02.03.2006
Severe leak at just 200 miles off Cape Horn, whilst holding a strong
second place
SEVERE LEAK FOR "MOVISTAR"
Cape Horn (Chile), 2nd March 2006.
Around 04:00 GMT at just 200 miles from Cape Horn, the only scoring gate
in this fourth leg, Movistar issued a report that the vessel was taking
on water. Their previous position report, released by Volvo Ocean Race
just prior to the leak, told of the Spanish boat holding second place,
having covered 542 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 22.6 knots
per hour, improving their own world record set in April 2005 by 12 miles.
These figures give some idea of the fierce pace at which Movistar was
sailing in this final ‘sprint’ towards Cape Horn.
“If we had rats onboard they would have jumped off by now.” Said Bouwe
Bekking from onboard.
“We mobilised some people on deck to drop all the sails, and when I went
downstairs again, I got a real shock. The generator box was already
completely underwater, and the water had spread now through the entire
mid-compartment, and was close to washing over the index engine box as
well. And what a mess inside: sails, sleeping bags, food bags, you can't
name it, were floating around…it was quite a spectacle.”
It was the speedy and effective reaction of the Movistar crew that got
the situation under control so quickly.
“In the mean time Spike (Peter Doriean) had collected all the safety gear
and put it on deck, just to be sure. Capey (Andrew Cape) had already
informed race-headquarters. After seeing the amount of water, I decided
to ask headquarters if other boats could assist. Water and electricity
don't like each other too much, so the circuit breakers were popping off
all the time. Now Chris (Nicholson) was diving underwater to connect the
two emergency high capacity bilge pumps directly to the batteries, as
that was the only way of assuring power and running of the pumps.
Even though we knew we were on the losing hand, strangely enough you
don't give up.
Once the shout, “pumps are running!” was cried, we knew we had a chance
to beat the incoming flow rate, and get the level down.”
We spoke to Olympic Medallist Xabi Fernández by phone to see how he felt
during these critical moments.
“It was tough! We had been celebrating our last night before crossing
Cape Horn, and we were drawing in on ABN after overtaking Pirates. We
were sailing at 30 to 35 knots of wind with the jib raised, and we were
going fast but steady, and all was going well for us. I was out trimming
on deck, and Stu was at the wheel when all of a sudden Pepe burst out of
the hatch saying that we had to stop and let down the indexsail because we
were taking on water. It was coming through the keel box doors, and in
just 5 minutes we were knee-deep in water. It was tricky, but we managed
to get the situation under control with the pumps, and now we’re back on
course, going at about 10 knots.”
Once the situation was under control the boat was back on course for the
scoring gate at Cape Horn, in an attempt to gain as many points as
possible before heading landwards to the Argentine port of Ushuaia, where
the boat will be lifted out of the water in order to take a close look at
the damage suffered.
Pedro Campos, the Movistar Team Manager took stock of the situation,
“This has been a big blow for us, but the index thing is that both boat
and crew are safe. When we were in second place, drawing in on those in
first, and approaching the scoring gate, we were forced to start again in
many ways. After speaking to those onboard, the message that we want to
come out of this, and this goes for the entire crew, is that we will keep
on fighting, and treat every day as if it were the first.”
Provisional Rankings 4th Leg
Wellington (New Zealand) - Río de Janeiro (Brazil)
Report 10:00 GMT
1º ABN AMRO One (Holland), 2,320 miles to finish
2º Piratas del Caribe (USA), + 28 miles
3º Brasil 1 (Brazil), + 105 miles
4º MOVISTAR (Spain), + 120 miles
5º ABN AMRO Two (Holland), + 178 miles
6º Ericsson (Sweden), + 192 miles
7º Brunel (Australia), retired
Ana Garcia
Bassat, Ogilvy Consejeros de Comunicacion, Madrid
Office: +34-91-398 4738
E-mail: ana.garcia@ogilvy.com
|
