dopo solo qualche ora, i cugini erano ancora nuovamente in fuga, lanciatio verso Rio.
“Lanciati è una parola grossa – ha spiegato Aksel Magdahl da bordo di Ericsson 3 – Al momento avanziamo bene, ma davanti a noi le cose sono complesse. Fra due giorni siamo attesi da un campo di alta pressione e il rischio di finire parcheggiati una seconda volta non è da escludere. Bisognerà stare con gli occhi aperti e tenersi lontani dai guai”.
A creare problemi a Ericsson 4 è stata una copiosa perdita di olio idraulico, individuata in uno dei bracci che movimentano la chiglia: “Fortunatamente, già due giorni fa ci eravamo accorti che qualcosa non andava ed eravamo intervenuto per tempo – ha spiegato Horacio Carabelli – Oggi abbiamo navigato per un pò mure a dritta e abbiamo perso sei litri di olio in poco tempo. Individuata la perdita in una valvola, l’abbiamo riparata e rimpiazzato l’olio andato perso. Ora le cose paiono andare meglio”.
Un contrattempo che non ha comunque impedito ad Ericsson 4 di difendere il buon margine di vantaggio conquistato su Puma, terzo a quasi 100 miglia dal VOR 70 di Torben Grael.
Leg 5, day 33, 22.00 GMT, rankings
1. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 1498 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +58 nm
3. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +144 nm
4. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +241 nm
5. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +675 nm
Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09, classifica generale
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) pt. 56.5
2. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) pt. 47
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) pt. 46.5
4. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) pt. 35.5
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) pt. 34.5
6. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) pt. 21
7. Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) pt. 12
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) pt. 10.5
BUSINESS BEFORE PLEASURE
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] It’s business as usual now that Telefonica Blue has rounded Cape Horn and, like the rest of the fleet, made good its escape from the hard labour of the Southern Ocean. The pleasures of Rio await.
Bouwe Bekking and his men passed the scoring waypoint at the Atlantic-Pacific intersection at 13.39 GMT. Apart from the job satisfaction, they added another two points to their pay packet to move to within half a point of Puma in the overall standings.
Their rounding came almost two full days after Ericsson 3 (12.20, 19.03.09), though they are mere statistics. What matters more is that a battle-weary crew on a jury-rigged boat can seriously contemplate Copacabana at last.
Telefonica’s tale of woe on this 12,300-mile marathon is well-documented. The self-inflicted wound of a three-point penalty due to a rudder change, leaving Qingdao 19 hours behind the scheduled starters after hitting a rock, mainsail delamination and a broken forestay were all low blows.
In keeping with the catalogue of incidents and accidents, Bekking reported that they had collided with a brick wall at the Horn. In an audio interview with yours truly, he said: “We are still right next to it (the Horn), we don’t have any breeze. We are becalmed basically. We have four knots of breeze and big waves so we are only moving about two to three knots. Looks like we’ll be hanging here for a few hours more.”
The drop in wind allowed the pressure valve to be released on board. It was also the prelude to a party. “We had some grappa and some big cigars out. It was a big highlight particularly given how this leg has been going for us. It took a bit of pressure off.”
There was also a relaxation of the No Speedo Rule for some. “It is forbidden to walk around (on Telefonica Blue) with your Speedos but we have some guys on here from the Black boat so I said the only time you can walk around in your Speedos is when we go round the Horn so David (Vera) and Mike (Pammenter) were happy.”
Bekking added that when the going got tough, they still managed to keep going on the Southern Ocean passage. “After the second ice gate, we had one big squall of about 40 knots but we’ve kept up the fight.” This video of Telefonica Blue at full tilt underlines the point.
With the Atlantic, and the warmer climes, comes compression. Otherwise known as the yo-yo effect if you are Puma‘s Ken Read or a parking lot if you happen to be Ericsson 3 navigator Aksel Magdahl.
“Just after we tried to sail through the convergenze zone off the South-east Argentine coast, we parked for a few hours before we got going again,” Magdahl said.
“There are very nervous times on deck for (skipper) Magnus Olsson who is not exactly the cool, calm and quiet type. But as the guys behind parked as well it was actually quite welcome, we could sleep without bouncing around for the first time in a while.
“It is nice to go into the last week of racing with an advantage of 50 miles, but it is not a very comfortable lead because we are sailing through this area of high pressure bubbles. My biggest concern is the high we will have to negotiate in two to three days’ time, it can easily become a parking spot.”
By the 16.00 GMT Position Report, wind speeds were in the low teens. Ericsson 3 had maintained its 50-mile lead over Ericsson 4 – a gain of five miles over the past 24 hours. Puma was third at +140.
For Green Dragon (+244), it’s a case of treading warily, according to skipper Ian Walker, from here to Rio. But at least the topography is easy on the eye.
“We are threading our way through some outlying islands and reefs just off the northern edge of the Falkland Islands,” he said. “It’s an incredible sight. These are quite steep islands with clouds popping off the top of all of them.”
As for overtaking manoeuvres, Walker says there will be “plenty of opportunities” between now and the finish and the Irish-Chinese entry has designs on a podium position.
“We’ve got two big high pressure areas to negotiate. We will need a helping hand from the weather. We are about seven hours behind Puma at this stage so we need the race to slow down for us at some stage I’d say.
“Having said that, the miles come and go pretty quickly. We haven’t given up. Even in the last 24 hours into Rio you can get stuck for more than seven hours. Our intention is to hound down Puma as best we can.”
Like his counterparts, Walker admitted that the StealthPlay cards might be wielded before the finish.
“It’s something we should not disregard,” he said. “I thought about playing it very early in this leg when we nearly made the move Ericsson 3 did by going over the top of that low pressure coming out of Fiji. But I thought if I did that everyone will know what we’re doing.
“It’s certainly something we’ve got up our sleeve. We can have a discussion about it, we’ve got to come up with a plan first.”
Where Walker sees beauty in the aforementioned islands, Ken Read sees a roadblock. “Flat water and a bit less sting to the breeze greeted the fine yachting today as we travel north towards Brazil,” he wrote. “Still one dilemma though. What is it with these damn islands always being in the way! Fiji, on the other side, which we had to cut through, and now the Falklands. There is a big ocean out here and we are magnets to land.”
While the rest of the crew burn the midnight oil on Ericsson 4, the boat’s Mr Fixit Horacio Carabelli, has been stockpiling reserves on board.
The boat developed an oil leak in the hydraulic ram mechanism of the canting keel. The seepage was first detected two days’ ago and with Carabelli’s slick work, it has been contained.
“We discovered that one of the valves on the manifold has a leak and we ended up with the bilge and the engine room flooded with oil,” he said.
“Fortunately we are sailing most of the time on port tack which is the low pressure side. Two days’ ago we sailed a lot on starboard, the pressure side, and the leakage became quite big. We lost about six litres of oil.”
“We don’t really want to service it until we have the tools to do it. Servicing may even make it worse. Unless we lose performance, we will continue to collect the oil and put it back into the main system. Without this, we can’t survive,” he adds holding the oil he has gathered up.
Finally, the equine mascot perched on Telefonica Blue’s Cape Horn sign in the main picture probably hasn’t escaped your notice.
It goes by the name of Doldrum and was a birthday present for trimmer Xabier Fernandez from his son. No doubt Doldrum (+653 DTL), is counting down the miles – 1,580 for the leaders – to Rio.
Leg 5, day 33, 22.00 GMT, rankings
1. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) DTF 1498 nm
2. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +58 nm
3. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +144 nm
4. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +241 nm
5. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +675 nm
Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS
Volvo Ocean Race 2008/09, classifica generale
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) pt. 56.5
2. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) pt. 47
3. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) pt. 46.5
4. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) pt. 35.5
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) pt. 34.5
6. Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) pt. 21
7. Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) pt. 12
8. Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) pt. 10.5
No comments so far.
Be first to leave comment below.