Volvo Ocean Race, west is best
Equipo TelefonicaEricsson RacingGreen Dragon RacingOceanoPuma Ocean RacingTeam Delta LloydTeam RussiaVelaVolvo Ocean Race 28 Novembre 2008 Zerogradinord 0
[singlepic=926,250,170,,left]Volvo Ocean Race – Oceano Indiano – L’ovest è meglio. Questa è la conclusione cui sono giunti i protagonisti della Volvo Ocean Race che per primi hanno attraversato l’Oceano Indiano da sud a nord, in regata.
Una conclusione maturata osservando il grande exploit di Telefonica Blue che, obbligato dalla rottura di un daggerbord a rimanere alla sinistra della flotta nella speranza di poter far prua verso Cochin con un angolo non troppo chiuso, ha trovato vento fresco ed ha salutato le calme equatoriali con un margine di tutto rispetto su Ericsson 3, fermo in terza posizione a oltre cento miglia dalla barca di Bouwe Bekking, a sua volta altrettanto attardata da Ericsson 4, scappato dai Doldrums a tempo di record e ormai lanciato con passo sicuro verso l’India.
Il grosso del gruppo, nel frattempo, si è compattato al centro, nella scia di Ericsson 4. A tentare di tenere testa ai vari Green Dragon, a bordo del quale si cerca di optare per una rotta che permetta al VOR 70 di non risultare eccessivamente penalizzato della mancanza del boma, Team Delta Lloyd e Il Mostro è Ericsson 3 che, a possibili scelte tattiche alternative, ha preferito restare in controllo sugli avversari, concentrandosi sulla conduzione della barca.
Cattive notizie giungono da Telefonica Black, cui la sorte ha riservato lo stesso destino capitato alla gemella Telefonica Blue. Nel corso delle passate ore, infatti, Fernando Echavarri ha comunicato la rottura di un daggerborad, evento che lo ha spinto a tenersi a sua volta a ovest, purtroppo con risultati ben diversi rispetto al team di Bouwe Bekking.
Niente di meglio racconta Wouter Verbraak. Il navigatore di Team Russia ha dovuto spiegare ai suoi compagni di avventura come mai non sono riusciti a raggiungere il varco che, secondo i pronostici, gli avrebbe permesso di scappare in fretta dalle calme equatoriali. Un appuntamento mancato costato l’ultimo posto a oltre trecento miglia di ritardo dal leader.
Leg 2, day 13, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 376 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +116 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +222 nm
4 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +231 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +231 nm
6 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +239 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +271 nm
8 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +336 nm
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[flashvideo filename=video/vor/Ericsson4_281108.flv /]
Video courtesy Volvo Ocean Race.
[flashvideo filename=video/vor/Puma_281108.flv /]
Video courtesy Volvo Ocean Race.
SLUGGING IT OUT
[singlepic=927,250,170,,left][Volvo Ocean Race Press Release] Bouwe Bekking and his crew aboard Telefonica Blue are Kings of the Doldrums this morning – in the burning heat of the Equator, they’ve left everyone in their dust – pulling through into second yesterday afternoon, they now have more than a 100 miles advantage over the group behind, who are still slugging it out at close quarters.
While Torben Grael and Ericsson 4 have also stretched their lead, they were further north and already into the better breeze yesterday morning. It’s Telefonica Blue who are the show stoppers, down and out after breaking their daggerboard, they were forced – to their frustration – to the west. But it seems that in these Doldrums, as in the Atlantic, west is best.
And after their boat handling issues in the heavy air running of Leg 1, it’s clear that this stuff is Telefonica Blue’s real sweet spot. They stormed through the Doldrums, relative to the boats around them, in the Atlantic, and they’ve done it again here.
By 10.00 Zulu, Ericsson 4 had spent the night powering north towards Cochin with a south-westerly True Wind Direction (TWD). Everyone had got a version of the westerly, the difference being that Ericsson 4’s had been blowing at 15 knots True Wind Speed for most of the time (TWS in the Data Centre), while Telefonica Blue had 10 or 11 and the others less than five knots.
No surprise then at the size of Torben Grael’s lead this morning – Telefonica Blue were over a 100 miles behind, and chasing them up a lane 100 miles to their west, both tracks pretty much parallel, no one showing much interest in closing down the leverage.
With almost geometric precision, the main pack had positioned itself in a middle lane between these two, as everyone turned to point at the finish overnight. Led by Ericsson 3, Delta Lloyd, Green Dragon and Puma are so close that the stress-o-meter is off the dial. But that’s still better than trailing behind in the world of pain in which Telefonica Black (to the west) find themselves, along with Team Russia, whose eastern strategy has gone down in flames.
The stress-o-meter is off the dial
The only good news for the back six boats is that after a night as the drifters, waving goodbye to the two boats with wind, they were at least moving again this morning.
All these changes are easily tracked in today’s graph, once again of Distance to Leader (DTL) and Leg Position (Leg_Posn) – showing the inexorable rise to the top of Telefonica Blue, and the extraordinary rate of gain of Ericsson 4 – the mother of all squeeze boxes?
The biggest lane change came from Ericsson 3 – yesterday afternoon these guys were the furthest east of the gang of four, when they decided to narrow their True Wind Angle (TWA in the Data Centre) and sail higher and make ground to the west. I suspect that Anders Lewander and his navigator, Aksel Magdahl, saw the gains that Telefonica Blue was making out that way, and with both Delta Lloyd and Green Dragon threatening from a position out to the west as well, decided to hedge their bets. But in the irrational world of gyrating weather forecasts and random clouds that these guys find themselves, Ken Read did exactly the opposite, moved Puma into the eastern lane overnight and stemmed his losses.
A world in which nothing was as it seems was starting to have an effect on everyone’s nerves. For some it’s been easier than others – Matt Gregory explained to Guy Swindells the advantage of following the others into the Doldrums, having rested everyone for the crossing, again emphasizing the importance of sailing the boat well in this stuff.
But aboard Ericsson 3, Media Crew Member, Gustav Morin doesn’t have the advantage of action. He wrote in an email yesterday afternoon, “We are stuck on the ocean and our excitement over the racing and the arrival to India is overpowered by frustration.”
Nothing but hard miles between the fleet and the finish
On Green Dragon, Ian Walker talked with Guy Swindells about the impact their broken boom was having on performance – an edge in his voice as the Dragon sat, completely becalmed. This morning, Walker’s trade mark laconic humour was holding up in his latest email, “As for our current plans, they vary from the ultimately professional attitude of staying patient, fighting for every inch and maintaining the intensity in desperately trying circumstances, to putting on the engine and heading for a cool beer and fresh food in the Maldives.”
Telefonica Black’s skipper, Fernando Echavarri, reported more fully on their broken daggerboard and the losses incurred in another interview with Guy. Team Telefonica losing one daggerboard is unlucky, losing two might be regarded as careless. Like their sistership, they ended up to the west as a result, unlike their sistership, it hasn’t yet come good for them.
It’s been a really tough couple of days for Team Russia’s navigator, Wouter Verbraak, as they have seen their eastern strategy unravel. But Wouter was also keeping his chin up when he spoke to Guy – reflecting that at least he hadn’t been keel-hauled yet.
But that was before this morning’s weather forecast put them a couple of days behind Ericsson 4 into Cochin. Today’s Predicted Route image shows the position of the rest of the fleet at Ericsson 4’s anticipated arrival time of Sunday morning, Zulu. Torben Grael and his team will get the best of what is now a dying band of westerly breeze and ought to hold their lead home, despite the final miles being slow.
And the western side of the course should hold up for Telefonica Blue to keep second – but … once that westerly has gone (and no one south of Telefonica Blue will see much of it) the next ‘blast’ of wind will come from the north-east, through the gap between India and Sri Lanka. That will turn the final miles into a beat which, (apart from being like not bothering to buy a ticket the week your regular, lucky lottery number comes up) will be on starboard tack. And that’s the tack for which Telefonica Blue is missing a daggerboard.
Leg 2, day 13, 10.00 GMT, rankings
1 – Ericsson 4 SWE (Torben Grael/BRA) DTF 376 nm
2 – Telefónica Blue ESP (Bouwe Bekking/NED) +116 nm
3 – Ericsson 3 SWE (Anders Lewander/SWE) +222 nm
4 – Green Dragon IRL/CHN (Ian Walker/GBR) +231 nm
5 – Team Delta Lloyd IRL (Roberto Bermudez/ESP) +231 nm
6 – Puma Racing Team USA (Ken Read/USA) +239 nm
7 – Telefónica Black ESP (Fernando Echávarri/ESP) +271 nm
8 – Team Russia RUS (Andreas Hanakamp/AUT) +336 nm
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