Leg One updates

[Guest Rocket]

I see now why they have changed the format...

 

Everyone gets to finish the harbour races. Would be a sad race if you had to finish each leg like in the olden days. 1/2 a small fleet left! Might not be too many more of these.

 

This is a bit of a disaster for yachting really - very sad. lets hope the remnants can hang in there.

[Guest]

Beam reaching in 20 kn - wonder what will happen when they get some real weather??

[1paulg 17]

Lets hope that all the boats that have had to withdraw on leg 1 can get themselves sorted to be on the start line in Cape Town...as it would be v sad if there were only 3 boats able to continue..

[Mothership 6]

So at this rate, no one is going to finish.

 

Should've entered Thunder - seen ~90kts and still got the pointy bits pointing in the right direction.

 

(will anyone lose a dangly bit?)

[Marshy 30]

Its the Hare and the Tortoise this race... Go the French Tank! Slowly but surely it will finish

[Mothership 6]

You might be right there, Marshy. Could end up Camper and Groupama battling it out...as the last two entries left.

[Absolution 7]

We may yet see who has the best skills at building a jury rig. Hopefully there is enough of Puma's rig still standing that they can hoist a bit of sail on it.

[Guest]

I would be happy to put some money on now

 

Camper has had some great training leading up to this event with the heavy winds off the east coast and the trip back from Fiji, heres hoping!

[PaulR 3]

PUMA’S MAR MOSTRO SUFFERS BROKEN MAST

 

The causes of the dismasting are not known at this stage. However, the rig is of a different origin and manufacture to that of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing’s Azzam which suffered a failure earlier during Leg 1.

 

 

Just a wild un-educated guess that it was "NOT STRONG ENOUGH".

 

What's wrong with a jury rig for a couple of thousand miles.

It's been done before on Ceramco.

[markm 30]

The problem with a jury rig is making one thats quick enough to get you to the start of the next leg on time.

 

2,000 miles, not a problem to do in 18 days with a full rig, something more of a challenge under jury rig. I'd say they have an unpleasant problem

especially when you add in the time to put in a new rig.

[Guest]

Man. All the action happened when I was asleep. Time to figure out what happened. Will load some videos as well.

[Guest]

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/Camper#p/u/6/XnhG9JELbWk

[Guest]

At 1900 UTC tonight Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) was continuing to reach south at 18.5 knots in the easterly tradewinds, while behind her PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) is limping at 2.3 knots under a jury rig of storm trysail and staysail.

 

Telefónica is continuing her course just east of south, taking care to avoid the threatening windless centre of the Saint Helena High to the east.

 

CAMPER (Chris Nicholson/NZL) has seized the opportunity and is now reeling in the wounded black cat. She is 48 nautical miles to the west of the track sailed by PUMA’s Mar Mostro and approximately 55 nm behind. She is closing at a speed of 17.5 knots and ready to pounce.

 

Further back, Groupama 4 and Franck Cammas are averaging 18.4 knots - a speed almost as fast as Telefónica. Both CAMPER and Groupama 4 have made inroads into the lead this evening, with the French yacht gaining 16 nm.

 

Meanwhile, for the disheartened and disappointed crew of PUMA’s Mar Mostro, it will be a long night as they review their options and make some key decisions.

 

 

 

and another one

 

Telefónica with skipper Spaniard Iker Martínez leads the charge south with PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) nipping at her heels 16 nautical miles (nm) behind, but it is a risky game the two leading teams are playing. The Saint Helena High is blocking the quickest route to Cape Town and on the southern side lies a westerly cold front which is the nectar the teams are all seeking.

 

For much of today, the high-speed drag race south will continue on a port tack reach, but in the next 24 hours, as the leading pair approaches the Saint Helena High, navigation and strategy will be focused on barometric pressure. This is the means by which the navigator will know the relation of his boat to the centre of the high.

 

The risk is to sail too close and get sucked into the windless zone, balanced against shaving the corner and sailing less miles to the finish. The judgement is critical and one false move will be catastrophic.

 

On the south side of the high is a cold front, which Telefónica and PUMA’s Mar Mostro will reach around midday on Wednesday. Wind speeds here could be up to 25 knots, gusting 30, which are perfect for the Volvo Open 70. “The boat just lights up and takes off,” says co-skipper of CAMPER (Stu Bannatyne/NZL).

 

Onboard Telefónica, Neal McDonald reports lots of wind and already a cooler water temperature. “I think [navigator] Cape has found us great spot,” he says, referring to the position of the blue boat.

 

Arriving at the cold front later than the rest of the fleet will be Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA). The team could potentially need to gybe south to escape the new high building from the west and sail away from the direction of the finish in order to find the westerly breeze. This will mean sailing even more miles for the team who already trail the leaders by 346 nautical miles.

[Guest]

from groupama

 

 

Time is pressing

 

Groupama in the Volvo Ocean Race

 

The pace of the Saint Helena High tour is about to pick up dramatically on Wednesday as the easterly tradewind becomes increasingly steady and gradually backs to the North and then the North-West to punch out over thirty knots of breeze. However, Groupama 4 mustn't drag her heels if she too is to hook onto a favourable front which is shifting along to 40° South at speed...

 

The weather is changing, the pressure is rising, the anticyclone is becoming compressed: three factors which will increase the stress levels over the next three days with a marked acceleration in the tradewinds which are finally flirting with twenty knots. Most important though is a depression which is passing below the high pressure created by Saint Helena and an associated front, which will lead to a complete change of pace! Though the two leaders and the New Zealanders are assured of being in a good spot to line themselves up nicely for this system, Franck Cammas and his men will be on the limit in terms of being able to hitch a ride with them...

 

A drive to the South

 

The active circulation of the lows at 50° South has altered the set-up in the South Atlantic. In fact, the Saint Helena High, which was lounging across the whole zone without generating powerful tradewinds along her northern edge, will be upset by a disturbance pushing it eastwards as far as a point below South Africa. This bunching up will lead to an increase in the air flow, which is rotating anticlockwise around its centre positioned at 37° South and 15° West this Monday lunchtime, and is set to slide beneath Cape Town on Thursday, at 38° South and 12° East. Behind it, another zone of high pressure is forming...

 

As such the current mission involves making the fastest possible headway so as to hunt out the roaring forties and avoid getting stuck behind the front. This equates to an 800 mile sprint for Groupama 4. In fact Franck Cammas and his crew have been able to rack up some average speeds of over 20 knots since daybreak and the goal is achievable if the tradewinds hang on in there, but it promises to be a really close call, down to a matter of hours! This won't be the case for Telefonica and Puma, who are already entering the positive spiral of this meteorological transmutation. Indeed today they're reaping the rewards of their lead and will further accelerate with the added benefit of leading the fleet. Camper will also enjoy the high speeds of this new boisterous system, albeit a tad later.

 

A 90° turn

 

However, prior to beginning to curve out a route to Cape Town (situated at 34°S), the fleet will have to drop down to 42° South, thus etching out a big parabola of a course in poor weather before they stand a chance of climbing back up towards Africa... The big decision right now relates to when to `hang a left' and the answer will determine how things pan out for the rest of the leg. Too early and you're likely to get stuck in the centre of the zone of high pressure; too late and you'll have further to go and a more unruly sea. If Groupama 4 manages to hook onto the front, she may make up ground on her rivals, as after this lively system, they will have to traverse a zone of high pressure to reach the finish.

 

Finally, it's important to note that since Sunday evening there has been little to distinguish between the distances covered and the separation between each boat. The crews are really striking out from the direct course and as such the numbers aren't really a true reflection of what's actually happening on the water as they relate to the distance to the finish. Basically, Telefonica has covered 425 miles over the water over the past 24 hours whilst Groupama 4 has racked up 410 miles. Similarly the Spanish have a North-South stance which gives them a lead of nearly 60 miles over the Americans, 175 miles over the New Zealanders and 450 miles over the French boat. As such you have to take into account the southerly trajectory of the boats to get a true picture of the racetrack and things will only get back `to normal' once all the boats have taken the 90° turn to Cape Town...

[Guest]

theres only one song to sum up whats happened.

 

 

heres a sample of what its like on Puma. More photos here

viewtopic.php?f=49&t=17966

[Guest]

Doesn't look to be doing them any harm though speed-wise!

[Guest]

Doesn't look to be doing them any harm though speed-wise

 

they do have a jury rig up and with 8-10 foot waves you can get a bit of speed up. I wouldnt have thought they would be going this quick though with the amount of sail up that they have in the photos.

[chic014 0]

The speeds on the tracker don't match up with the speeds on the dashboard. I think the dashboard speeds are more realistic.

[Atom Ant 0]

You're kidding me! I had to work backwards to catch up on this. That's the problem with having a job - it gets in the way of the important stuff like VOR updates.

 

So Camper might have a chance at winning this leg by being the last one standing? So to speak.

[chic014 0]

Injuries sustained by CAMPER crew member

CAMPER’s bowman Mike Pammenter has sustained injuries after being thrown into the boat’s shrouds while moving forward to do a sail change.

 

Mike suffered a broken tooth, gash to the face and various bumps and bruises in the fall. He was stabilised immediately by onboard medic Tony Rae (Trae) and after further medical advice from Volvo Ocean Race Headquarters has received three stiches and the affected tooth area has been anesthetised.

 

He is alert, well and generally in as good as shape as can be expected.

 

Skipper Chris Nicholson says that after initially slowing down to assess and treat Mike’s injuries CAMPER is now back to full pace.

 

“We buttoned off and headed downwind for a while but now that Mike has been stabilised and is in ok shape we’re back into racing. Mike will have one or two watches off and then will be back into things.

 

“This sort of injury shows the extreme nature of this race and while we take all due care there’s still a pretty high degree of risk in pushing these boats hard in these types of conditions. That’s just part of the race – you don’t want it but you can’t avoid it.

 

“These boats are on the edge a bit but that’s what they’re meant to be.”

 

It was a dramatic few hours for the Volvo fleet with second placed boat Puma breaking their mast over the same period in the 20 to 23 knot winds.

 

Emirates Team New Zealand Managing Director Grant Dalton said it was a reminder of the at times brutal nature of the Volvo Ocean Race.

 

“To lose your rig in pretty moderate conditions while in second place only five days or so out from Cape Town is really hard. I’ve been there before and I know what it feels like so my thoughts go out to the Puma guys.

 

“For us it looks like we’ve been lucky this time and Mike will be ok and that’s great to hear. It sounds like Trae and the other guys aboard have done a good job.

 

“This is a dangerous race and when you are sailing on the edge like this the unfortunate reality is that at times you will damage both boat and crew. The key thing now is that CAMPER is back in the game and heading hard for Cape Town and the finish.”

 

CAMPER in the latest position report at 1100h 22 November NZT has moved into second place 98 miles behind leader Telefonica averaging 19.6 knots in a 16 knot north easterly.