02.02.2001
The latest daily news from Ellen to Dr Krumnacker
Segel.de
* KINGFISHER sustained significant damage late on Tuesday evening when she
sailed in to a solid object, suspected to be a semi-submerged container.
After two days of work, she is now back in the race. This morning's position
report puts KINGFISHER 79 miles behind PRB, matching him for speed and
heading and having pulled back 3 miles since yesterday afternoon. [2438
miles to go to finish for Ellen]
* Just before sunset Tuesday evening, Ellen was suddenly thrown forward as
KINGFISHER was brought to a grinding halt whilst sailing upwind at 11 knots
- the noise of ripping carbon being the first frightening sound as the 60
foot racing machine lurched, injured, over the object. Ellen's first
thoughts..."It was a gut wrenching sound...I've relived it many times over
since in my mind"
* Port dagger board destroyed, port rudder damaged but not seriously.
* 48 hours, a lot of hard work, sweat and tears on, and Ellen has Kingfisher
sailing at close to full potential once again - but unquestionably one of
the toughest moments of the race for a very tired skipper at this point.
Removing the damaged reindexs of the board, manhandling the other board out
of its housing from one side to the other, with hours of DIY on the way to
make it work upside down on the opposite side....Incredibly, the distance
lost to the leader during this time, was only 30 miles.
* Ellen's outlook on the reindexder of this marathon race - "For sure with
the problems we've had, there is a loss of performance, but very much in my
own mind, the race is still on. I'm looking ahead at Mich and at the guys
behind, and I promised myself I wouldn't give up until we passed that finish
line"
* Unfounded speculation in the official news reports yesterday that sail
damage might be the reason that PRB's lead over KINGFISHER jumped from 48
miles to 77 over a 2 day period - can be disregarded. In fact the sail
wardrobe for the reindexder of the race is at 100%...including the gennaker
that was repaired over a period of 18 hours non-stop some 10 days ago and
used in action on the way in to the Doldrums...for tactical reasons this
information was withheld at the time ... Ellen also wanted to see that her
amazing repair was going to hold!
* This dramatic news has been kept private until this point for two reasons.
Firstly Ellen's desire to get the boat back to 100% again before admitting
to what was a big setback. Secondly to allow Ellen to recuperate a little
before sharing in detail one of the toughest periods of the race so far...so
we're sorry for not telling you earlier!
A DETAILED, AND EMOTIONAL SUMMARY of the past two days by Ellen, recorded
just a few hours ago, is available for download in MP3 format.
In Realplayer http://64.23.31.209/clients/kf/latesta_uk.ram
Or Download in mp3 at http://64.23.31.215/cgi-bin/ftp/1/0202a_uk.mp3
TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW THAT YOU CAN LISTEN TO ON THE SITE OR DOWNLOAD AS
ABOVE. Ellen MacArthur [EM] interviewed by Richard Simmonds [RS]
RS : The last time we spoke, you were just in the lead. Later that day you
slipped back in to second - but then something happened that night, can you
tell us about that?
EM : I was sailing along, the sun was starting to set, and everything was
fine, conditions were quite stable, and then all of a sudden there was the
most almighty crunching sound and the boat felt like she had hit land. As I
glanced behind the boat to see what I had hit I saw part of the rudder and
the daggerboard floating away. It was a gut wrenching moment. I imagined I
might have ripped the bottom of the boat out, the noise was so loud. So I
immediately ran through the boat, checking in all the watertight
compartments that there was no water in there. There was obviously a big
risk of having ripped the bottom of the boat open. The hull was fine, and it
appeared that it was just the appendages [daggerboard, rudder] that were
damaged.
RS : What did you hit?
EM : I think I hit a container, its difficult to say as it would have been
floating just below the surface. But I think it was a container...
RS : At that stage, were you thinking about the race, or more about
survival?
EM : Well you kind of think half and half, you've been working out here for
3 and a half months to try and keep your position and your initial reaction
is 'are we going to sink?' and then when you realise you are not, your mind
goes in to overdrive as to how you can solve all the problems that you have.
And I knew that the board was badly damaged and I had to get it out of the
water, as [the reindexs] it was causing a lot of drag [boat was sailing at 6
knots at this point]. I tacked the boat and I could see that the tip of the
rudder was broken and half the daggerboard was gone. We then had a
conference call with the boat designers (Merf Owen and Rob Humphreys) and
the structural engineer (Giovanni Belgrano), and we talked through the
problems. Basically the first thing we had to do was to get the damaged
board out of the water, as we had virtually stopped.
RS : You had to sort that situation out. At first, did you think it was an
impossible situation to sort out?
EM : Nothing is ever an impossible situation, because if you think like that
then you will be defeated instantly and we've had, in some people's mind,
many impossible situations in the race, but if you think like that then
you've failed. We always try and see the solutions not the problems.....
.....but I was pretty frustrated. We'd been doing well in the race. It was
frustrating to have lost the lead to Mich anyway, and we were just getting
things sorted and getting her up to speed. I was still really tired, because
going through the Doldrums was really hard work. I had got myself exhausted,
because after the mast problems [wind direction indicator failure] before we
entered, before we entered the Doldrums, I was already very tired. So just
as I was starting to get a decent amount of sleep, there is an awful noise,
and your world falls apart. It was a big moment. Its not that you think you
are going to give up, but you have the feeling that it really is the last
thing you need in the world. We'd worked so hard to be there after 3 months,
and then for something else to go wrong at the time when you least needed
it. It was hard work. And there is no option. You have to solve it, you have
to just grit your teeth and get on with it. And when you are so tired, and
the problem seems so enormous, it takes every little reserve of energy that
you have.
RS : And how did you pull yourself together emotionally to get on with
actually solving it?
EM : I think initially I didn't have much choice. I had to get the board out
of the water because we were stopped, so I literally sunk myself in to the
problem that evening, and tacked the boat over, and with a series of lines
and winches I managed to pull the board forward and out of the socket. It
makes it sound easy, but it actually took an hour and it was very
complicated. The rope got jammed in the board case, I tried everything to
get it out. I broke the uphaul line.... eventually I got it up, and
collapsed in the cockpit and decided that I would work on the plan
overnight, talk to the team, and tackle the next stage the following
morning. Emotionally it probably hit harder the following day than the night
before other than the initial shock of hitting the object. I kept replaying
the moment over in my mind all night...
RS : Can you describe how that emotion manifested itself. You've been out
there battling since November 9th, and you were so close to the whole thing
falling apart...
EM : I think the hardest thing is being so tired, and yet having to tackle
another problem, which is not small. And you know that even if you solve
that problem you are never going to get the boat back how she was before,
and that was quite painful, its not like a halyard breaks and you have to go
up the mast and put the spare in. You don't carry a spare daggerboard, you
carry two and you have to use the other one from the other side. And a
daggerboard which is 3 and a half metres long and weighs 1.5 times my weight
is not easy to move around. Plus its covered in graphite [smooth for
performance] so its very slippery. The biggest emotional shock was that
you've got to face this, you've got to tackle this, there is no option,
there is no way out. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy. The hardest
part for me was getting the starboard board out of the slot because I tried
for 3 hours to get it out, I tried everything...I got to the point where it
was almost out, just 6 inches of it in the boat, and then it jammed and I
ended up breaking the radar bracket and all sorts of things. I had to go up
the mast a little way 8 or more times to re-attach the pulley [used to try
to pull up the board out of its tight slot] to try to get it out. At the end
of that I was just reduced to tears, because I just couldn't do it. But
there was no option but to just keep trying.
RS : And then you did do it, how long it take?
EM : I'm not sure...I think I was sailing again at the end of the day after
the collision.
RS : How would you describe Kingfisher now?
EM : I feel very sad to see the damage. It breaks my heart, I've tried so
hard to look after her, and to win the race. The rudder, there is nothing I
can do about, its out of sight and out of mind really. But lying on the
foredeck is a very broken daggerboard, and there are black marks all over
the deck where the board was crashing around when I was trying to move it. I
know the board which is down now isn't working 100% because it is the wrong
way, and thats pretty hard...you have to try to put it out of your mind and
race like before but...it never really goes away. Something like that will
never leave for the rest of your life. To hit something so hard. After all
the energy we have put in, its just pretty frustrating...
RS : Do you think you can stay where you are in the race?
EM : I will just try to do the best that I can. I promised that...could I
still catch PRB? Big question. I didn't think there was any chance of
hitting something. Anything can happen, absolutely anything can happen.
For sure with the problems we've had there is a loss of performance, but
very much in my own mind, the race is still on. I'm looking ahead at Mich
and at the guys behind, and I promised myself I wouldn't give up until we
passed that finish line....am I allowed to swear?!!
ORDER OF EVENTS IN SUMMARY
Tuesday evening an hour before sunset : Kingfisher collides with unknown
object, boat stops, port daggerboard destroyed leaving reindexs jammed in
board box in deck. Tip of rudder broken off.
Immediate action : verification of safety of boat, watertightness, all ok.
Keel hydraulics checked, boat tacked to east to check damage (lift out of
water), photo of rudder sent back to Design Team.
Design Team consultation : all aspects of safety verified, and Ellen
develops her plan of action.
Tuesday as nightfall approaches : tack the boat to the south-east (away from
the finish) after a three hour battle with ropes, winches, pulleys and brute
force, Ellen succeeds in removing the reindexs of the port daggerboard that
was jammed (due to the impact pushing it backwards in its box). What was
left of the board below the hull was flailing around in the water and
putting the brakes on the boat completely. Removal of this allowed
KINGFISHER to regain her speed, but not her height as without a daggerboard
she was slipping sideways. To counteract this, Ellen de-powered (less sail,
or sail tension) the boat and swung the keel back towards the middle so that
its surface would have a great effect - slower, but a better heading. This
was the situation for the whole of Tuesday night and most of Wednesday.
Tuesday night : Ellen spent most of the night, either reliving the moment of
impact [Ellen : "I could not get the tearing of carbon sound out of my
head"], or preparing her tools, ropes, pulleys for the work of using the
starboard daggerboard. With over a thousand miles to go on this tack, the
objective was to find a way of reversing the starboard daggerboard and all
its pulley systems and putting it in port side.
Wednesday morning first light : for 5 hours Ellen attempted to remove the
starboard daggerboard. All the time there was water pouring over the deck as
Kingfisher continued to beat in to 20 knots of Trade Wind swell. One very
soaked skipper battling away with this huge dagger board. After several
hours of trying everything she could think of, she failed to manipulate the
huge board [twice her height and 1 times her body weight] and get it on to
the deck - which she had to do before working on it so it could go, with its
control lines for pulling it up an down, in the port side. A totally
distraught Ellen, desperate to stop losing any further miles, called once
again to her design team. Re-motivated, she set about a second time and a
very physical hour later she finally succeeded to free the starboard board.
Wednesday afternoon : then began the real DIY work - to drill, tap, and fit
the pulley and ropes required to pull these big boards up and down once in
the slot in the deck - having turned the starboard board upside down, she
then had to make it ready to be able to be used the other way up. The final
operation was then to man handle it on a deck that never stopped moving for
more than a few seconds the whole time, and get it in to the snug hole the
other side of the deck.
Late evening : Success. Kingfisher, apart from a relatively superficial
damage to the port rudder, was back at close to 100%. Ellen had extended her
limits once more, but was totally exhausted, mentally and physically. She
collapsed on her seat, and struggled to even get the words out.
Wednesday night there was not much let up, as the wind strength changed
enough to keep her on deck for much of the night, putting reefs in and out
to keep KINGFISHER at 100%. The pre-existing sleep deprivation condition was
not improving. Thursday became as much of a day of rest as possible - but
she is still very very tired, and recuperation is critical for her to be
able to continue at the front of this fleet. The distance ahead of PRB
stopped increasing by any significant amount as soon as she had the boat
back on its daggerboard.
Speculation by race organisation that the state of Ellen's sails could be to
blame for Mich's lead extension was therefore very misplaced. There are
still many miles to go, but so far the North 3DL sails onboard Kingfisher
have performed absolutely to expectations, Ellen recently reporting that the
shape of both Solent and Genoa looked almost new even after 20,000 miles -
without any need to have carried a replacement sail around the world.
We can also now reveal that 10 days ago, after some 18 hours of hard graft,
Ellen managed to complete what had seemed an impossible repair to the 3DL
gennaker sail damaged when the halyard broke dumping the sail in to the
Southern Ocean. The repair, aided by the ability to more easily stick
together the 'plastic' 3DL film, and by the alignment aided by the lines of
thread in the sail, may not have been possible with another form of cloth.
The gennaker was used in anger in the approach to the Equator, and whilst it
is not the prettiest of repairs, it means that with the exception of the
minor rudder damage, KINGFISHER is continuing to sail very much at maximum
potential. Thanks to the preparation detail, design features built in to
boards and crash boxes, and the extraordinary efforts of her skipper to care
and indextain for every element of this complex racing machine.
DESIGN NOTE : The daggerboards are an essential part of an Open 60 setup
when sailing upwind - with a swing keel, the daggerboard acts as lateral
resistance. Kingfisher's daggerboards are assymetric, almost 4 metres long
and weight over 70 kgs - necessary to take the excessive loads put on them
when sailing upwind. The board was designed such that in the case of an
impact like this it should break first, rather than break the boat - an
important success from a design point of view. They were also designed to be
used in an emergency the other way up - like now, although not without a
fair bit of work to make it possible. Likewise, the damage to the tip of the
rudder was controlled by the sacrificial part at the bottom of the blade. It
is structurally sound and with a very small performance effect.
For Media technical enquiries to the Design Team, please email to
mervowen@compuserve.com
Relevant websites for further technical information :
http://www.europe.northsails.com : North 3DL sails
http://owenclarkdesigngroup.com : Design Team co-ordinator
For latest positions and other updates today see
http://www.kingfisherchallenges.com
For media : photos, audio and video all available at normal sources. If you
require images sent back by Ellen, or a 3D illustration that we have created
to explain the collision, please contact helen@offshorechallenges.com
http://www.kingfisher.co.uk
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