Jump to content

Leg 5

Guest

By Guest,
in RaceTalk

Recommended Posts

Chewing Gum

Chewing Gum 17

Posted
Posted

CAMPER TO STOP AT CHILE FOR REPAIRS

.by Camper with Emirates Team New Zealand on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 8:37pm ·.After conducting a full assessment of the bow damage suffered 24 hours ago CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand has decided that the damage is too significant to repair at sea and therefore will need to make a brief stop at the Chilean port of Puerto Montt to carry out a permanent repair.

 

 

 

Exact details are still being worked through but the current intention is to suspend racing when close to Puerto Montt.

 

 

 

CAMPER is not withdrawing from Leg Five and after completing repairs will resume racing from where it was suspended.

 

 

 

Spirits remain high aboard and all crew are focused on getting back into racing as soon as possible. Skipper Chris Nicolson said from the yacht: “This is the only option that is satisfactory to us from a safety perspective, but also keeps us in the race. It’s a hard decision to make but we are all in good spirits. As we have said in the past the Southern Ocean throws up the best and worst days of your life - recent days certainly haven’t been the best days but we will get through this uninjured and ready to continue in the race.”

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand will divert to Puerto Montt on the west coast of Chile to repair bow damage suffered in the ferocious conditions currently being experienced in the Southern Ocean.

 

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson confirmed the need to go in for repairs, while pledging to resume racing and reach the Leg 5 finish line in Itajaí in Brazil.

 

"We are 2,500 nautical miles (nm) away from where we are going, which is Puerto Montt in Chile, on the western coast," skipper Chris Nicholson said. "It’s about 800 nm north of Cape Horn.

 

"What led us to this course is I guess like a classic Southern Ocean snowball effect where we had some problems with our bulkhead early on in the race, we repaired that only for that repair to fail again probably about three days ago.

 

"Then we were trying to stem the flow in terms of stopping the problem getting any worse. The bulkhead offers a lot of support to our longitudinals (hull supports) and we have to keep the longitudinals intact.

 

"Unfortunately some of the secondary bonding let go off the longitudinal and that’s basically when seamanship has to take over and basically call enough is enough.

 

"We are running out of spare materials to effect repairs at sea and the repairs are struggling to be effective so we had to slow the boat down immediately and assess the situation.

 

"We estimate it will be three days of repairs and then we will be on our way to Itajaí. So we will suspend racing once we get closer to Puerto Montt, do our repairs and get back in the race."

 

Ahead, Groupama sailing team (Franck Cammas/FRA) lead PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG (Ken Read/USA) by 45.8 nm, with Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) in third, 104.20 astern. All three boats have passed the central ice limit and are heading towards the final eastern ice waypoint.

 

The freezing wind has been blowing 40 knots and gusting 60 for the past 24-hours. With huge breaking waves and an angry and confused sea state, all competitive thoughts have gone out the window as the teams battle to slow their boats in an effort to keep them in one piece. It will take another four to five days in similar conditions for the fleet to reach Cape Horn.

 

“Everyone is on the same page,” wrote PUMA’s skipper Ken Read. "We are certainly making the best of what could be classified as a ‘seriously full-on’ situation out here in the lovely Southern Ocean.

 

“The massive swells are… who knows… 30, 40, 50 feet tall. Ask anyone on any of the boats and I am sure you would find a different, but still very large number.”

 

For Ian Walker and his men on board fifth-placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (Ian Walker/GBR) the torture of the leading trio is either a dream or a nightmare, as the Emirati team lie becalmed in the ‘roaring forties’ as they finally reach the western ice limit waypoint.

 

“We cannot help but look at the position and wind reports of the boats ahead to even wonder if we aren’t in the best place,” mused the skipper.

 

The unusual conditions for Abu Dhabi will last another 24 hours or so, when the team will continue to bleed miles, but they are ready and prepared to accept the worst the Southern Ocean can throw up further down the track. The team is now 822.50 nm in deficit.

 

Team Sanya (Mike Sanderson/NZL) have two days until they reach Tauranga in New Zealand. The team intend to be back in the race as quickly as possible.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

PaulR will be laughing now. This makes four boats that have had problems.

 

CAMPER HEADING TO CHILE FOR REPAIRS WHILE TELEFONICA SUSTAIN DAMAGE IN BIG WAVES

 

Southern Ocean (March 25, 2012) – CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand are heading for Puerto Montt on the west coast of Chile, selected as the best place to repair damage to their bow.

 

CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson, who pledged to complete Leg 5 from Auckland in New Zealand to Itajaí in Brazil once the work is done, said their predicament had begun to snowball after repairs were needed to a forward bulkhead earlier in the leg.

 

“We repaired that only for that repair to fail again probably about three days ago,” he said. “Then we were trying to stem the flow in terms of stopping the problem getting any worse.

 

“The bulkhead offers a lot of support to our longitudinals (hull supports) and we have to keep the longitudinals intact. Unfortunately some of the secondary bonding let go of the longitudinal and that’s when seamanship has to take over and basically call enough is enough.

"

We will suspend racing once we get closer to Puerto Montt, do our repairs and get back in the race,” he added. “We estimate it will be three days of repairs and then we will be on our way to Itajaí.”

 

Meanwhile overall Race leaders Team Telefónica are 120 nm off the pace set by first placed Groupama sailing team and 72 nautical miles behind PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG.

 

Telefónica skipper Iker Martínez confirmed the Spanish crew were concentrating on protecting their boat and themselves against the harsh conditions in order to complete the leg safely.

 

“Everyone's security comes first,” Martínez said. “We had a problem in the bow that we don't want to escalate. It's a shame having to go slowly, we don't like it at all, especially when you're fighting.

 

“The boat is going well now, but there is a danger that it could be damaged, so that is why we have decreased our speed.”

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Ouch - So keep the kite up and go for broke might not have been such a good option, damn - devils choice tho, probably the only opportunity to get some distance on the fleet given Campers lack of boat speed overall. Or go slow, preserve the boat and know that you aren't going to be first in on the leg.

 

Hope the conditions are kind on them getting to Chile - still a long way away.

 

Oh well, off to load the boat for a quick trip to Barrier today :)

 

(KM, I'll see you Friday)

Link to post
Share on other sites
Scotty3934

Scotty3934 5

Posted
Posted

Real bugger for Camper, sucks for the lads as they seem to have really been pushing themselves as far as possible. Those two waves over Tele put into perspective for those that haven't really experienced so much blue water sailing just how extreme and unpredictable things can be. Hope the rest of the fleet get around the Horn un-scathed as it dose look like there could be some good racing develop between those left fighting it out for the leg win.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

From the leg leaders

 

The great stampede

 

 

Franck Cammas and his men were the first to pass the Central Ice Gate and have been diving down towards Cape Horn since midnight, which is still some 2,000 miles away. Groupama 4 is maintaining her separation in front of the Americans and further boosting her lead over the Spanish, whilst the New Zealanders have decided to make a pit stop in the Chilean port of Puerto Montt.

 

 

 

The pace has picked up again now that Groupama 4 is no longer limited by ice gates. Indeed it's set to increase still further at around 2300 UTC, once the WSW'ly breeze (35 knots) backs round to the South-West again from noon on Sunday, easing to 25 then 20 knots after daybreak (local time). There is sure to be a difficult phase due to the sea state, but from Monday morning (European time) we can expect to see speeds in excess of 20 knots, or even 22-25 knots. The reasons for this are that the sailing conditions will gradually become more manageable and equally the wind will be more favourable at the front. As a result the leader will always be a step ahead and should therefore manage to extend her lead over her rivals.

 

Three-horse race

 

For the New Zealanders, this leg is a turning point in the race. Their structural issue with the forward bulkhead still hasn't been contained. As such Chris Nicholson has decided to head due East towards Puerto Montt, around 2,400 miles away, so as to ensure that Camper is nice and sound to round Cape Horn, as well as to reduce the stresses on the hull thanks to a route with some less harsh weather conditions. This deviation makes a podium place in Itajai inaccessible for now, and they might even leave fourth place to Abu Dhabi, which hasn't had luck on her side since starting out from Auckland a second time. Indeed the Emirati boat is currently tangled up in some light airs, which are filling the void left by the huge depression the leaders are going around. Furthermore, she won't really be able to power up again until Monday evening, with a most likely deficit of over 1,000 miles...

 

In this way, it's just the three Juan Kouyoumdjian designs left in the running for a podium place in Brazil right now. However, there is still a long way to go with 4,000 miles yet to cover, two thirds of which will be in a strong breeze! After keeping a tight rein on their steed over recent days, the crews will be able to ride flat out. Indeed, as they arrive at the northern edge of the austral depression which heralds their descent towards the Antarctic peninsula, the three leaders will benefit from a favourable north-westerly wind from lunchtime on Monday, which will be much less cold, less violent (25-30 knots) and less tortuous, as the seas will gradually become more organised. As a result there is no longer anything barring the way to Cape Horn, but they will have to be on the alert again as they approach land...

 

Another storm

 

Indeed, the depression, which was wilting as it dropped down towards the Antarctic, has been reinvigorated as it's compressed against Graham Land. The upshot of this is that from noon on Tuesday, Groupama 4 and her two pursuers will once again get slapped by 35 to 40 knots of established westerly wind! This means that the ride through Drake's Passage on Wednesday promises to be very violent with very heavy seas and squalls of over 50 knots... Franck Cammas and his men have a dilemma on their hands then. One option would be to make very fast headway on Monday, and even sail more than 600 miles in 24 hours in `reasonable' and `manageable' conditions (eight-metre waves, 25-30 knots of wind, one reef in the mainsail and storm gennaker). Like this, they'll be able to show their pursuers a clean pair of heels, as conditions will be a little less favourable behind.

 

After all that though, would they be quick enough to get round Cape Horn before noon on Wednesday, which is when the front associated with the revived disturbance in the Amundsen Sea is due to track across Drake's Passage? Right now things are far from clear-cut. Either they should avoid going too fast over the next few hours, or they should go pedal to the metal to get past the dodgy area before the austral storm hits. In the first scenario, the three Juan K. designs would probably be tightly bunched at Cape Horn. In the second scenario, Groupama 4 would benefit from some excellent conditions to climb up towards Brazil, whilst her two pursuers would have to ease up to let the worst of the austral gale roll through... Response from noon on Monday!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted
looks like AD are having trouble again ....they are down to 1.8kn...

 

They sailed into the biggest hole ever and cant get out of it at the moment.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Fogg

Fogg 427

Posted
Posted

Remember that rumour I heard a couple of weeks ago that one of the teams had found some softspots in the hull after u/s checks.... but we never heard anything more about it officially and couldn't verify it.... hence it remained a rumour that I wasn't comfortable to propogate any further?

 

Well, it was Camper.

 

But I repeat, it remains a rumour and just because they are having structural issues now does not necessarily confirm that they did indeed have any soft spots. But clearly something isn't right.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Telefonica are back up and running again after doing some repairs which cost them over 100nm. I wonder if Groupama can keep it together and possibly take the lead of Telefonica who have to go to a protest meeting about leg 4.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...