Volvo Ocean Race, Il Mostro davanti a tutti
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingVelaVolvo Ocean Race 17 Maggio 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=2515,300,204,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Boston – Boston è già un puntino che si perde dietro la scia dei VOR 70: gente che va, gente che viene, località che si animano, quindi tornano alla vita di sempre.
La flotta, salutati gli Stati Uniti, mentre passa a est di Cabe Sable Island, una piccola isola canadese posizionata a sud della Nuova Scozia, è guidata da Puma. Lo scafo di Ian Walker, spinto da venti tesi provenienti da sud-sudest, vola verso lo Scoring Gate al largo di Newfoundland.
Solo 11 miglia separano il primo dall’ultimo, ancora una volta Green Dragon, controllato parzialmente dai giocatori del Volvo Ocean Race Game, che impongono rotta e scelte tattiche rispondendo di volta in volta a sondaggio ogni giorno diversi. Poche responsabilità quindi per l’equipaggio e per il navigatore che, a ben vedere, è comunque colui incaricato di sottoporre ai fans i questionari ogni dodici ore, accompagnandoli con una dettagliata descrizione della situazione meteo. Ian Walker e Ian Moore possono decidere se seguire le indicazioni ricevute da terra e se non lo fanno sono tenuti a dare una spiegazione in merito.
Momenti di tensione si sono registrati poco prima della boa di disimpegno, doppiata ieri a poche ore dal via. Improvvisamente la flotta ha visto uscire da un banco di nebbia un’enorme petroliera che ha iniziato a suonare la sirena per farsi largo. L’intervento delle motovedette della Guardia Costiera è servito a fermarne l’avanzata e ha dato modo ai protagonisti di liberare la zona in tempi rapidi.
La nebbia è uno dei nemici più temuti dagli equipaggi ed è tipica di questo tratto di mare, al punto che, nel corso degli anni, si sono registrate diverse decine di incidenti, più o meno gravi.
Volvo Ocean Race, day 2, 13.00 GMT
1. Il Mostro (Ken Read/USA) 2513 nm
2. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +1 nm
3. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) +1 nm
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +1 nm
5. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +2 nm
6. Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) +7 nm
7. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) +11 nm
FOGGY START TO ATLANTIC CROSSING
Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] For the fleet racing in leg seven of the Volvo Ocean Race, the final ocean leg before three coastal legs take the race to its conclusion in St Petersburg in late June, the city of Boston is long forgotten and so is the whale exclusion zone. It’s the fog that they have to concentrate on.
At 13.00 GMT today, Puma was leading the pack briskly east towards Cape Sable Island, a small Canadian island located at the southernmost point of the Nova Scotia peninsula, in around 20 knots of south-southeasterly breeze. They have around 400 nm to run to the scoring gate set off Newfoundland.
Only 11 nautical miles separate the fleet from first to last and six nautical miles from north to south. Telefónica Blue is furthest to the north with Puma alongside. Further south is Ericsson 4 with Green Dragon to her south, but 10 miles astern. Ericsson 3 and Delta Lloyd are further south again and Fernando Echávarri with Telefónica Black has taken the most southerly route.
Green Dragon‘s tactics are being partially controlled by the 200,000 players in the Volvo Ocean Race online game. Every 12 hours during this leg, the virtual skippers in the race are sent a poll from Green Dragon. It includes a description of their current situation, such as details on weather conditions, boat condition and the crew, as well as an outlook for the next 24/26/48/72 hours. Each poll includes at least three options for the Green Dragon crew to take. Green Dragon can then, at the discretion of skipper Ian Walker or navigator Ian Moore, follow the guidance of the online community. If the team decides not to take the advice, they will send an explanation to the gaming community for their reasoning.
Late last night, Ian Walker sent his second question to be polled by the gaming community. The first one received over 10,000 votes. “It will be fascinating to see how the gaming community’s choices compare with the decisions Ian Moore and I make onboard,” he said.
Right from the start, and throughout the first night, fog has been causing some anxious moments in the fleet. In the first hour of the leg, immediately after the start inside Boston Harbour, a huge tanker loomed out of the mist, straight into the path of the racing fleet.
“When there were only a couple of minutes left to the mark, we suddenly saw an enormous tanker coming out from the mist and steering straight towards us. It was surrounded by police boats with screaming sirens and I think the captain was pretty irritated when we tacked straight in front of the ship to quickly go around the mark,” explained MCM Gustav Morin onboard Ericsson 3.
Fog is one of the worst hazards at sea and it means constant radar watch. However, radar does not pick up the dozens of lobster pots, which littered the area just after the fleet set out into the open ocean, and in his first 20 minutes on deck, Neal McDonald from Green Dragon had to avoid 15 of them.
At just after midnight GMT, Ericsson 3 was again reporting very dense fog. “We had Magnus Olsson on the bow looking for crossing boats sailing out of the channel,” explained navigator Aksel Magdahl.
While onboard Telefónica Blue, skipper Bouwe Bekking described a near miss with a powerboat just after the start, which came with centimetres of the blue boat. “It could have been very ugly,” Bekking said.
Sistership Telefónica Black passed very close to some fishing boats. “They suddenly appear on the radar screen, but are well hidden in the fog,” wrote navigator Roger Nilson, who went on to explain that fog is common in this part of the world as the warm, southerly winds spread over the cold water. “Probably the fog will stay until after the Grand Banks, where the water will be warmer due to the Gulf Stream,” he said.
Volvo Ocean Race, day 2, 13.00 GMT
1. Il Mostro (Ken Read/USA) 2513 nm
2. Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +1 nm
3. Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) +1 nm
4. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) +1 nm
5. Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +2 nm
6. Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) +7 nm
7. Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR) +11 nm
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