Volvo Ocean Race - Dongfeng Race Team once again in trouble

by Volvo Ocean Race on 21 Apr 2015 2014 - 15 Volvo Ocean Race - How do you survive 20 days at sea without your main source of fresh water?

Well, just 24 hours after the start of this Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, that question has had to be asked.

And Dongfeng Race Team are the team who will have to provide an answer. The Chinese boat reported earlier today that their water maker is not working.

The answer? pumping… pumping a lot.

Sam Greenfield, Onboard Reporter for Charles Caudrelier's boat, reports that the team is assessing the problem at the moment.

“Today our water maker broke. Thomas discovered it fifteen minutes after I turned it on early this morning,” explains Greenfield.

'We’re not sure what the exact issue may be but the velocity of water spurting from the seal was a stern enough indicator to break out the emergency hand pump.'

The emergency hand pump will allow them to obtain fresh water to drink and cook, but it comes at a huge cost - hours of manpower needed to produce water.

“Black, Eric, Thomas and I took about an hour and a half today to hand pump everyone’s water bottle and enough for dinner,” according to Greenfield.

“The hand pump claims to be capable of 35 litres per hour but that is hardly the case.”

Back with the rest of the fleet, the light breeze has been prominent today. The fleet continues to sail east with Mapfre in the lead. They are all within five miles of each other, easily spotted in the horizon and on AIS range.

In the last hour, the fleet have had a 30 degrees shift to the right. If the shift continues we might see the first tack since today at 0005 UTC.