Volvo Ocean Race, meno di cento miglia per Ericsson 4 ma…
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingTeam Delta LloydTeam RussiaVelaVolvo Ocean Race 29 Novembre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=956,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Cochin – Nonostante i distacchi siano importanti, la situazione in seno alla flotta della Volvo Ocean Race è piuttosto complessa. Ericsson 4, infatti, è da alcune ore finito in una zona totalmente priva d’aria. Torben Grael e il suo navigatore Jules Slater hanno strambato per spingersi quanto più possibile sotto costa, nella speranza di agganciare la termica e aumentare la velocità, da tempo inferiore ai cinque nodi. Troppo pochi se si considera che, alle spalle della barca svedese, Telefonica Blue naviga in vento fresco con spunti superiori ai quindici nodi.
Il margine di poco superiore alle settanta miglia potrebbe quindi risultare insufficiente per gli uomini dello skipper brasiliano che, lontani venti miglia dall’India e ottanta dal traguardo, guardano con malcelata preoccupazione anche a Ericsson 3, Green Dragon, Team Delta Lloyd e Il Mostro che, seppur lontani oltre duecento miglia dall’arrivo, stanno volando verso Cochin spinti da un consistente vento da ovest. Stando alle previsioni, la bolla d’aria che ha bloccato il cammino di Ericsson 4 dovrebbe espandersi per almeno altre dieci ore e il computer pronostica un arrivo in volata.
Tutto è possibile quindi, anche che la mancanza di un daggerborad (Telefonica Blue e Telefonica Black) o del boma (Green Dragon), alla fine, contino niente o poco più. La realtà è che a far la differenza sarà l’acume tattico di skipper e navigatori, chiamati, nel corso della giornata odierna, a leggere l’acqua in cerca di zone percorse da raffiche isolate.
L’unico ad apparire davvero fuori dai giochi è Team Russia. Fallito il tentativo di superare i Doldrums tramite un incosistente passaggio ad est, Kosatka ha perso miglia e morale e si trova ora a oltre cinquecento miglia dal traguardo.
Leg 2, day 14, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 78 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +77 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +245 nm
4 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +278 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +282 nm
6 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +283 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +315 nm
8 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +559 nm
Per seguire la regata sul Race Tracker clicca qui.
Per accedere alla galleria video clicca qui.
[flashvideo filename=video/vor/Ericsson4_291108.flv /]
Video courtesy Volvo Ocean Race.
[flashvideo filename=video/vor/Puma_291108.flv /]
Video courtesy Volvo Ocean Race.
THE FINAL FLOURISH
[singlepic=955,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Torben Grael and his Ericsson 4 crew turned the fifth card up and got the ace of spades yesterday, when a gale of south-westerly breeze drove them homewards at anything up to 30 knots.
Behind them, only Bouwe Bekking and Telefonica Blue enjoyed anything like the same conditions. The bulk of the fleet were glued to the water for most of the rest of the day, before they finally scrambled into the wind and began the long chase. But then, someone turned the fan off and Ericsson 4 started to slow …
At 10.00 Zulu Torben Grael and Ericsson 4 were less than 20 miles off the coast of India, and less than 80 from the finish at Cochin. The wind had died and they were crawling downwind in around five knots of True Wind Speed (TWS in the Data Centre), blowing from a southerly True Wind Direction (TWD). For the first time in almost three days, the Distance to Leader (DTL) was closing instead of opening – their advantage over second placed Telefonica Blue had halved in the course of the morning – it’s a rollercoaster out there.
Bouwe Bekking and company were still riding the wave – but Bekking and Fisher will be frantically trying to devise a plan to avoid the same fate, while pulling the Buffalo Gals move (the lyric says… ‘go round the outside’ – which is the passing move that Bekking will have in mind) on Ericsson 4.
Team Russia were trying to break free
Bekking was also maintaining his three digit advantage over the next group, which was led by Ericsson 3. They have in turn eked out a precious 35 mile jump on the rest. Currently closest are Green Dragon, with Puma and Delta Lloyd four miles back and almost beside each other.
These four were all reaching, hammering north in a solid westerly, doing speeds in the mid-teens. Forty miles to the south-west, Telefonica Black were shadowing this group, while Team Russia were still grimly trying to break free of the light air, their deficit to Ericsson 4 climbing to over 500 miles – harsh punishment for their decision earlier this week to take the easterly route.
The weather forecast hasn’t borne much relation to reality these past few days, but Guy Salter, Ericsson 4’s Media Crew, was happy to accept the help, as the breeze steadily built through yesterday morning and into the afternoon. ‘We are experiencing a little difference in wind from forecast, to what we actually have … Flying along in flat water at 20 knots is a great feeling …’ Yup, but not for those still doing six knots behind you …
Their charge didn’t begin to slow until yesterday evening – by 22.00 Zulu their breeze was down to 12 knots, and approaching midnight it started to back (rotate anti-clockwise) round to the south. As they were running on port gybe, the wind shift was slowly taking them away from the course to Cochin.
Ericsson 3 have cleared the sand trap
By the early hours of the morning (around dawn local time) the wind had softened to 8 knots, and was all the way round to the south. Torben Grael and navigator, Jules Salter decided to gybe in towards the coast, presumably to look for land and sea breezes. They held starboard until they were 20 miles off Thiruvananthapuram, and gybed back to port, to sail more or less parallel to the coast, and then the wind died.
Telefonica Blue have had one bump in their road overnight, an unscheduled stop when they parked under a cloud, as reported by navigator, Simon Fisher this morning – but they wriggled free. Behind them, Ericsson 3’s tiny advantage (being just a few miles further north) finally made all the difference. They started to struggle free of the sand trap around 17.00 Zulu yesterday afternoon and to slide away from Delta Lloyd, Green Dragon and Puma.
By the 19.00 Zulu Position Report, the others were moving and the (slow-motion) chase had begun, and by 22.00 Zulu, the deficit had been stabilized. After their nightmare Doldrums crossing in Leg 1 (second to enter, sixth to leave), Anders Lewander and his team will be mightily relieved to get out of this one with a podium place intact. Whether or not they can hold it to the finish is another matter.
All this is summarized in today’s graph of Distance to Leader (DTL), where you can clearly see the moment when the advantage starts to shift back to the chasing pack, and True Wind Speed (TWS), which shows just what a blast of breeze Ericsson 4 benefitted from yesterday.
The local weather will dominate the final stretch
But what now? If you bring up the Race Viewer, and click on the ‘three wind arrows’ icon in the main bar, you can see the hole that Ericsson 4 has sailed into, and the westerly wind that the others (bar Team Russia) are riding towards them. What happens next is that the hole expands over the next 12 hours, before a new shot of wind flows out from north-east, between India and Sri Lanka. The bad news is that this breeze is not going to reach all the way north to Cochin.
This morning’s Predicted Route image is set for Ericsson 4’s arrival in Cochin, and shows Telefonica Blue still chasing them, Ericsson 3 chasing her, and the pack of three still desperately tight. But what the weather forecast can’t pick up is the local effects that will dominate this final stretch.
This great clip from Ericsson 4 shows their concern about the light air ahead of them. While Race Forecaster, Jennifer Lilly’s latest analysis discusses the impacts of the squalls and sea breezes that they will be relying on to get them home, in the absence of any real gradient wind.
Then we have to throw into the mix Green Dragon’s lack of a boom and Telefonica Blue’s lack of a daggerboard – oh, and I nearly forgot, Telefonica Black are also missing a daggerboard. These miles are going to be just as hard as any they did in the southern ocean at the beginning of the leg… but different.
Leg 2, day 14, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 78 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +77 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +245 nm
4 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +278 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +282 nm
6 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +283 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +315 nm
8 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +559 nm
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