And they're off...

[grace]

i have never been seasick. a few times, certainly have come close due to diesel fumes mostly, but went to great lenghts not be out there in questionable seas. these guys are just asking for it !!! 

woo hoo, they are nuts.

[dazie]

Jeezus H. Christ.  Who the hell thought THIS leg would be good to do? 

With Team Russia pulling out due to lack of funds, there are 7 boats left. 

Telefonica Black broke badly enough to require them to pull out of the leg and motor to safe harbor
Green Dragon broke a stay (the thing that holds up the mast) plus took a 24 hr penalty for going to harbor to do structural repairs to the hull
Delta Lloyd took a 24 hr penalty for going to harbor to do repairs to their wheel (it smashed along the way) plus something else, haven't figured out what yet
PUMA took a 24 hr penalty for going to harbor to do repairs to their boom (it broke in half) and some structural repairs to their hull
Telefonica Blue smashed their nose when they hit something

Now Ericsson 3 looks to be pulling out of the leg.  That leaves ONE BOAT that isn't limping.  WTF.

Sorry.  I know people on every boat.  Last race they lost a crew member and a boat as they crossed the north Atlantic.  This is all freaky and scary and annoying that anyone would have thought sailing north east into a prevailing south east heading wind, through the notoriously crappy Luzon Straights was a good idea.

Ericsson 3, under the leadership of leg skipper Magnus Olsson, has turned downwind and is heading for Taiwan this morning. More details are expected shortly.

It's a heartbreaking turn of events for the Nordic crew, who were in second place, ahead of sistership Ericsson 4, when they turned off the race track. Conditions on the race course are very difficult again, with wind speeds approaching 30 knots and a confused sea state featuring waves of up to seven metres.

Bouwe Bekking, the skipper of leg leader Telefonica Blue, gives some insight to the current conditions in an email back to race headquarters last night: "It is worse out here than two days ago. it is not the windspeed, that is managable, but it is the crazy sea state," he reported.

"One wave washed our satellite dome off the back of the bus, so we can't call anymore and no weather info. Also the helmsman is getting washed off the wheel frequently. They are all wearing double harnesses..."

This, in addition to a hefty blow to the bow of the boat yesterday that resulted in damage to the 'crash-bow' a sacrificial section at the front of the boat that is designed for just this sort of eventuality.

[dazie]

Tuesday 27 January 2009, 09:52

Ericsson 3 - Gustav Morin (Media Crew Member)

"We are leaking"

Yesterday night I was terrified and today it's been even worse.

During the night the wind went from 10 to 40-knots and the sea state quickly became very bad. We had to take down the mainsail in a hurry.

All hands were called on deck and the guys were fighting blood and tears to get it down. The boat was almost airborne from time to time, and it was slamming hard and rocking uncontrollably.

I was sitting down below recording the action and watching it live. A surrealistic experience. In the biggest waves, the cameras switched themselves off and I was crossing my fingers that all the guys would turn up on the screen when the picture got back.

Luckily they did, even though I think it was really on the limit many times. The main was ripped in pieces and again we slowed down to keep the boat in one piece.

Maybe it was too late already then. The boat is not in one piece anymore.

Early this morning, we found the bow compartment full of water and soon after that, a four-meter crack and an open hole in the hull.

We were sinking!

The water was pouring in from the hole and the bow section was delaminating. You could feel how soft it had become when you stepped on it we could see it was moving in the waves.

Everyone worked like crazy, pumping, bilging and sponging the water out. As soon as we got most of it out, watch captain Richard Mason and boat captain Jens Dolmer started to reinforce the structure.

We took all the bunks down and cut them up to put them across the bow to strengthen it up. After a couple of hours work, it seemed like we were going to make it.

As soon as the boat started leaking we started heading towardsTaiwan.

Now I'm sitting in my survival suit and all the safety equipment is ready up on deck. If the sea state gets worse again, the reinforcement will most probably crack and the boat will go down quick.

It doesn't feel like we are in that much danger anyway. We only have 20-miles left to land and the Taiwanese coastguard will soon come out to guide us in and pick us up if the boat sinks.

The worst feeling for the moment is the huge disappointment from pulling out of the leg and the anxiety of how big the consequences will be from the delamination.

'You should have been quicker with your camera,' Aksel Magdahl said to me earlier, 'it's not every year that tears are dropping down my cheeks. This is so disappointing'.

We have fought extremely hard on this leg and we were in second place when this happened. Ericsson 4 was close, but the others were miles and miles behind.

But I guess we should mostly worry about keeping the boat above the surface right now. The seas are growing bigger and Jens Dolmer is screaming from the bow again.
Received 09:52

[dazie]

Another one down. 

Tuesday 27 January 2009 19:00 GMT

By Cameron Kelleher

The war of attrition on leg four claimed another victim this evening when Delta Lloyd reported that it was retreating to Taiwan with structural wounds.

One of the bow bulkheads on the boat has fractured and is delaminating. The crew has been pumping water out and the watertight area is closed in order to prevent further ingress.

The Dutch-Irish entry had been holding fourth place in a battle against torrid conditions off the Taiwanese coast when discretion got the better of valour.

Skipper Roberto Bermudez and his crew are now heading for the sanctuary of the port of Keelung, off the northern tip of Taiwan, where earlier today Ericsson 3 took refuge after rupturing their hull – and taking on water – in horrendous seas.

A few hours before the Delta Lloyd crew detected the cracked bulkhead, the mainsail had been torn, making a decision to backtrack inevitable.

"We are very disappointed, as we really wanted to do well in this leg. But Chuny (Bermudez) doesn't take any risks in terms of the crew's safety," said Media Crew Member Sander Pluijm.

"At the time we discovered the crack, we were sailing under storm jib and with three reefs in the main. Especially with the cold Chinese weather coming up, it was irresponsible to continue racing. We informed the coast guard and put the safety procedure into operation."

The crew has not officially suspended racing and is awaiting further inspection in Taiwan.

Pluijm added: "Due to the delamination, the hull is absorbing water, which softens the bow that might break by wave slamming. That is the biggest risk now. Therefore the crew closed the watertight bow compartment."

The brutal conditions on leg four with gusts up to 50 knots and seven-metre seas, have exacted a heavy toll on the fleet. Telefonica Black has retired and is undergoing repairs in Subic Bay, Philippines, while Ericsson 3 has now joined them on the inactive list.

The other walking wounded, PUMA (broken boom) and Green Dragon (bow structure damage), continue their progress to Qingdao.

[dazie]

**GRAPHIC**

Check out Ken Read's injured finger...

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31799465&l=03c94&id=132700427

[dazie]

Haha!  Gross.



Puma - Rick Deppe (Media Crew Member)

We're getting a bit of a reprieve today.

This race seems to be a constant cycle of getting the snot beaten out of you for an unspecified number of days followed by a couple of days to clean yourself up, lick your wounds and prepare as best you can for the next ass wuppin, because it's coming!

When it's game on, things start to fall apart pretty quickly and it's the galley that seems to get it the worst. It's up forward on our boat so when the boat jumps off a wave there is a multiplying factor to the amount of movement up there. I think of a see-saw and the amount of movement between the seat at the end, and the seat nearest the pivot point. Add to this the fact that you don't see the waves coming and therefore have no chance to brace for the impact. As well as the potential for a huge mess it's also quite dangerous. Add the final ingredient - food - and bingo, you now have a recipe for disaster.. no pun intended.

It starts slowly with the odd little spill here and there, its impossible not to. Usually the guys are pretty conscientious about clean up but its dark and you are bouncing around, so maybe a 90% job, and the grime slowly starts to build. Then it happens... a big spill, let's say a half bowl of greasy beef and noodles straight in the bilge. You're on hands and knees doing the best you can to collect everything up but the grease is starting to spread. You give a call for some help up on deck and while you are away, someone unknowingly steps in the area of the spill and then before you know the galley has reached a tipping point beyond which there is no coming back from until the weather eases up.

Imagine little incidents like this happening over and over and you start to get the idea. After two or three days of tough weather the galley can start to look like a major environmental disaster area. Noodles stuck in every corner of the bilge, a thin layer of grease on every hand hold, the trash bag overflowing. There are no paper towels until tomorrow and you still can't find the spray-n-wipe.

But not today! The whole galley area has had a major going over and is positively sparkling. Everything is squeaky clean as they say. The ever vigilant Rob Salthouse gave it the whole soap-down this morning and I came in this afternoon and did the disinfectant treatment. Rob also gave our failing stove a full service. We haven't had any problems with it yet, but a little preventative maintenance never hurts. Imagine a stove failure during our next heavy air upwind session coming soon. The whole thing is now held together securely with steel wire and should see us to Rio.

Rick

[dazie]

wooooo hoooooo!



A huge wave washes down the deck of Green Dragon in the Southern Ocean

As for the rookies, Salter reports they are taking it in their stride, in this school of hard knocks. Witness Salter's account of a near conversation with bowman and fresher Ryan Godfrey. "Ryan came below dripping wet in his survival suit goggles and harness and was halfway through telling me how short the sea was and how bad the nosedives were, when the boat stood on end," Salter recalls.

"I slid along my nav station seat and he disappeared mid-sentence and flew five metres and hit the mast bulkhead. The Flying Adelaide Atom was launched in his yellow jumpsuit like a human cannonball, luckily he was not hurt but the effect is like being stood on a train when the emergency brakes get slammed on. It's not the flight that hurts but the deceleration when you meet something solid, like the mast. That hurts.

"Yesterday some of the gusts were over 55 knots. A wipe out at 30+ knots doesn't bear thinking about (although I do all the time)."

[dazie]

Sorry Ursus, but I love Magnus..


No team has looked as thrilled as the Ericsson 3 crew when they were called on stage at the end of the evening to collect their prize for winning Leg 5. "We're really not that good," Magnus Olsson said modestly as his crew linked arms and jumped up and down. "But we have enormous team spirit."


Starting hours late after a 2 hour pit stop after sailing from the port where they had repairs, making a huge tactical jump north when everyone else went south, and winning the leg with a bunch of rookies.

Yeah.  They suck.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[dazie]

From Delta Lloyd navigator Wouter Verbak, after a sail change in the middle of the night:

Through spray drops on the ski-goggles I have a blurry view of the instruments on the mast. The boat is leaping from wave to wave and big three meter high fountains of spray are crashing over the bow and submerging the mast and instruments completely. The boat speed goes to 20, 21, 22, 23 knots and just hovers there. This is where skipper 'Chuny' is in his element. Fantastic driving. What a machines these boats are.

I am loving it. I only have one little problem. The ski goggles are essential to keep the spray out and are doing a great job. However, some waves are bigger than others, and with the big dumpers I recognise an essential shortcoming. Through the air vents at the top of my goggles the water pores straight into my glasses. With no way out at the bottom, the goggles are slowly filling up! Put some fish in and it would be a great personal aquarium. Not ideal for grinding and watching the numbers though! Need to solve this tomorrow with some drain holes in the bottom.

Wouter

[dazie]

http://www.youtube.com/v/olMOhJC8_l4

[dazie]

It would probably have made more sense If I'd mentioned that the sailor who says "I think he's lost" is my friend Stu.

Friendly acquaintance.

Drinking mate.  There.  That's it.  My drinking mate Stu.

[grace]

It would probably have made more sense If I'd mentioned that the sailor who says "I think he's lost" is my friend Stu.

Friendly acquaintance.

Drinking mate.  There.  That's it.  My drinking mate Stu.

what a fun bunch !!!

[dazie]

They're amazing.  Every one of them. 


The next leg starts tomorrow.  Boston to Galway.  Last race this short leg was the worst- they lost a crew member off one boat and another boat sank completely.  Let's hope this time is better. 

*crosses fingers*

[dazie]

Speaking of said lost crew member:

http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2009/May/HANS-HORREVOETS-TROPHY/index.aspx

They're giving an award to the best rookie in his honor.  I think that's neat.

Here's something from one of the boats.  I know both Magnus and Richard.

********
Sunday, 17 May 2009, 20:23 GMT

Ericsson 3 - Gustav Morin (Media Crew Member)

This morning Magnus Olsson stumbled from the galley up to the bulkhead where he sat down to have breakfast. It almost looked like he was in a coma. The speed of the spoon of porridge going from the bowl to his mouth decreased for every second. Just before he had finished his meal the spoon stopped moving – Magnus had fallen asleep.

His face was Rudolf red from the cold windy night and his eyes almost had the same color from tiredness and saltwater. When I woke him up, he said with a shivering voice, "This is crazy, I've got seven layers of clothing on me and still I'm cold. I think and hope it will not be this cold for more than two days. If it will take longer I don't know how to survive."

The drama queen has spoken...

But there sure is some truth in his words.

Soon before Magnus woke up Richard Mason jumped out of his bunk. He was shaking and made strange noises... "Hrrrrhhrrrhrrrr."

After some quick moves and a few more strange noises he said, "Usually I try to save some clothing a couple of days into this leg, but now I'm going full metal jacket straight away. And soon we will hit the Labrador current which is only two degrees. That will be fun..."

During the morning we have had seven degrees in both water and air and actually it was not that bad on deck, you manage a couple of hours without getting too cold. Night-time is what is bad. Then you can't see how close the racing is. All day we have had PUMA,  both Telefonicas and Ericsson 4 within eyereaching distance and I guess that makes it easier for the blood to flow.

We have constantly been doing around 20 knots and the last hour the wind has opened up a bit and now we are steadily doing well over 20. It is wet and fast but still not too bumpy. Last sched we were first in the fleet and the spirits are high onboard.

Well, almost everyone is in a good mood. It seems like some of us has adopted the American size of a portion of food too well. For both dinner and lunch two guys did not get any food... And the water that keep dripping down my neck and on my computer doesn't make my life more fun.

But it's not like I haven't been through that before, just another day in the office.

Gustav

[dazie]

Huh.  Well THIS is something you don't read every day...

Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 14:28 GMT

Ericsson 3 - Aksel Magdahl (Navigator)

Depressing times

It is extremely frustrating times onboard Ericsson 3. We can't really let go of the thought that we were in the lead and then, suddenly, we hit a whale and after that everything has been going bad. We lost three positions to the scoring-gate and after that we have lost even more.

AFTER they hit the whale things went bad??  I'd have thought that hitting the whale was pretty bad.

[dazie]

Great videos from the PUMA team:

http://www.volvooceanrace.tv/page/NewsDetail/0,,12573~1664887,00.html
Casey Smith goes overboard to fix a broken rudder in 30 knot winds in the North Atlantic

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=531901808678&ref=mf
Dolphins alongside the boat (not sure this one will work, but give it a shot)

[dazie]

BOOM!

http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2009/June/1-TELEFONICA-CONTAINER-EXPLODES/

[dazie]

http://www.volvooceanrace.org/news/article/2009/June/4-GALWAY-MAGNUS/index.aspx

I love Richard and Magnus.  Seriously.  LOVE.  THEM.

And not in the skeevy "humpity humpity" way either.  (although if Richard was so inclined...)  They're both just great guys.


On a different note, I think I'm going for a record in the "most posts in a single thread that nobody else ever reads" category.  WOO!   

[Jessie]

hahah

I scan them.

[ReBurn]

I read the posts. I'm just not quite sure how to participate.

[dazie]

Comment on how hot Richard is I guess.  *shrug*

Something along the lines of "neat video" or "crazy mfers"

I'm just whining.

[Jessie]

Richard is hot for a crazy mfer in that neat video, dazie!

[dazie]

Richard is hot for a crazy mfer in that neat video, dazie!

Why thanks!  Glad you liked it. 

[dazie]

hah!  oops.

... As for Ericsson 4, Read added: "Last time I saw Ericsson 4, they were laying on their side and blowing out to sea."

Ericsson 4 Media Crew Member Guy Salter, provided further details. "We should have been smarter and sailed a little more conservatively, but it's hard when you are charging along right next to first place," he said.

"We made a very big schoolboy error and were caught in a huge gust. The boat seemed to accelerate in no time and before we knew it, we had ploughed into the back of the next wave and had white water everywhere.

"This sudden stop also sent us into a spin and we ended up on our side with the kite flapping. We had broken our leeward steering wheel and its cage. Luckily the spinnaker was still intact and all of us were still attached to the yacht – just.

"We brushed ourselves down and got ready after the wipe out. We went into the gybe. These boats are hard to manoeuvre at the best of times, but in 30 knots of wind, the inevitable happened and we spun out on the gybe."

The team ploughed on with skipper Torben Grael steering from the leeward side while the broken wheel was removed and the emergency tiller put in place. The boat was also taking on a fair amount of water and it was discovered that there is a large area of delamination between the hull and the deck on the aft starboard quarter of the boat.

Yikes.