Southampton to Cape Town

Lisa McDonald’s crew on Amer Sports Too had only been together for a week when they crossed the start line in the Solent and their lack of preparation became evident within minutes as they saw their spinnaker disintegrate before they had passed the Needles.

The opening leg from Southampton to Cape Town delivered the mother of all baptisms for the first timers as the Bay of Biscay kicked up an almighty storm, putting paid to Djuice’s mainsail, before the winds subsided almost completely to give them a quiet ride to the Doldrums.

Long periods of inactivity gave them plenty of opportunity to conjure up dastardly ideas to make life as miserable as possible for the crew who were making their first crossing of the Equator.

“The good thing is that talking doesn't slow the boat down so we spent most of the afternoon sitting on the leeward side of the boat listening to stories and making plans for the equator crossing,” wrote Dirk de Ridder on illbruck. On illbruck we have three guys who were punished by Grant Dalton on their equator crossing and he is getting worse as time goes on. I just hope that he hasn't forgotten about the sprayglue and Deep Heat on private parts four years ago when they reach the equator this time.”

The same thoughts were occupying minds on Amer Sports Too, as well.

”King Neptune came to visit three initiates on Amer Sports Too last night, accompanied by Queen Codfish and their able assistants. Eleanor Hay (GBR), Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED), and Genevieve White (AUS) crossed the equator for the first time by sea and were put to the test by judge and jury. The answers were not up to par and the penalty was paid. A kiss to the flying fish straight from the stew slops, and a little more stew spread around for good measure.”

That done, imaginations started to work overtime and as ever, thoughts turned to food.

“Thai Chicken Curry was the meal for dinner tonight. Definitely my favourite as it is a nice number with a beautiful coconut red curry sauce with chicken, green beans and peanuts all served with jasmine rice (I have been at sea for too long). Now, all that would make this day perfect would be a beer and crawl into bed with my wife. Well there is no beer or wife so I will have to crawl into my bunk and be content with the soothing serenade of the squealing spinnaker sheet on the primary winch, the rattling of the grinders and the whining water ballast pump.”

Move over Ernest Hemingway!

The development of the Volvo Ocean Race 60 was geared to creating bitingly close contests and the first leg highlighted how evenly matched the boats were as the top five boats virtually drag raced most of the 7,350 nautical miles to Cape Town.

Dalton’s Amer Sports One led for much for of the leg, but in the last few miles calamity struck as Dalton reported two successive crew errors leading to the demolition of key reaching sails, leaving him floundering, then feeling deeply depressed as illbruck passed by to lead into Cape Town for a first leg win….by the tiny margin of two hours after more than 31 days of racing.

Dalton conceded on the dockside that illbruck’s preparation, which had involved three and a half years of training, an elaborate sail testing programme and more than $20 million investment, had put the Germans ahead of the game.

He was dead right. Not a single sail had been broken on illbruck. The sewing machine was never disturbed and there were no gear failures on the boat. The only problem had been a failure in accessing the internet after the SatCom B unit came off its mountings in the bow. But running repairs proved adequate and the all-important weather information continued to be downloaded, though as soon as ASSA ABLOY arrived, in fifth place, they promptly lodged a protest against illbruck for making illegal use of an internet weather site.

The protest was withdrawn after a three hour hearing, but as soon as that was over, they were protested again, this time by a race official who claimed illbruck had modified their propeller drive strut to include a weed cutting device. That protest was upheld and illbruck was fined £1,000.

Outside the protest room, controversy was raging with equal intensity. A disastrous navigational error on ASSA ABLOY on leg one brought skipper Roy Heiner’s competency into the spotlight and the management made a quick but shock decision to replace him with Britain’s Neal McDonald. Heiner was gutted and repaired to the mountains to decide what to do next.

“In the end I guess it is a product of the professionalising of the sport of sailing,” he said. “The stakes are higher, the pressures are higher and you have to do what you think is the best for performance and in the end it is a tough sport, but life goes on."

For McDonald, taking the skippers role for the first time in his career came as a mixed blessing. “It is obviously difficult circumstances and as a person, I am sorry to see Roy go and I have enjoyed sailing with him. The boat is where it is now due to Roy's efforts and input, and it's a difficult transition for me to make - I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about it. But from my personal point of view, clearly I am very proud and pleased to have confidence installed in me by our sponsors and our management team and I am looking forward to getting stuck in and getting the next leg organised.”