Rick Tomlinson/Volvo Ocean Race
Mon, 06 October 2008 11:07:32
By Riath Al-Samarrai
It was eerily realistic.
Eight boats, shifty breezes and Delta Lloyd was late in the water.
Of course these were model boats - built to scale with real canting keels - and the mood would be light, the results insignificant. Hmmm.
“Too close to the wind,” said one of the Ericsson tacticians to the man with the controls. “Not enough rig tension,” commented PUMA’s Adrian Gray.
At the same time Stuart Molloy of Delta Lloyd had his model out of the water to make adjustments to the keel. The faces were stern, the world had gone mad: grown men raced their toys – albeit expensively high-tech toys – around a miniature race course in the race village.
The parallels with real life were alarming. “The keel’s failed,” said Molloy. So had the keel one of the Ericsson boats and also PUMA. “Just like the first generation 70s,” was the wry observation of a Green Dragon shore crew.
Typically, Delta Lloyd were last in and barely made the start. Team Russia, meanwhile, played true to form.
“They’re at it again,” called Ian Moore, Green Dragon’s navigator. The object of his attentions was the Russians going bow first into the side of another team. It was just like the in-port race. “Keep that bow to yourself,” came another call from the crowd (an impressive number, probably in the hundreds, came to watch). Stig Westergaard saw the funny side.
Then, all of a sudden and barely a minute into the race, came the only deviation from reality. Whereas Bouwe Bekking and Fernando Echavarri had led Telefonica Blue and Telfonica Black to a resounding one-two on Saturday, their miniature team produced a less distinctive result.
First the Blue retired, quarter of the way up the first beat and then the Black seconds later. The two controllers, frowns etched across their faces, left the pontoon.
The other teams, meanwhile, were a picture of focus. PUMA skipper Ken Read was offering tactics to Gray and Moore was calling the wind for Green Dragon.
When PUMA nearly collided with Ericsson 3 at the top mark, it looked as if an international incident was on the cards. The talk of protests lasted a full two minutes.
Eventually, Ericsson 3 won the day’s three races with Jimmy Hellberg holding the controls and with navigator Aksel Magdahl calling tactics.
Two rivals looked more than a little disappointed.
It was a classic example of model behaviour.
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