Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson 4 di nuovo al comando

[singlepic=1864,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Pacifico – Salutate le Fiji, luogo di amletici dubbi e difficili scelte tattiche, la flotta impegnata nella quinta tappa della Volvo Ocean Race ha ripreso il suo cammino verso il cancello posto a 36 gradi di latitudine sud, dove in palio ci sono i primi punti di questa che, a conti fatti, è la frazione più lunga nella storia dell’evento.

A guidare il gruppo è Ericsson 4, passato a est delle isole assieme a Green Dragon a ai cugini di Ericsson 3. Il Mostro, leader fino a poche ore fa, è secondo, ma il ritardo di 18 miglia rispetto allo scafo di Torben Grael racconta una storia di sicura soddisfazione per gli amanti delle situazioni ingarbugliate e combattute.

Tra gli equipaggi, intanto, serpeggia voglia di Nuova Zelanda. I 10 kiwi impegnati in questa Volvo Ocean Race guardano con malinconia all’idea di passare a poche miglia da casa e non poterci mettere piede. Ian Walker, skipper di Green Dragon, scherza sulla cosa e dichiara di aver nascosto i passaporti di Andrew McClean e Chris Main perchè “…non si sa mai decidano di raggiungere la riva a nuoto”.

Su Ericsson 4 l’umore è tornato alto. L’equipaggio è soddisfatto di essere il più a sud della flotta e di poter indicare la via agli avversari. Tra le altre cose, oggi è stata abbattuta un’altra importante barriera mentale, quella delle 8.000 miglia da percorrere: “E’ divertente sentire i ragazzi dire che mancano solo 8.000 miglia all’arrivo: se uno ci pensa a mente fredda è davvero un mucchio di strada – ha commentato Ryan Godfrey, il prodiere – Il vento si mantiene leggero e credo che nei prossimi giorni cambierà poco. Comincio a dubitare che le mie previsioni riguardo al raggiungimento di Capo Horn fossero errate. Che dire! Per ora ci godiamo questo infinito bordo mure a sinistra, con la barca dritta lanciata  14 nodi”.

Gioia vera a bordo di Ericsson 3. Magnus Olsson è felice perchè ha finalmente trovato il modo di sanare le sue voglie di caffè. Nelle buste di cibo aperte sino ad oggi, infatti, a parte qualche dose di cappuccino solubile, non c’era traccia della nera bevanda. Un vero cruccio per lo skipper del team nordico, desideroso di tirarsi su con una tazza di caffè vero, privo di zucchero e additivi vari. Dopo 15 giorni in mare Gustav Morin, il Media Crew Member, ha trovato la miscela del desiderio in una busta per altro già ispezionata. Analoghi motivi hanno fatto sorridere Ian Walker, che dopo lunghe ricerche ha trovato il latte, utilizzato per macchiare il the.

Meno contento il Media Crew Member di Puma, Rick Deppe. Nel cuore della notte, mentre si godeva il sonno del giusto, è stato svegliato dall’equipaggio  che, in seguito alla diminuzione del vento, ha dovuto rivedere l’assetto della barca. Invitato a spostarsi verso prua, dove avrebbe dovuto dormire su un sacco di vele bagnato e vicino all’immondizia, ha declinato la proposta e si è diretto verso la cucina, in cerca di una tazza di the: “Mi sono accorto subito che  non c’erano più bustine e sarà così per i prossimi giorni. In teoria sono l’unico che beve the a bordo e, al momento della partenza, ho pensato a portare con me una scorta di tre bustine al giorno. Il problema è che tutti tendono a diventare amanti del the solo una volta che salgono in barca. A quel punto ho ripiegato su un caffè. Sono uscito in coperta alle 3.10 di notte sono rimasto stupito dal cielo stellato. Il vento era sui nove nodi e la barca avanzava senza rumore e senza alzare schizzi. In fin dei conti il caffè era davvero buono e mi sono goduto 45 minuti di pace e tranquillità, senza che nessuno sapesse dov’ero”.

Svago a parte, tutti guardano avanti e gli skipper ringraziano per questio giorni di tranquillità: “Ci sono pochi cambi di vele e a bordo la temperatura e l’assetto permettono di dormire davvero bene – spiega Ian Walker – Questo è davvero imporatnte perchè siamo in mare da oltre due settimane e ra pochi giorni sentiremo parlare di profondo sud. Meglio riposare, per essere in forma nel momento in cui le cose si faranno serie”.

Leg 5, day 15, 13.00 GMT, rankings
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 7.841 nm
2. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +18 nm
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +27 nm
4. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +50 nm
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +58 nm
Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

[flashvideo filename=video/vor/PassingFiji_280209.flv /]
Il passaggio delle Fiji. Video courtesy Volvo Ocean Race.

ERICSSON 4: LEADER OF THE PACK
[Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] After negotiating the two islands that make up Fiji yesterday, the pack was split in its decision to go east, west or straight between the islands. Today, as the islands fade into the distance, Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael), who chose an easterly course along with Green Dragon (Ian Walker) and Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson) is back at the top of the pack as the fleet heads south towards New Zealand.

Unfortunately for the New Zealanders in the crew, and there are 10 of them, five of whom make up the Ericsson 4 crew, there will be no stop in New Zealand for the Volvo Ocean Race this time, which is causing some anxiety among the crews. Ian Walker has hidden the passports onboard Green Dragon in case his two, Andrew McClean and Chris Main, make a swim for it.

“There was already some talk of swimming ashore as we sailed through the islands off the eastern tip of Fiji, so we will have to stay out of swimming range of the New Zealand coast,” he said.

Onboard Ericsson 4, the crew are relieved as, once again, they become the southernmost boat in the fleet. A milestone onboard today has been passing the ‘8,000 nm to go’ point. “It’s funny to hear the guys saying ‘only 8,000 miles to go’. Our minds must be bending a little out here as 8,000 nm is still a very long way to go,” wrote Ericsson 4’s bowman Ryan Godfrey. “The breeze is still pretty light and I suspect that we are falling behind all our earlier routing runs. One upside of this is that I am now secretly confident that my Cape Horn ETA bet is looking good, as it is one of the later dates”.

Throughout the fleet, everyone onboard is happy and relaxed as the breeze has settled and the boats are rolling along on an endless port tack at around 14 knots.

Two crew are particularly happy: Magnus Olsson, skipper of Ericsson 3, is happy because he is a coffee addict. All the food bags onboard his boat seemed to contain just pre-packed cappuccinos and small bags with ready mixed coffee and Magnus wanted the ‘real stuff’, with no sugar or anything else added. For days, MCM Gustav Morin rummaged through almost half their food bags, but no real coffee. After 15 days at sea, 18 for most of the crew, Magnus had got used to it, but yesterday, when Gustav opened a bag he hadn’t looked in before, there it was. Magnus celebrated. The other happy skipper is Ian Walker, for almost the same reason, except that he wanted powered milk so he could have a nice cup of tea, and this, at last, has come to light.

But, onboard Puma (Ken Read) in second place, MCM Rick Deppe, is not happy. In fact, he’s pretty grumpy, having been wakened from his nice sleeping place on a beanbag in a cool corner at the back of the boat, when the wind went light and the crew needed to move the weight forward. Rick declined the offer of sleeping on a wet sail forward of the mast next to the rubbish bags and instead thought a cup of tea would be just the thing.

“I head off to the galley only to discover that we are out of tea bags for the next couple of days. In theory, I am the only tea drinker on the boat and I am allocated three bags per day. The problem is that other people tend to become tea drinkers the moment they step on board,” he said. He settled for coffee on deck and, at 0310, he was cheered up by the beauty of the night. “The wind was blowing around nine knots and the sea was perfectly flat, subsequently no splashing at all – a very rare occurrence on a Volvo 70. This fact alone was enough to cheer me up. The coffee was warm and tasted great and I had had a brilliant 45 minutes up on the foredeck, and no-one even knew I was there.”

Onboard Telefónica Blue, the team has been celebrating navigator Tom Addis’ 39th birthday with a small bottle of wine and some macadamia nuts. “A small sip of wine was a treat to the palette after water-maker water for so many days for sure,” said helmsman Simon Fisher.

The theme of food continues to Ericsson 4, where the crew has been amusing themselves with a ‘pea-throwing’ competition. “We have an abundance of what we thought were wasabi coated peas, but something was lost in our Chinese and we ended up with peas covered in an unknown and flavourless coating,” explains Ryan Godfrey. The crew is now seeing who can throw a pea and get it through the 30mm mainsail clew ring from a distance of four metres. “It is harder than it sounds as the apparent wind has to be taken into consideration,” says Ryan. So far, only one pea has made it through the ring, thrown by Brad Jackson. “There is some doubt if it went through as he claims it did,” Godfrey added.

Onboard Ericsson 3, the crew is preparing for the Southern Ocean and being more vigilant with their eating, sleeping and adhering to the watch system properly. “We can’t afford the guys to be burned out and sick after the first part of the leg and not be 100 per cent when we reach the Southern Ocean,” says Gustav Morin. The team believes they will put in a strong performance in the Southern Ocean, provided they stay in shape.

The flat water and medium wind speeds, with few sail changes, is allowing the crews to sleep well on their off watch and recharge their batteries in preparation for what is ahead. “We may have done 5,000 nm, but this leg has hardly started,” said Ian Walker.

Ericsson 4 has 570nm to run until she is level with the northernmost point of New Zealand. They are 780 nm from the northwestern tip and 682 nm due north of the latitude 36 scoring gate. The fleet is currently split across an east/west divide of approximately 45 nm with Telefónica Blue the westernmost boat in the fleet and Ericsson 4 in the east.

Leg 5, day 15, 13.00 GMT, rankings
1. Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 7.841 nm
2. Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +18 nm
3. Ericsson 3 SWE (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +27 nm
4. Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +50 nm
5. Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +58 nm
Team Delta Lloyd NED/IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) DNS
Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) DNS
Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) DNS

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