Volvo Ocean Race, Telefonica Black si è ritirato, Green Dragon quasi
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingIncidentiOceanoPuma Ocean RacingTeam Delta LloydVelaVolvo Ocean Race 25 Gennaio 2009 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=1529,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Mar Cinese Meridionale – Il peggio sembra essere passato e Telefonica Blue, uscito dal fortunale che ha obbligato la quasi totalità degli equipaggi a riparare sottocosta – quando non al ritiro – con una piccola avaria alla strumentazione elettronica, se ne va indisturbato verso Qingdao, seguito da Ericsson 3, lontano 57 miglia dal leader, ed Ericsson 4.
Bekking, obbligato al tavolo da carteggio da uno strappo muscolare, ha riconosciuto i meriti della concreta leadership a Jordi Calafat e Jonathan Swain, che si sono alternati al comando della barca: “Hanno fatto davvero grandi cose e hanno lavorato insieme come un grande team. L’unica cosa che ho potuto fare è stato stare sveglio e dare informazioni e consigli. In fin dei conti l’unico consiglio che ho dato è stato quello di conservare la barca e portarla a Qingdao tutta d’un pezzo”.
Prima di perdere l’anemomentro, l’equipaggio di Telefonica Blue ha letto raffiche di 55 nodi: “Dopo ne sono arrivate di ancora più intense: l’acqua era nebulizzata e non si poteva guardare avanti a occhi nudi”.
Per uscire dalla difficile situazione meteo, il team di Bouwe Bekking ha messo al centro la chiglia, issato il fiocco da tempesta e dato tre mani alla randa. Un assetto molto conservativo, indispensabile per preservare l’integrità strutturale del VOR 70 dell’Equipo Telefonica: “Non c’è comunque da stupirsi – ha concluso Bouwe Bekking – Sapevamo da tempo che questa sarebbe stata la tappa peggiore di tutte”.
Ora che lo Stretto di Luzon è alle spalle, il battistrada guarda con fiducia al proseguio della frazione. Il vantaggio su Ericsson 3 ed Ericsson 4, seppur limatosi in seguito alla scelta di sfuggire parzialmente al mare seguendo una rotta meno diretta, è infatti di quelli importanti. Resiste in quarta posizione, davanti al Team Delta Lloyd, Il Mostro, tornato a naigare dopo aver tentato di riparare il boma.
Cattive notizie per Telefonica Black e per Green Dragon. Il primo, guidato da Fernando Echavarri, ha dovuto alzare bandiera bianca, messo fuori causa da una crepa apertasi nello scafo; la prima riparazione, effettuata durante una sosta in rada, ha ceduto dopo poche miglia di navigazione e lo skipper ha deciso di ritirarsi dalla frazione, riparando a Susic Bay, dove arriveranno i componenti dello shore team per valutare il da farsi. Lo scafo di Ian Walker, invece, accusa danni strutturali alle sezioni prodiere. L’equipaggio ha tentato una riparazione e sta ora facendo vela verso lo Stretto di Luzon, assolutamente incerto sull’immediato futuro.
Leg 4, day 7, 16.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 794 nm
2 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +57 nm
3 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +68 nm
4 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +208 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +295 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +312 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) Retired
Per seguire la regata sul Race Tracker clicca qui.
VOLVO OCEAN RACE, COMMANDING LEADS FOR TELEFONICA BLUE
[singlepic=1530,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Telefónica Blue, with Bouwe Bekking/NED and his men, has emerged from the aftermath of yesterday’s carnage, unscathed, other than breaking their wind instruments, and now has a commanding lead.
Bekking was directing operations yesterday from his bunk, with an injury to a muscle in his back, and paid tribute to his two watch captains, Jordi Calafat/ESP and South Africa’s Jonathan Swain: “They all worked as great team in the last 36 hours. The only thing I could do was be was awake and give my input and advice, which was, above all, ‘Boys, keep it in one piece’.
The team registered 55 knots of wind, prior to losing their wind instruments, which, navigator Simon Fisher said, meant even looking upwind was nearly impossible with so much spray from the wind. “The sea looked very white and it was very wet on deck,” he said.
The team centralised the canting keel, sailed with three reefs in the mainsail and a storm jib set and the rest of the sails were safely stowed below, to ensure that they could sail as slowly as possible, but with enough steerage to avoid big waves. A professional display of good seamanship without a doubt. . “We always new this was going to be a horrible leg,” Bekking said.
Bekking added that being stuck down below in his bunk was the best way to feel how big the crashes were. He could tell who was steering and when the boat was about to launch off a wave.
Last night they started to crash the boat too hard, so the team invested some of their lead to sail away from the finish on a better angle to the waves, but now they are back up to full race mode and Bekking is able to move around the boat.
Telefónica Blue has now safely crossed the Luzon Strait and is sailing 25 miles offshore up the eastern coast of Taiwan, just northeast of Botel Tobago Island. Ericsson 3 (Magnus Olsson/SWE) is just six miles from the southern tip of Taiwan and Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael/BRA) is 13 miles behind her.
Elsewhere in the fleet, the three damaged boats are making progress, but Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) has had to retire.
Green Dragon (Ian Walker/GBR), Puma (Ken Read/USA) and Team Delta Lloyd (Roberto Bérmudez/ESP) have all resumed racing, but are now many miles behind Telefónica Blue. Puma has just started out across the Strait, while the others still have some way to go in the lee of Luzon Island.
Telefónica Black has officially retired from this leg. The boat has a crack in the hull, which is of some concern, and the team is heading towards Manila where they will rendezvous with their shore crew and design team, to assess what needs to be done to get the boat back in shape and ready for the in-port race in Qingdao on 7 February.
Skipper of Green Dragon, Ian Walker, said today, “We are expecting a tortuous trip, where will have to balance preserving the boat with our makeshift repairs, against getting to Qingdao as quickly as possible.”
Team Delta Lloyd got going rather quicker than they intended. Yesterday, they ended up in the Bay of Salomague, which was nicely secluded. The first thing the crew did was to rest, and, during the night, Green Dragon pulled in to the same bay.
After sunrise, they tackled their repair list. Mending the mainsail was by far the biggest job, but David Pella also fixed the steering wheel, which had broken on the outer ring. The rest of the crew cleaned up the boat.
“Our goal was to set sail at 1800 hours local time, but, after seeing Green Dragon weighing anchor, the work speed increased even more and we managed to raise anchor at 1710 local time,” said navigator Frits Koek. The team is currently reporting a high swell left over from yesterday’s storm, but, with just 11.5 knots of wind, it is causing no problems.
Ken Read, whose red and black Puma, snapped her boom in two yesterday, described the conditions yesterday as worst than those found in the notorious Bass Strait. “This is the nastiest place on earth he said.”
For Telefónica Blue, the air temperatures are steadily dropping although the warm current is keeping the sea temperature up. They have 822 nm to run to the finish are anticipating crossing the finish in Qingdao late on the 28 January/early 29 January. The stopover in Qingdao will be hard for the teams because it will be short and cold and, as well as an in-port race, they have a big leg ahead of them to prepare for. Leg five is the longest leg in the history of the race; 12,300 nm to Rio de Janeiro.
Leg 4, day 7, 16.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) DTF 794 nm
2 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +57 nm
3 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) +68 nm
4 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +208 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +295 nm
6 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +312 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) Retired
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