Volvo Ocean Race, la grande fuga di Ericsson 4

[singlepic=653,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Atlantico – Grandi novità sono successe nel corso delle ultime quarantotto ore nel mondo della Volvo Ocean Race. In primis il record di Ericsson 4, riuscito nell’impresa di superare il muro delle 600 miglia. Un record che ha cambiato le sorti della tappa: ora, infatti, tra il primo e l’ultimo ci sono oltre cinquecento miglia di distanza.
L’unico che tenta di resistere all’assolo dello scafo svedese è Il Mostro, ora staccato di settantacinque miglia dal leader. A perdere smalto, in queste fasi convulse della frazione, è Green Dragon, scivolato dalla terza alla quarta posizione. La barca di Ian Walker, messa fuori gioco da un’incredibile serie di incidenti, è stata scavalcata da Ericsson 3. A parlare delle vicissitudini occorse allo scafo irlandese, nel cosro di un collegamento via satellite, ci ha pensato lo stesso skipper: “Veniamo da una giornata ricca di problemi. Tutto è iniziato quando abbiamo urtato qualcosa di sommerso nelle prime ore del mattino. C’è stato un rumore assordante e la barca è passata da oltre venticinque nodi a zero in un batter d’occhio. Neal McDonald, che era al timone, ha spaccato la ruota e tutti sono caduti. Immediatamente abbiamo ispezionato lo scafo, i foils e la chiglia senza riscontrare problemi anche se, una volta ripartiti, abbiamo iniziato a sentire una forte vibrazione che poi è scomparsa da sola. L’uomo più fortunato a bordo è Guo Chuan, che al momento dell’urto era in piedi in cima al tambuccio ed è volato sottocoperta, finendo, dopo un volo di cinque-sei metri con la testa dentro al bidone delle immondizie. Un gesto che gli è valso il soprannome di cannonbal. A tirarlo fuori per i piedi ci ha pensato Andrew McIean. Non contento di ciò, una volta salito in coperta, è scivolato, sbattendo la faccia contro il winch e facendosi male al naso”.
Altre barche hanno riportato danni, come Telefonica Black. Dopo aver rotto quattro vele, la barca di Fernando Echavarri ha perso un timone, ha spaccato il bompresso e ha rotto un dei daggerboards, scivolando in sesta posizione a oltre quattrocentocinquanta miglia dal leader. L’equipaggio sta tentando di riparare le vele e la pala è stata sostituita da quella di rispetto. Sventure che hanno fatto finire il morale del team sotto i piedi, specie quando gli inseguitori hanno iniziato ad avvicinarsi.

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Damage limitation
[singlepic=651,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Some big numbers have appeared over the last 48 hours. First there was Ericsson 4’s historic 600-mile mark, now cricket scores are being racked up by the boats trailing in her awesome wake.
As Ericsson 4 continue to push the speed dial, all around them it’s a tale of the needle (on Ericsson’s speedometer) and the damage done.
The Distance to Leader (DTL) deficit to Torben Grael’s all-conquering crew is pronounced – 200 miles here, 400 there. By the 16:00 Position Report, the gap from first to last was almost 500 miles.
And, in their haste to stem the haemorrhaging of miles, the pursuers are taking their fair share of punishment. Only Puma Racing Team (+75), seem able to run at Grael’s pace.
Today’s ten zulu report appears under the headline of “war of attrition”, a reflection of how the battle scars on the leaderboard tell only half the story.
A cold front swept over the fleet in the pitch black of last night and brought with it disturbed seas, vicious squalls and the need for damage limitation.
Some of the heavier wounds have been inflicted on Green Dragon. They have now been relegated to fourth place behind a hard-charging Ericsson 3 (+194 DTL) – a gap of 100 miles – and 290 to Ericsson 4. Skipper Ian Walker, nursing bruised pride and a battered boat, described how they came off second best in a series of mishaps.
“I don’t really know where to start as the last 24-hours has been so incident-packed,” said Walker, whose boat hit something hard in the early hours.
“There was a deafening crunch and the boat went from 25 knots to a virtual standstill. Neal McDonald, who was helming, smashed the wheel and everyone else fell over. The crew inspected the hull, foils and keel for damage and all seems fine, apart from a huge vibration which cleared itself.”

“The luckiest man on the boat is Guo Chuan, our Chinese Media Crew Member. In one nosedive he flew from the companionway head over heels once or twice and ended up head first upside down in the rubbish bag in the galley – a distance of approximately five metres forward and two down.”
“Andrew (Mclean) pulled him out by the legs, he was unscathed apart from a new nickname – the ‘cannonball’. Not content with this he was on deck for the next one and face planted into a winch – his nose has seen better days but he is still fine he insists.”

“Wounded but far from slain”
“This, and all our other escapades mean we have lost third place for now. The Green Dragon is wounded but far from slain.”
There were tales of woe elsewhere, none more so than on Telefonica Black. Having already shredded four sails, Fernando Echavarri’s boat has lost a rudder, wiped off the bowsprit and broken one of its daggerboards.
They are currently in sixth place, but at +463 DTL. The sails are under repair and there is a temporary rudder in place. The lacerations to morale will take a little longer to fix.
Limping along at 13 knots, they will fall into the clutches of the following boats any time soon.
Meanwhile, Bouwe Bekking on Telefonica Blue in fifth (+366), reported 40 knots of wind, lots of rain and big gusts as the front rolled over them. “The last 24 hours we have been hanging in, not only sailing-wise, but you can see that lack of sleep is taking its toll,” he said.
“We decided to dive south and to see if we could make any gains with our approach towards Cape Town, hoping for more pressure. On the mileage table it doesn’t look very good, as the leaders still are racing straight to Cape Town. It is painful to look at it.”
For the back markers, Team Russia (+466) and Delta Lloyd (+470), both also positioned to the south of the fleet, Ericsson 4 is but a distant memory. At least they have ailing black boat in their sights.
Ger O’Rourke’s last 24 hours has not been without incident either. “Due to rig repairs at the top of the mast, we only deem it safe to fly fractional sails forward of the mast at wind speeds above 18 knots as a failure could mean rig failure and race over (we have no spare rig as most/all the other teams have),” he said.

“The poor boat has been thrashed”
“We do this while still trying to keep the Russians at bay. This is our objective now – not easy when you have this extra damaged rig handicap.” The Russians have not got the jump of O’Rourke’s men.
Meanwhile, my colleague Guy Swindells, displaying a disturbingly healthy knowledge of 80s Scottish bands (and I would drive 600 miles), chatted to Brad Jackson about the 24-hour record of 602.66 nautical miles. In fact Guy broke the news to him.
Jackson said: “I haven’t heard that one, are we up to 600?. I’ve just got up.”
“We’ve just been trying to think about keeping the boat going, ticking off the miles and putting some time on the guys behind rather than worrying about records. We’ll try and keep the thing together and moving along and worry about all the number afterwards.”
“It’s been a pretty busy few days. Pretty full on.”
The crew of Ericsson 4, have been a man down since Tony Mutter was evacuated with an injured knee at the Cape Verde Islands eight days into the first leg.
The absence of Mutter, a designated helmsman, has put a strain on the boats’ driving resources.
“It’s made it a little harder,” conceded Jackson. “He was one of our frontline helmsman. Torben has had to fill in for Tony and we just use four guys for the whole of the driving so it’s a pretty big workload on all of them.” Jackson included.
Even Ericsson 4 has not been able to dodge the bombardment from the elements. Dave Endean, the birthday boy on Ericsson 4, said: “I’d like to thank our shore crew, who did such a good job with the preparation of this boat. Such detailed preparation was paramount in us having enough confidence to hold this poor boat’s head under and sail to a new 24-hour speed record.
“I would also like to apologise in advance to the shore crew as this poor boat has been thrashed. It’ll be a busy couple of weeks in Cape Town.”
The haul-out area is likely to resemble a VOR 70 field hospital.

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