Volvo Ocean Race - Snake attack
by Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 8 Jan 2015
Team Brunel Volvo Ocean Race
http://www.volvooceanrace.com
Volvo Ocean Race - 'Bear away, bear away!' Jens Dolmer yells to Bouwe Bekking. The big Dane is standing on the foredeck and has seen something in the sea. 'I think it was a piece of wood,' he says. While the skipper turns through the wind, I see a dark shadow in the water. 'It’s moving. It’s a snake! A black sea-snake!' Just as the Dutch VO65 races past it, the snake disappears under the boat.
On a sailing boat, where nothing particularly happens apart from the day-to-day sailing, an event like this results in a day of snake jokes. Jens Dolmer creeps up behind his colleagues and pinches their legs. 'Watch out for the snake.' When we use the head, we check the toilet bowl anxiously in case the snake has crawled up through it. 'It can also get into the boat through the water tank,' jokes Andrew Cape. 'And then it’ll wait until we’re all asleep before it strikes.' The joking lasts the best part of a day.
The next day, the snake was long forgotten. There were no more jokes. It was a day of bad luck. Team Brunel had to cope with one setback after the other, the biggest of which was a so-called ‘back-down’. This is a fancy way of saying ‘nose to the wind and sailing backwards’. It’s the only way of removing pieces of rubbish that have attached themselves to the keel. During a ‘back-down’, the boat is just about motionless, while our competitors sail cheerfully past us.
Jens Dolmer looks through his endoscope for the tenth time. 'I can see another piece of rubbish. It looks like it’s wound around the screw,' he sighs with irritation. This time Louis Balcaen, the swimmer on watch, will have to check it out. Completely naked the young Belgian dives overboard and a moment later he disappears beneath the hull. On deck, the crew watch tensely. There’s not a minute to lose. And then Balcaen resurfaces and yells, 'A snake! There’s snake around the screw! Give me a knife!' He is quickly handed a large Rambo knife and he again vanishes underwater. And there, with difficulty, he removes a sea-snake as thick as your wrist.
Once Balcaen is back on deck, the snake jokes start again. There’s more laughter and the loss of three miles is forgotten for a moment. And in the days that follow, nobody on board is safe from the snake. He can strike at any time.
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