Volvo Ocean Race, verso la burrasca

[singlepic=626,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Atlantico – Dopo essere scesi per oltre due giorni lungo la costa del Brasile, i protagonisti della Volvo Ocean Race hanno preso l’attesa decisione: prua a est, destinazione Città del Capo.
Tra loro e la città sudafricana, distante una decina di giorni di navigazione, tanto Oceano e una burrasca con venti fino a quaranta nodi, anche se in queste ore i venti sono leggeri e le velocità contenute.
Il primo a salutare il gruppo, rompendo gli indugi, è stato Ericsson 4. Come spesso accade in questi frangenti, la mossa ha scatenato un’immediata reazione da parte degli avversari, guidati da Il Mostro di Ken Read, da Green Dragon di Ian Walker e da Telefonica Black di Fernando Echavarri. I distacchi restano sempre minimi e la battaglia, per quanto in alto mare, viene condotta a vista ormai da svariate ore. Se i primi appaiono davero vicini, si fa sempre più profondo il solco tra il gruppo di testa e quello degli inseguitori, di cui fanno parte il Team Delta Lloyd, Ericsson 3 e Team Russia.
Come detto in apertura, l’intera flotta attende l’incontro con una burrasca da ovest particolarmente violenta, primo autentico banco di prova per i VOR 70 impegnati nella prima tappa di questa avvincente Volvo Ocean Race. L’allerta lanciato dai meteorologi ha permesso agli equipaggi di prepararsi per tempo: le barche sono state riordinate e si è cercato di mangiare nel migliore dei modi in vista delle lunghe ore durante le quali cucinare sarà pressochè impossibile.
“Ci stiamo preparando alla battaglia già da alcune ore – ha spiegato Mikel Pasabant, media crew member di Telefonica Black – Prevediamo di percorrere più di cinquecento miglia in ventiquattro ore, ciò vuol dire volare a oltre ventiquattro nodi di media: sarà un bel cambio di performance se si pensa che per coprire le ultime novecento miglia ci abbiamo messo più di tre giorni”.

Per guardare i video della regata clicca qui.

Per seguire la regata via web clicca qui.

Gearing up for sleigh ride to Cape Town
[singlepic=627,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] The fleet racing in leg one of the Volvo Ocean Race is about to have its first taste of ‘Life at the Extreme’ as the crews prepare to ride a 40 knot westerly gale straight towards Cape Town.
Leaders Ericsson 4 (Torben Grael) has started to make her turn to the east, followed by the chasing pack of four, Puma Racing Team (Ken Read), Green Dragon (Ian Walker) and Telefónica Black (Fernando Echávarri/ESP). But, while high winds are forecast, the fleet still has to negotiate a light patch of wind, before they can enjoy the sleigh ride east.
According to Volvo Ocean Race weather forecasters, the slow down should not last long, and, by the beginning of week three, there will be a series of strong lows moving east towards the Cape of Good Hope. But, although the fleet is gearing up for a quick ride to Cape Town, the predicted 40 knots of wind will be a big test for the Volvo 70s.
“In the old Volvo Ocean 60s, 40 knots would be towards the upper end of racing mode, but in these boats, 40 knots is a lot more like survival mode,” wrote MCM Guy Salter from Ericsson 4 this morning. “It will be bumpy, wet and very uncomfortable, but hopefully fast,” he adds.
Across the fleet, the crews are trying to get as much rest as possible, in anticipation of the gale yet to come. Cooking is going to be difficult, so topping up on freeze-dried food is a priority too. Everyone is triple checking their areas of responsibility and concentrating on the onslaught that lies ahead.
“We have been preparing for war since early morning,” writes Mikel Pasabant from Telefónica Black. The team is expecting in excess of 40 knots, which for them is good news. “We will at last catch up with the winds which will take us closer to the finish line and be able to fight for the leading place,” says Pasabant. From their position at the back of the leading group, they are beginning to experience a drop in wind, with big wind shifts.
Ian Walker/Green Dragon says the race is about to get ‘interesting’ as all the boats behind get the wind further north and cut the corner on the leaders. “The boats should aline north/south and it will look like a fairly equal dash for Cape Town,” he says. Those that do not keep up with the pace will drop off the back of the system and lose hundreds of miles. “It’s our job,” says Ian, “not to let that happen to us.”
The gales could see the fleet cover in excess of 500 nautical miles in a 24-hour period, which means looking for an average boat speed of around 24 knots. So far, it has taken the fleet three days to cover almost 900 nm south from the scoring gate at Fernando de Noronha.
Green Dragon’s navigator, Ian Moore says, “The reward for this southerly dash is brewing just south of Cabo Frio, and hopefully will start ploughing east following the south side of the St Helena high, dragging the entire fleet with it.”
“We will have to hold on tight and stay concentrated to keep the crew and equipment in one piece. We have a long a long trip in front of us,” says Eivind Melleby from Ericsson 3 (Anders Lewander).
The distance between the top four boats is starting to spread. At 1300 GMT today, Ericsson 4 led Puma Racing Team by one mile, but Green Dragon was 26nm behind the leader, and Telefónica Black 34 nm.
Telefónica Blue (Bouwe Bekking) leads the second group which are now very strung out, all losing miles to the leader in the last three hours. Ericsson 3 has had the best average boat speed of 15.5 knots, but Team Russia (Andreas Hanakamp) has had the best 24 hour run of 372 nm. Team Delta Lloyd (Ger O’Rourke) in sixth place is still proving that his generation one boat is up to the mark and has been level pegging with the rest of the fleet in terms of boat speed, averaging 14.8 knots in the past three hours.

Related post

Volvo Ocean Race, la flotta ha passato Rotterdam Volvo Ocean Race, Green Dragon guida la flotta fuori da Galway Volvo Ocean Race, l’ultimo ostacolo Volvo Ocean Race, la In-Port Race di Rio a Telefonica Blue