Oceanracing 2001 - Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002

Volvo Ocean Race 2001/2002

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VOLVO OCEAN RACE - 3. Wochenbericht
Southampton, England, October 12, 2001 Week 3
Only One Thing To Do - Race
Within the last week the fleet has passed the Doldrums, crossed the equator, welcomed King Neptune on board, some have already rounded the island Fernando de Noronha and last but not least all sped up.
As anticipated, Team SEB moved into the lead early last as they found better wind in the east, after passing the Cape Verde archipelago and took a twenty-mile advantage over illbruck. The boys on illbruck played it cool, as they were primarily focused on maintaining their standing over the pack of five that have shared the front row for the previous week.
As the high pressure system lost its strong grip on the fleet and the fresh breeze set in, speeding the yachts up, the spirits on the boats were elevated immediately. Evidence of this was given by ASSA ABLOY’s Navigator Mark Ruder, who elaborated: “WE’RE FREE, WE’RE FREE!! Throw off the chains, call off the dogs, we’re launched, we’re outa here!”
But the time to put up speed has not come to all in the fleet, in fact djuice and the all female crew on Amer Sports Too had their hours of “Tranquillity” as Melissa Purdy wrote: “Tranquillity. After days of calm winds and wallowing off the coast of Africa, my thoughts have diminished entirely.” The managed to get in close contact with the fleet, but should lose big time as the leaders just sailed away.
Team SEB’s lead didn’t last long as the illbruck team continued to reel in, cutting down Gunnar Krantz’ advantage. After six days of stopping and starting in an unstable breeze, the Volvo Ocean Race fleet finally reached the steady northeast trades and the crews were evidently enjoying the sailing (in 12-15 knots) the trade winds are renowned for.
Unable to keep up with illbruck’s pace, Team SEB had to return the lead to illbruck with John Kostecki in charge on October 7. The westerly yachts (illbruck, ASSA ABLOY, News Corp, Tyco and Amer Sports Too) were experiencing up to 20 knots of wind, enabling these state of the art racing machines to reach speeds of 17 knots.
As the world was back to normal for illbruck, Richard Clark, one of illbruck’s helmsman wrote in an email: “Now, all that would make this day perfect would be a beer and crawl into bed with my wife. Well there is no beer or wife so I will have to crawl into my bunk and be content with the soothing serenade of the squealing spinnaker sheet on the primary winch, the rattling of the grinders and the whining water ballast pump.”
Shortly after, Mark Rudiger, ASSA ABLOY’s Navigator reported that sailing became uncomfortable again as rainsqualls passing through created a very confused sea state: “I was awakened this morning from a hot muggy sleep with a new violent motion.” Obviously the first signs of the doldrums.
Amer Sports Too once again employed the onboard sail loft, having blown their Code 3 spinnaker in one of the sudden squalls. After changing to the Code 2, the tack of the sail [the corner attached to the spinnaker pole] ripped off. The repair was very time consuming and kept the sail maker busy for some time. The yachts are carrying sewing machines and repair material onboard.
Amer Sports One encountered equipment problems of a different nature, as Grant Dalton told: “An unnamed Australian managed to throw most of the spoons over the side when he was doing the dishes. We now need to find an imaginative way of eating.”
Djuice was fighting to get back in touch with the fleet, almost 200 miles behind the leaders and missing out 2.5 knots of illbruck’s boat speed. Jacques Vincent, watch leader on board djuice admitted, “It is not fun being last, but I enjoy the company of my watch mates and the team spirit is still good and strong. No doubt we will fight our way back.”
The trade wind sailing propelled the fleet so that the first yachts covered more than 300 miles in 24 hours with illbruck leading the contest with 310 miles. The record for a V.O.60 lies approximately 50% higher (set up by Silk Cut in the 1997 – 1998 race with 449.4 miles) and is expected to tumble in this race.
For the navigators, the Doldrums were like a promised headache. The challenge was to find the cure before it starts and to make it last only a few hours instead of agonising days. “We have located the doldrums on weather maps and satellite pictures,” explained Team News Corp’s Navigator Ross Field.
“We didn't need the navigators to tell us this morning that we had finally reached the Doldrums, they announced themselves with a decent downpour and squall which set off a frenzy of peeling (changing) from one sail to another which has continued all day,” explained illbruck crewman Jamie Gale. As the first to enter the Doldrums, illbruck was also the odds on favourite to be the first to leave and pull away in the fresh southeast trade winds.
Next in was ASSA ABLOY, with Tyco third. “We started to sail into areas of large cloud and get some pretty squally conditions. We had some particularly strong squalls last night with breeze up to 30 knots and then two hours later sitting absolutely flat becalmed so we are defiantly here,” said Tyco skipper Kevin Shoebridge.
But between the entry and the exit, the crews had to live and work in intense humidity, heavy downpours and squall after squall. In one of the rain squalls Amer Sports One destroyed the second halyard lock (for a topmast halyard) and ripped a spinnaker.
While illbruck continue to lead, SEB was slipping down the rankings as fast as they surged into the lead.
Temperatures into the 30's, combined with the humidity, made life pretty uncomfortable above and below decks and as the fleet closed in on the equator, the thermometers continued to soar. The race doctors recommended the crews to take special care with hygiene in these conditions as many sailors had little cuts and bruises, which can easily become infected.
Once the Doldrums were tucked away safely behind them, the leading five yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race were making an average of nine knots towards the equator, with John Kostecki’s crew on illbruck still setting the pace. As the average speeds increased, the number of days left to Cape Town decrease towards initial predictions of around 30 days. As such, rationing of food was not the issue it was a week before.
“Your fellow watch members’ sweat dripping on you while you try to sleep is never nice,” commented ASSA ABLOY’s Richard Mason. His explanation of the delights of life and troubles at sea continued: “The toilet has blocked twice so when pulled apart adds a mysterious aroma to the boat, that lingers over the sweaty socks, underpants and shirts, not mention bodies packed below. I will put on my clean shirt for the second half of the leg tomorrow, after a solid 15 days of use,” added Mason.
These were only minor glitches as soon as the crew had found a few moments for relaxation away from the hard work on deck. “Ray (Davies) is responsible for the media onboard and today discovered that the media station computer has pinball on it. I woke up to some strange noises coming from below to discover Ray with the computer in his bunk trying to achieve another high score,” wrote Mark Christensen, one of the watch leaders on illbruck.
That the Volvo Ocean Race not only attracts grown up sailors was proven, when a question about Bart Simpson reached Race Headquarters, stating: “What's Bart doing? What's Bart Simpson doing on your ship? Is he a nuisance or does he help?” (seven year old Harry Lloyd). The answer came straight from Team News Corp’s Jon Gunderson, letting us know, that “Bart Simpson is not actually doing a lot on board our boat, if you check the website you might actually find some pictures that I took of him. While we all work he is just hanging out and having a good time. When he gets bored he is a bit of a nuisance, we have to threaten him with no dinner to get him to behave again. Often when he tries to help he ends up just getting in the way. He really wants to steer all the time but unfortunately he is too short, Jez lets him sit on his shoulders every now and then and steer for ten minutes if he has been good. Last night the boat was very hot and the ride was a bit bumpy, Bart is not allowed on deck when it is dangerous and he ended up getting a little seasick down below. “
A few minutes past midday of October 10, illbruck became the first yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race to cross the equator and enter the southern hemisphere for the next five months. On board illbruck, her crew had been quietly preparing to induct the four crew members that have yet to cross from north to south. Richard Clarke (helmsman/trimmer), Ian Moore (navigator), Jamie Gale (mast) and Tony Kolb (bow) will all incur the wrath of King Neptune, who, as justice for past crimes, dishes out punishment in many smelly and sticky forms.
For the sailors who had yet to pass from the northern to southern latitudes first time, a dubious ceremony, led by King Neptune, the God of the Sea, awaited. “To give everyone an idea of what was discussed for the crossing, we have four guys on the boat who haven't crossed the equator yet so we have to come up with a crime list so we can punish them (an equator crossing tradition),” said illbruck’s Dirk de Ridder earlier this week.
On Tyco, Damian Foxall reported that “duty was to be paid to Neptune by three crews.... apparently the dues are expected to be severe as the lord of the deep is not in good humour”. Guy Salter (bow), David Endean (Foredeck) and Rob Salthouse (trimmer/helmsman) had everything to fear.
On ASSA ABLOY, only Jules Mazars from France would have felt very alone, as he was the only member of the 12-man crew that had not been in front of King Neptune. On Neptune’s expected appearance, Mark Rudiger explains: “Never know what to expect with Neptune - he can be a pretty mischievous guy. Jules [Mazars] has not been sleeping very well, he has been quite nervous about it….Typically what he'll do is see where the pollywog is and ask him a few questions. If you don't answer them correctly then he'll dish out punishment. Usually in the form of foul food and left over garbage smeared over you and kiss his belly.“
With little difference in straight-line speed between the leading five yachts in the Volvo Ocean Race, illbruck led the procession around the waypoint of Ilha de Fernando Noronha on October 11 with ASSA ABLOY approximately two hours behind. The next yachts to follow were News Corp, Tyco and Amer Sports One.
On the island Volvo Ocean Race Photographer Rick Tomlinson had already been waiting for some days to get images and video footage of the yachts passing the waypoint. The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha is formed by 21 islands, with a total area of 26 km2.
In the meantime, all competitors had entered the southern hemisphere, lying on place six, seven and eight. The contest for these places will be as tough as for the lead, as all legs in this Volvo Ocean Race score the same points. Therefore every single point can be decisive for the final result when finishing in Kiel in early June 2002.
Still being competitive, Gurra Krantz admitted that there were times when it was difficult to stay motivated: “Marcel [Van Triest] was going to sell sausages on the beach on Mallorca. Matthew [Humphries] immediately applied for a position at the stand being in charge of mustard and ketchup. Dingo [David Rolfe] looked into becoming a fisherman. Magnus [Woxen] planned to go home and sit in the sauna and Tony [Mutter] thought of being Marcel’s biggest customer on the beach.”
As djuice still sailed with their broken headboard car, they had arranged for a replacement to be handed over at Ferando de Noronha, where shore manager BJ Grimholt has managed to rent a local boat. "They will have to anchor within a mile of land and djuice will tie up alongside sometime around midnight," says Michael Woods, the Race Director of the Volvo Ocean Race.
Lisa McDonald and her crew on Amer Sports Too required new parts for their Satcom B terminal. The original plan was for the parts to be brought out but at the time they round the island, no vessel will be available. Therefore, "Lisa is going to have to make a decision if she wants to come in or not," says Woods.
On their 1000-mile stretch to the Isla de Trinidade the yachts will encounter medium reaching conditions, which will test the teams’ sail development programmes and their crews’ sail trimming abilities.