Sat, 25 Feb 2006 17:35:00 UTC
Business as usual for ABN AMRO ONE at the front of the fleet, but Brasil 1 and the kids fight back as speeds increase.
Out in front, in a class of their own in these conditions, ABN AMRO ONE are inexorably moving away from the next two boats, while Ericsson haven’t given any more ground and Brasil 1 and ABN AMRO TWO take ground from the leader.
Speeds throughout the fleet at just under the 20 knot mark, in a wind just over 20 knots from about 341 degrees. The fleet is virtually sailing in each other’s wake directly for the next Ice Gate and the leader has just 58 nautical miles to go to the western end of the gate. Given the forecast for lots more wind, we can expect the boats to dive south as soon as they can cut the ice gate at 49 degrees south.
Positions at 1600GMT were ABN AMRO ONE leading by 27 miles from Pirates of the Caribbean, a loss of just two miles for Pirates. Third is movistar who have lost a mile on the leader and gained a mile on Pirates at 27 miles from ABN AMRO ONE. Fourth it’s Ericsson who have gained a mile on movistar and have held the same against the leader at 80 miles. Then come the big gainers. Brasil 1 has gone from 156 miles behind to 148 miles, while ABN AMRO TWO have done better still, taking 11 miles out of the leader and three out of Brasil 1 at 213 miles behind.
The weather looks interesting for the next few days and we hope to publish a new weather forecast later today.
There are two emails from the boats, one from Pirates, one from Ericsson. Interestingly, both of them attempt t describe the feeling of a Volvo Open 70 at speed in the dark. Read these extracts and then use the Latest Multimedia, Latest Emails button to see the complete text.
To begin with,the Steve Hayles Mk.1 nav station simulator, “First you need a cardboard box big enough to get inside, a laptop computer, a few mates, a couple of frying pans, a large plastic sheet and a loudhailer.
“Take the whole lot to the top of a very steep and uneven grass hill, preferably after a good rain shower. For maximum accuracy place the box on the plastic sheet to ensure you get that ‘out of control' feeling.
“Get inside the box with the laptop and shut the lid - this accurately simulates the amount of light inside a carbon boat even during the day.
“Turn on the laptop and get comfortable, I would suggest trying to write an e-mail for your first run.
“Once everyone is ready timing will be critical; you need your mates to shove you down the roughest part of the slope you can find and then run along next to you whacking the box as hard as they can with the kitchen implements. This should give you a idea of how hard the waves hit the nav station and the noise involved, as well as a good idea of how bumpy the ride is (remember to keep typing!).
“With the loudhailer one friend should shout alarming messages to add to the excitement. Out here the guys on deck normally shout something like 'wave', which ups my heart rate about 20 percent as I brace myself for the impact. To simulate the general stress levels I would suggest they use words like 'tree' or 'brick wall'
“To check the accuracy of your simulation - the laptop should be leaping into the air every few seconds and your vision should go blurry over the biggest impacts. You should be finding it fairly stressful and be fairly annoyed with yourself for choosing to do it in the first place. Your backside should genuinely hurt when you slam down and at the bottom of the hill the e-mail should be largely unreadable.
“The only things missing from this simulation are a way to lean the whole thing over 25 degrees, and constant questions about whether you are happy with the course or what the weather will do in the next few hours.
“To modify this simulation for other areas inside the boat you could try eating a bowl of food on the way down or for a real laugh try getting dressed!
“So is it really that rough and stressful?
“Well I haven't tried the simulator myself, but I reckon I'd be laughing a whole lot more at the bottom of the hill than I will be at the end of tonight. There's always light at the end of the tunnel though, and in just 250 miles we will round the 2nd ice waypoint and start sailing downwind again. As you bear away and set a running spinnaker you quite literally feel yourself breathe a sigh of relief and a few grins will be exchanged as we get on with the job of attacking Cape Horn.
“Now the Paul Cayard description of life at the wheel and at the nav station aboard Pirates of the Caribbean, “I just came down below from steering the boat for a couple of hours and could not help but think that tonight is one of those nights, that if any normal person were on the boat, they would think we were all nuts.
”Picture this; on deck, it is a caustic environment; pitch black, drizzling and blowing 25 knots. The spray is pelting you in the face and chest as you stand exposed at the wheel. You are wheeling this 70 foot boat around, heeling over at up to 28 degrees as you go catapulting down the waves that you can't see. You are clipped on because the amount of heel is so steep that if you lose you balance, you will fall 15 feet to the rushing water below on the leeward said of the boat.
“We are travelling along at 20 knots average with the apparent wind angle (the wind you feel on your face) coming from 50 degrees off centreline, which pitches the spray and wind in your face at about 35 knots.. The helm has a very light feel on the wheel as the front half of the boat is out of the water most of the time. Then you think about where you are, surfing across the bottom of the planet, thousands of miles from anywhere, and even you begin to think that this is crazy.
“Down below in these conditions, it isn't much better than being on deck. When you try to get dressed, it is all you can do to not get thrown down and smash your face into the leeward hull 15 feet below. The noise is and ride would be like being inside a 55 gallon drum and being dragged down as cobble stone road. As for the nav station, you have to wedge your knees up under the table to hold on while you use your hands to type or run the computer for routing, etc.; a really good ab workout. I think riding in the nav station in these is similar to riding a bull. Then you hit a wave and it is a violent smash. Water is hard when you run into it at 20 knots.
“Everything shakes and vibrates for a few seconds, the lights and computer screens flicker, the keel makes a few loud popping sounds, but we all continue just as though nothing had happened. And then it all happens again.
“Since we have all these great cameras all over this boat including in the nav station, I am filming myself typing this report just to document how difficult it is.”
Have a nice weekend in front of the TV, from everyone at the Volvo Ocean Race web site.
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