18.11.2005
Zusammenfassender Zwischenbericht
That was the week that was!
The Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 literally started with a bang, on November 12, 2005. It was fired from the canon of the Swedish ship Gothenborg by HM King Juan Carlos of Spain and signified that the final months of waiting were over.
The Saturday before, crowds had gathered in Sanxenxo, Galicia in north-west Spain, to watch the very first in-port race, in which His Majesty took part, sailing onboard the home town boat, movistar (Bouwe Bekking). His daughter, the Infanta Dona Cristina of Spain, became an honourary pirate and sailed with Capt’n Cayard onboard the Black Pearl, and HRH Prince Carl Philip completed the royal trio, by racing with Ericsson, the final winners of the race.
Not exactly royalty, but causing a big ‘stir’, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike Sanderson) invited celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, to join their team for the in-port race, but their luck did not hold and they finished in sixth position. Premier Challenge (Grant Wharington) was still putting their boat back together after their dash to Spain and did not make the in-port race at all.
On a rainy day in Vigo, crowds of up to a million people lined the shores and went afloat to watch the start of the race. The final farewell was delivered in person by HM Juan Carlos and Premier Challenge found a last minute sponsor and renamed themselves Sunergy and Friends.
That night the gales set in and the crews had a baptism by fire. The young thrusters on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) were in pole position at 2200 that night, but the next day dreams came apart the very next day when movistar reported a sickening loud crack and a bang as one of the ram shelves collapsed. This is the structure on which the hydraulic ram, which moves the keel from side to side, is mounted. Bekking said there was no other option other than to head to Portimao in Portugal to assess the damage.
The next victim of the storm was Paul Cayard and his team of Pirates, who suffered leakage around the keel of the Black Pearl. They limped to Cascais, also in Portugal, with worried looks on their faces.
The third casualty was the newly named Sunergy and Friends, who broke the fitting which holds the boom to the mast. They made a repair which didn’t hold up and the decision was made to pitstop in Madeira to repair the damage properly.
Meanwhile back out on the race track, and in the teeth of gale, the 1000 GMT position report on day two showed ABN AMRO TWO leading from ABN AMRO ONE, Brasil 1 and Ericsson Racing team.
On day two, Mike Sanderson, skipper of ABN AMRO ONE described the event as “seriously hardcore,” after they wiped out their leeward steering wheel, the steering pedestal and the safety frame that goes around the wheel, in a massive broach and ended up fitting their emergency tiller and bailing out the back of the boat.
On day two, The Black Pearl arrived in Cascais and movistar arrived in Portimao also in Portugal, having both suspending racing. Volvo Ocean Race CEO said, “It is a blessing in disguise that these problems have happened early in the race and not in the inhospitable Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from land.” Brasil 1 took a slender lead over ABN AMRO ONE and held on to it until 0400 on day four, 16 November, when ABN AMRO stole it away from her again.
By day four, 15 November, the leading pack was now in the north east trade winds, gybing downwind. Sunergy and Friends had reached Madeira, where the boat was tied up to the dock while the crew made their repairs, returning to the race track later that day.
The air temperature rose on day five and the crews exchanged wet weather gear for shorts and t-shirts as they raced on in a dying breeze. The main decision for the fleet was where to cross the doldrums, the light wind zone which lay between them and the scoring gate of Fernando de Noronha on the Brazilian coast. On shore, His Majesty, King Juan Carlos of Spain, telephoned the movistar team with an offer of assistance, after the boat was hauled out of the water in Portimao, revealing extensive damage to the port dagger board and part of the rudder.
But on day six, 17 November, when the fleet was 274 nm north of the Cape Verde islands, the black hull of ABN AMRO ONE made her move on Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) and swept past and into the lead. Sunergy and Friends were still bringing up the rear, aiming to try something different. “We’re not going to roll the dice on this one,” wrote navigator Campbell Field, “just be aware that we have to be a little more clever.”
Today, day seven, the plan of heading south on ABN AMRO ONE has paid handsome dividends and by 1600 GMT today they led Brasil 1 by 93 nautical miles. Fellow team members on ABN AMRO TWO (Sebastien Josse) were only two nm behind, with Ericsson in fourth place, now 112 nm in arrears. Sunergy and Friends are ploughing a lonely furrow, sailing in completely different wind conditions, 933 miles behind. Paul Cayard officially retired from this leg and announced that he has decided to fly the Black Pearl to Cape Town, to make sure she is fully repaired and to give the team time to take the boat offshore for some testing prior to the next leg which takes the fleet deep into the southern ocean. Movistar (Bouwe Bekking) has not made an official decision on their future plans.
|
