Leg 4

[Guest]

this is from the other day, but its still a good interview with Camper.

 

http://www.volvooceanrace.com/static/as ... holson.mp3

[Guest]

Puma must be furious at the moment as everything they have tried to claw back the distance has not worked. is there boat slow upwind unlike the Camper boat? It will be interesting to see who gains and who looses if they get into a short tacking battle.

[Guest]

After a long starboard leg towards the southern tip of Taiwan, there has been something of a tacking frenzy between 1600 and 2200 GMT, when all but PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) tacked onto port, followed shortly by Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) and CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) tacking back again. Tonight’s activity is the first in a series of arduous manoeuvres for the fleet in order to free themselves from the claws of the South China Sea.

 

At 2200 UTC tonight, CAMPER maintained a 10.4 nautical mile (nm) lead over Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) despite narrowly avoiding a huge unlit buoy earlier, something that navigator Will Oxley described as a ‘complete show-stopper in the dark’. The many oilrigs and platforms that dot the area south of Hong Kong have also kept the crews at the height of awareness for most of today. The team plans to slip just under the southern tip of Taiwan and sneak through the Luzon Strait before the wind shuts down and the whole area becomes a glassy, windless zone.

 

The solutions on how to exit the South China Sea effectively vary wildly. Options include shooting away to the southeast and just shaving the Philippines, while another suggests heading north around the island of Taiwan. It is a pivotal moment in the leg, where winners can be losers and vice versa.

 

It has been another tough day for the Americans onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro, who earlier carried out five exhausting tacks in 40 minutes. The crew is feeling beaten up, but trying to remain positive after a bad day in the office. The options ahead are not clear for them and the team is yet to make firm decisions on which way to go, but is seriously considering taking the northerly option around Taiwan in order to avoid the glassy snare ahead, although it will mean sailing around 400 extra miles.

 

In a lateral split spanning 13 or so nautical miles, this evening Team Sanya has moved both up and down the order and now lies in a respectable third place, 17.7 nm behind CAMPER. Average speeds vary from 13 knots for Groupama 4, to 9.8 knots for Telefónica and the fleet is divided by 40.2 nm from CAMPER in first place and PUMA 40.2 nm back in sixth.

[PaulR 3]

It has been another tough day for the Americans onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro, who earlier carried out five exhausting tacks in 40 minutes.

 

Didddddummmms

 

So why?? Why are they short tacking??

 

Obviously tacks 2, 3 & 4 were complete stuff ups if they are on a major ocean race, unless they are in a very narrow channel. In that case as ocean races, what were they doing going into there in the first place.

 

 

Also wait till they start dropping the bow off 35ft waves . . . .

 

When the wind drops down to 60knots, it's time to go on deck with the camera for a few snaps now that it has calmed down a lot and you won't get water over the camera.

 

I once had a forecast: " Moderating to Force 13 later, perhaps".

The "perhaps" was the positive element that failed to occur.

 

I really think the 50% boat failure in the first leg is a terrible indication that the boats are being built too light, all in the search for speed. The considerations to avoid a blow can be sensible, but do we now have to rely upon others to tell us when we need to ease back from speed and exercise our own levels of caution.

 

Unfortunately many questions and new experts will appear should we loose a boat or two or more as they head south to Cape Horn. Not wishing it to happen to any individual crew members at all, but sometimes SIZE of the boat, fittings and gear can be more important than latest designed lightness.

 

Survival is the first important aspect of seamanship.

 

It's good to have a rave before a disaster might occur.

[Guest]

I'm with Paul, I think it has only been dumb luck they haven't lost a boat and crew before now, and one day it will happen, followed by much wringing of hands, weeping, then a flood of dumb rules "to stop it ever happening again".

[Guest]

The Volvo Ocean Race teams are preparing for what they hope will be their final night trying to dodge huge waves in the pitch black as they battle to break free from the clutches of the South China Sea.

 

In daylight the waves, as high as five metres, are easily spotted and evasive action is possible but at night the helmsmen must rely on feel alone to stay out of trouble and keep the boats intact.

 

With just 16 nautical miles separating leg leaders CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand from PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG in sixth at 1300 UTC, the entire fleet was feeling the force of the brutal seas left behind by a tropical monsoon.

 

“You have to have your wits about you, because you can’t go flying off the waves or you’ll end up snapping the boat in half,” said Ian Walker, skipper of second-placed Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.

 

“You’ve just got to be ready every time you come up the face of a wave and try to give the boat a soft landing. That’s not too bad in daylight but in darkness you have to do it just by feel.”

 

Leg leaders CAMPER were not finding life any easier at the front of the fleet as they clung to a four-mile advantage over Abu Dhabi.

 

“There are no backs to the waves in those conditions so the landings are severe,” skipper Chris Nicholson said.

 

Mike Sanderson, skipper of third-placed Team Sanya, added: “Life on board is pretty uncomfortable. It has been a long couple of days upwind in between 15 and 20 knots of wind. It has been very bumpy.”

 

PUMA skipper Ken Read said the combination of confused sea state, current and headwinds continued to cause miserable conditions for racing.

 

“We’re still leaping off of waves out here in the South China Sea, a place that quite frankly we can’t get out of fast enough,” Read said. “I think I speak for the entire fleet when I say we are sick of going upwind. That’s all we do in this place so let’s get the heck out of here now.”

 

Read and his crew had struggled to hide their frustration at having to start the second stage of Leg 4 on Monday almost 40 minutes behind the fleet. But after three days of racing PUMA’s Mar Mostro was back in the mix after making up miles on the leading pack.

 

“We’ve done a really good job of turning a potential disaster into a positive,” Read added. “We’re right back in touch and who knows, there’s plenty of miles still ahead for things to change round. We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now to be honest. A lot can happen yet. We don’t get points for being 500 miles into a leg – the last time I checked, we get them at the finish.”

 

With around 100 miles to go to the southern tip of Taiwan, an end to the wretched conditions is in sight – but not before a painful night of little breeze and big, adverse seas hamper progress further.

 

"The wind is forecast to go so light that, with the waves as big as they are, we could see the boats going backwards,” said Gonzalo Infante, Volvo Ocean Race chief meteorologist.

 

Infante said it could take another eight hours to reach the western Pacific, where the waves would become more manageable and the teams’ focus could return to speed rather than survival.

[Guest]

Still sailing against the wind and the sea, the fleet is approaching Taiwan and is set to pass through the Luzon Strait mid-afternoon European time. At the front of the pack alongside the New Zealanders, to windward, and the Spanish, to leeward, Groupama 4 is in a favourable position to finally escape the South China Sea and begin her descent towards the Melanesian islands, which is forecast to be tricky…

 

 

 

In the end, the monsoon took on a somewhat different guise than usual, straying away from its customary system of fairly stable north-easterlies from Taiwan to Vietnam. Indeed the VO-70s initially had to dive towards the East-South-East for half a day, before climbing up to the North-East for over 24 hours and then hitting a big south-easterly rotation. As such it's beneath the Tropic of Cancer that the exit door is half open to enable the fleet to reach, if not the Pacific Ocean, then the Philippine Sea. The initial phase of this fourth leg has really put the boats under pressure, as well as the crews, who have got shaken about and have been having to keep an ear out for the slightest hint of a suspicious sound.

 

“It takes a bit of time to get into the swing of the watches after a stopover, especially at night since we were used to sleeping as we do on land: the first 72 hours are always long… The watch in the middle of the night is the hardest because there's no moon and you wake up for a four hour spell with no references. Unless you have young kids which get you used to getting up at midnight, it's not easy. Added to that, we were told that the Volvo Ocean Race is essentially downwind and so far we've been sailing close-hauled since Singapore! It's not the most comfortable point of sail, or the fastest. And we've got more of the same for a few days. For now though, we're in the leading group!” commented Charles Caudrelier in the depths of the Chinese night.

 

Three in one

 

Indeed the Luzon Strait, nearly 200 miles wide, separates the northern extremity of the Philippines from the South of the island of Formosa. It is dotted with a multitude of islands and islets which form three main passages: to the North the Bashi Channel, at the centre the Balintang Channel and to the South the Babuyan Channel. Driven back towards Taiwan, the crews have had no other choice than to take the same track, trying to sail as close on the wind as possible. Camper is in pole position in this little game thanks to her ability to sail close to the wind. Her situation is set to further improve over the coming hours since the breeze will shift round towards the South. After a short final beat to get around the southern tip of Formosa, the crews are in for a long parabola course in which the New Zealanders are set to boost their lead over Groupama 4, which in turn should be able to keep the Spanish in her wake.

 

The Gulf Stream counterpart

 

Early this Wednesday afternoon, there was still some breeze around the outskirts of Taiwan, around thirty miles in front of Groupama 4. The wind, around fifteen knots of South-East to easterly (120°), is picking up quite rough seas, under the influence of the Kuro-Shivo oceanic current, which forms to the West of Formosa and is beginning to influence proceedings. This stream of current, which is the equivalent of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, climbs up towards Japan before bending round towards Hawaii: swirling around in the Philippine Sea, it also mixes with the tides, making the waves very abrupt and chaotic, even when there's not a lot of wind. In this messy chop, the crews will have to contend with an easing wind in the Bashi Channel, which will shift round to the South from sunset, at which point it will only reach around ten knots.

 

As such, it's by setting a course to the East-South-East that the fleet will be able to traverse the Luzon Strait with a few islands to be rounded such as Y'ami, Mabudis, Siayan, Itbayat, Batan and Sabtang, and the prospect of a few meteorological and oceanic unknowns along the way! The main aim for the navigators seems to be to distance themselves from the Philippines as quickly as possible, even if they have to extend the distance to travel, as the wind is more stable offshore. The gradual curving round of the trajectories should bring the fleet in line, with the New Zealanders leading and a bunching of the chasing pack behind Groupama 4. In principle, there aren't likely to be any major upsets in the hierarchy over the next 24 hours and it's likely that Camper will be able to claw back some additional miles in these conditions where there is less than twelve knots of upwind breeze. However, prior to the weekend, the return of an easterly monsoon system will relaunch the drag race just as the fleet begin to see the first signs of equator-like conditions… And there is still nearly 4,700 miles to go before they can get a glimpse of Auckland!

[Guest]

 

 

[Guest]

Look out! We have some separation people!

[Guest]

Look out! We have some separation people!

 

over 43nm and camper will be hoping it pays of in a day or two and it will be interesting to see what volvo say in their midday report.

[Bimini Babe 0]

Whinging bastards! "Going upwind sucks". LOL. Go back to cruising mate. And how's this for news? 'Bowman gets wet feet changing jib during offshore race'. Diddums indeed.

 

PS I still love you Mike...

[Guest]

CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand (Chris Nicholson/AUS) led the fleet through the Luzon Strait, passing within a mile of the lighthouse marking the southern tip of Taiwan at 1830 UTC tonight. Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA) and Telefónica (Iker Martínez/ESP) followed. But, at 2200 UTC tonight a new leader had emerged and Telefónica was in back their customary position as leader of the pack.

 

The shake up on the leaderboard is due to decisions taken immediately after clearing the Luzon Strait. CAMPER chose the high road north, while Telefónica is 45 nautical miles to their south. Between the two is Groupama 4. PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Ken Read/USA) rounded the point in fourth place with Ian Walker and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing less than a mile behind. At the last position report Team Sanya still had four miles to go.

 

Progress through the Luzon Strait was slow but at least possible and not the total glass off that the crews feared and speeds have been building out in the Philippine Sea. For the past three hours, CAMPER has averaged 19.3 knots, while those further south have been sailing progressively slower.

 

“The next part of the leg is about how far east you can get before you dive south towards the Equator,” explained Team Sanya’s skipper Mike Sanderson/NZL. “How much distance to the finish are you prepared to pay to sail east and how far does that take you?”

 

Like the other five teams, Sanderson and his men had hoped the sail east would be relatively cheap enabling them to then sail with much nicer angles down to the trade winds, but this is not going to be easy. “At the moment, it’s looking like it’s going to be too hard to get east and it’s going to give the fleet a very tight angle to the trades, which means quite a few more days upwind or tight reaching,” he said.

 

On board PUMA’s Mar Mostro, the mood has brightened as they climb two places tonight. Read is upbeat: “A lot can happen yet. We’re staying positive. There’s nobody on board who is down right now. We don’t get points for being 500 miles into a leg, we get them at the finish last time I checked. We’ll be fine,” he said.

[Megwyn 2]

Whinging bastards! "Going upwind sucks". LOL. Go back to cruising mate. And how's this for news? 'Bowman gets wet feet changing jib during offshore race'. Diddums indeed.

 

I'm with you BB - what else did they expect out there? Inner Hauraki Gulf waves?

Sheesh.

 

Isn't it funny though, how you can look at those videos (BTW they are great Stevo - keep em coming!) and think - what big waves?

 

[Bimini Babe 0]

I was thinking that myself. I know the camera NEVER does the conditions justice - it simply isn't possible to capture the same sense of scale that you can with the naked eye - but they do look rather tame from the vids.

 

I think the VOR is trying to appeal far more to a mainstream, non-sailor audience, and in doing so could well be accused of dumbing down and sexing up all at the same time. And all that will happen is they'll lose their hardcore fan base, at which point the event will become irrelevant and either fade into obscurity or become some ridiculous parade like WWF wrestling.

[Guest]

Rugby Union - Rugby 7s

Test Cricket - 20/20

Ocean Racing - In port W/Ls

 

Where will it end?!!!!!!

[Guest]

Camper are again in a strong position while Telefonica have massively lost out (heres hoping it continues that way)

[B00B00 310]

Whinging bastards! "Going upwind sucks". LOL. Go back to cruising mate. And how's this for news? 'Bowman gets wet feet changing jib during offshore race'. Diddums indeed.

 

I'm with you BB - what else did they expect out there? Inner Hauraki Gulf waves?

Sheesh.

 

Isn't it funny though, how you can look at those videos (BTW they are great Stevo - keep em coming!) and think - what big waves?

 

 

Lets just take their word for it then eh...... It is very easy to bag them from here.

I would say a lot of you have never been in the south china sea or been offshore in a modern light displacement racing boat, or even a carbon boat or canting keeler for that matter?

The boats are just horrible and brutal, you wouldnt believe how henous they are untill you are out in that stuff. Impacts that you would swear are going to break the boat in half, flat bottoms with no give= hard landings.... chuck in the south china sea (one of the worst bits of water i have ever been in) and its bound to be miserable to the extreme.

These buys are the pros, the best there is and they are a TOUGH bunch of guys. When they say its uncomfortable then i would be happy to believe that it really is not pleasant.......

 

Getting your boots wet that early in the race SUCKS. It may sounds like a pretty trivial thing but

now they will now never be dry for the rest of the leg, 2-3 weeks with wet feet-Not fun!

Feet will look like prunes by the end of it. In fact i once lost the feeling in my big toe for about 3 months after doing the southern ocean with leaky boots. 30 days with soaking feet- not fun.

 

Just another perspective on it.

[Guest]

You make cruising sound pretty good Booboo, I like clean sheets.

[Bimini Babe 0]

I see your point Booboo, but it was rather in jest.

 

And while I have not been in the South China Sea, I have been offshore in a modern, light displacement, canting keel, carbon boat. And been very wet. And sick. And beaten into a shitstorm all night. So I know what you mean, but at the end of the day, they signed up for it.

[Guest]

Sanya are having a stunner here and loo at the speed that there doing compeered to Groupama and Camper.