12:05 AM Fri 20 Feb 2009 GMT
Latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race fleet.
TELEF?NICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 6 QFB: received 19.02.09 1335 GMT
More of the same port tack reaching....
The main happenings are going on downstairs with warm gear getting packed away for a few weeks. Up on top, not much has changed. Its wet, wet, wet.
In really good pressure now and heading where we want to be heading, to set ourselves up for the final approach to the equator and beyond. Still no major passing lanes though so it's all about doing all the little things right and gaining when we can.
Today has been a pretty good day in that regard; the way the breeze has been shifting for the fleet makes sense and fits in with our plans so hopefully things will come good. Still a long way back to the front of the fleet though - that is a very long term project for us!
Still getting a feel for the sheer scale of this leg. We are approx 50% of the way from the start line to the equator - and that only represents a small fraction of the leg. Heaps to go yet.
Bye
Tom Addis - navigator
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ERICSSON 3 LEG FIVE DAY 6 QFB: received 19.02.09 1043 GMT
Wet, wet and worry
The last 20 hours have been wet. Very wet. It's warm in the water so it's not too bad, but when you're reaching steadily around 20 knots, like we are now, you get hard spray on you all the time.
The worst part with this is that your eyes get totally soaked with salt. They get red and very sore. We have helmets with eye protection and different kinds of goggles to protect them, but it's tricky to see through the glass. No solution is perfect.
This morning we had a small rip in our GS, a small staysail, and Magnus (Magnus Olsson - skipper) started to worry that we will break too many sails and that we won't have enough of them in the end of the race.
You are 'only' allowed to use 24 sails during the lap around the globe and we have 12 onboard during this long leg. Each of them has a very narrow sweetspot and as soon as the wind changes in strength or direction, we start to discuss a change. That is a big reason why these boats are so tough to sail. You change sails quite often and since they are very heavy, you need a bunch of strong hands to make the changes go quickly and safely.
We ripped one of our three mainsails in the last leg and before that we have smashed our G4, a small genoa.
'Maybe the winner in the end will be the one who has managed to keep the most sails intact,' Magnus thought out loud.
But our sailmaker onboard, Martin Str?mberg, is not worried at all.
'We ripped our main in extreme conditions, sailing upwind to China. We will probably and hopefully not see conditions like that again and if we don't, I don't think the sails are going to cause us much problem,' Martin says and continues:
'I believe we are, together with Ericsson 4, the team in the fleet who has had the fewest problems with sails. The rip we had this morning was an easy fix, just a few stitches with the sewing machine and it was ok. We can fix it even better when we get ashore.'
Gustav Morin - MCM
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ERICSSON 4 LEG FIVE DAY 6 QFB: RECEIVED 19.02.09 0927 GMT
Into day six already and, apart from the first two days, it has been very steady conditions and the boys are getting a bit bored of the same conditions. The good thing is we are ticking off the miles at a good rate, while taking care off the boat, or trying to.
On the 17th it was my eldest son Liam's 10th birthday and, apart from making me feel old, it also made me feel a bit guilty of never being around for a lot of the family moments. I think I have been around for maybe four of his birthdays and less for the other two kids, so I'm not a good candidate for Father of the Year, but I think they enjoy this lifestyle and understand it is my job.
Still, it feels selfish on my part sometimes as I am doing what I want to do, and they have to fit around me. Hopefully I can repay them when we settle down at home for a while after the race and have a normal life. Until I take off on another project to pay for the normal life. I hope they know how much I appreciate what they sacrifice for me.
We are now far from the cold and moving into the wet, hot and manky conditions where all sorts of strange rashes and growths start appearing. I luckily don't suffer from these, but I am not looking forward to what Ryno (Ryan Godfrey), Nipper (Guy Salter) or Blood (Phil Jameson) start coming out with and, over the length of this leg, there could be some new varieties, Dave (Dave Endean) also needs to take care of the vineyard in the coming weeks.
Looks like we have another week on this tack which is nice to not have to stack all the time. It will be quite routine and a little monotonous, but hopefully we can keep the foot down and work our way forward mile by mile. Anything can and will happen in this leg so we are not counting on anything until we reach Rio and tied up to the dock.
All for now and Liam I hope you had a great birthday and I'll try and be at the next one, Love Dad
Brad Jackson - Watch Captain
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TELEF?NICA BLUE LEG FIVE DAY 6 QFB: received 19.02.09 0931 GMT
Hi there,
Twenty-four hours on and you've guessed it - we are still reaching!! Still on port tack, the same as the day we started too! That in itself has its benefits however, as it means that all the stack has stayed pretty much in place for the best part of the week apart from a bit of carting it forward and aft to help the trim of the boat.
We are still blasting along with the big jib up, staysail and full main eating the miles up as we maintain speeds in the high teens! The cloudy grey sky finally gave way today too, so the day has been spent sailing under a blue sky in a vast expanse of bright blue ocean. The weather is also warming up day by day and today was somewhat reminiscent of summer, something that we've missed since arriving in Qingdao.
Despite the warm weather, things are still very wet on deck and, as a result, various fashion accessories have appeared today in order to provide some protection from the spray. Whilst the majority have stuck with the trusty old surf helmet and visor, David (David Vera) has mixed things up a little with a very fetching pair of safety goggles and Mike (Michael Pammenter) is sporting a pair of scuba goggles. The latter, whilst looking a little ridiculous, seem to be pretty effective although this was almost not the case as, whilst getting them out of his bag, Mike managed to stamp on them popping the lenses out. The repair job was happily taken on by Gabri (Gabriele Olivo - MCM) as, at the time, the light wasn't that great for photos!
So there we have it. The days are rolling by along with the miles and we are keeping ourselves entertained by stuff however slight. We are also now feeling a little more into the race as we have closed the gap to the Green Dragon to little over 100 miles however we still have our work cut out to make it back the head of the fleet. We are still pushing hard though, each time I drive I find myself in a personal battle up against the performance percentage number on the display.
When I see it reading 100, I strive for 101, 102 and so on pushing all the time to go one better and that little bit quicker...
Cheers,
Simon Fisher - strategist/helmsman
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