Volvo Ocean Race Leg 3 - Team Brunel cross finish line

by Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 28 Jan 2015 In the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-15 Team Brunel has ended the third leg in a fifth place. Skipper Bouwe Bekking and his crew took exactly 23 days and 18 hours to cover the more than 5,000 nautical miles (9,200 km) to Sanya. Team Brunel now stands in third place in the general ranking.

'Finishing this leg in fifth position is a bad result for us.' says skipper Bouwe Bekking after the finish. 'We didn’t do well enough on the decisive moments. Near Sri Lanka we parked up due to a lack of wind while the other boats behind us did have wind. You can’t control all circumstances but it’s very frustrating when your pursuers are able to catch up if you have a lead on them.

'The Automatic Identification System (AIS) also is a disadvantage. Every team has an AIS aboard, broadcasting the position and the speed of the boat. Because of this system other ships exactly see what you are doing on a digital nautical chart within a 12 Nm range. This means our competitors are also watching our every move and the other way around. In previous editions of the Volvo Ocean Race we were allowed to turn off the AIS but this edition that is prohibited. As a consequence the entire fleet is closely monitoring each other, resulting in tacking and gybing at exactly the same moment.'

According to Bouwe Bekking the vibe aboard Team Brunel was great despite the disappointing result. 'We are happy that we safely arrived in Sanya and that we docked the boat in good shape. You win some, you lose some. And this one we lost. It should not have happened but we are looking forward to the next leg!'

Gerd-Jan Poortman is glad Leg 3 is over. 'I was dreading this leg from the moment we started the Volvo Ocean Race in Alicante. We had to deal with very light winds and it was extremely hot. At the start of this leg we were sailing in second position but by making wrong decisions the rest of the fleet was able to overtake us. For example, we received a weather forecast in the Singapore strait and interpreted it differently than the other teams. The entire fleet except us was cutting the corner. This turned out to be a wrong decision. From that moment on we only sailed upwind and it was difficult to catch up with the rest of the fleet because the boats are identical and the speed differences are limited. We fought until the very end with MAPFRE for the fourth place. Yesterday evening we were more than seven miles behind but we managed to get closer and closer. This leg turned out to be a bit to short for us. But hey, that’s sailing. They beat us fair and square.'

The third leg started with light winds and a lot of unpredictable wind shifts. During the first part of the leg Team Brunel’s navigator Andrew Cape almost never slept. Staring at his computer screen full of complicated lines, he planned the route along the Iranian and Pakistani coastlines.

The following days the fleet was heading south on to the Arabian Sea. To the disappointment of the team, the waters where strongly polluted with waste here. 'Every 37 seconds I saw a piece of rubbish floating by,' said Bouwe Bekking. Some days later the fleet struggled in the hole of no wind in the middle of the Bay of Bengal. The light conditions were really annoying for the boys. The extreme heat made the daily life aboard Team Brunel difficult.

After passing the waypoint of Pulau Weh island, the pack was entering the hazardous Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest shipping lanes of the world. The challenge was to find the quickest route around all those ships and the floating waste. 'It's a nightmare for any navigator. Nobody wants to be there,' Andrew Cape said. Team Brunel sailed two days later as third into the South China Sea. Dongfeng Race Team was still in front and the four boats following behind were now only a few miles apart.

Next week, the sailors of Team Brunel – which is sponsored by the global staffing firm Brunel – will recover from this third leg and Team coach Anje-Marijcke van Boxtel will talk with the sailors about the disappointing result. 'Over the coming days we will evaluate this Leg and analyze why we finished in fifth position. Both individually and as a team through group discussions. In order to grow as a team you need to learn from your mistakes. We still have six legs and six months of Volvo Ocean Race in front of us. We have a good team atmosphere and the crew consists of mentally strong guys. I'm sure this fifth place gives them extra motivation to redeem themselves in the next leg.'

Meanwhile the technical crew of the Dutch Volvo Ocean Race team, which is also sponsored by Moduleo, Robeco and Schouten Global, will start to carry out minor repairs and maintenance. The sailors will get a few days off, after which they will have to prepare for the In-Port race and the next leg to Auckland.