Volvo Ocean Race - A failed attempt at a comeback

by Dongfeng Race Team on 23 Mar 2015 Volvo Ocean Race leg five has been a rude awakening for Dongfeng Race Team. Until now, working collectively as a team, they have been able to compensate for the lack of experience of the Chinese sailors. Despite the fact the Chinese sailors are smart, learning quickly and their enthusiasm unparalleled – you can’t fool the Southern Ocean. And for the first time since the beginning of the race, performance is compromised as Charles openly admits that to perform well in bad weather conditions, experience is the only thing that counts.

Charles’ latest email from the boat tells you everything you need to know:

“We’ve been trying our hardest over the past 36 hours to make a comeback. Unfortunately our four tacks to get some separation to the south haven’t worked out, and the leading trio have stretched out their lead – the right solution was to continue straight ahead.

In our group of Southerners, we have really suffered from the anticyclone and its unstable wind.

Yesterday we were totally stopped in a wind hole and we lost ten miles on SCA and five on Mapfre in just two hours. Last night Mapfre seemed to have been the victim of the same hole, and in a few minutes we sailed straight past him to leeward. This afternoon I awoke from my nap to see SCA again. Finally something positive, and we have found our speed again.

The crew have been making the most of these anticyclonic conditions to rest. The violent exit from New Zealand, combined with seasickness for some of them, really woke us up after four legs in the tropics. In 24 hours time its all going to speed up again, and we need to be ready to try and catch up a few miles.

Onboard life is now quite orderly, and our Chinese friends are discovering the cold, its still 15ºC and they are already dressed like its the Southern Ocean. They had better acclimatise because in three days time the air and the water will be just 5 or 6ºC. I admire them – with so little experience to have the courage to be here and to fulfil their roles onboard. I can see they are worried and stressed but they want to be here and go past this famous rock. Wolf just asked me how many days to the Horn. Nine. He seems reassured and satisfied, nine days doesn’t freak him out after four long legs. I remember five months ago, I can still remember his face when I told him it was another nine days to Cape Town. He was so fed up after suffering on that first leg that he wanted to give up sailing. In Auckland he was the most motivated to go in to the Southern Ocean. He’s almost certainly going to have some moments of regret though before passing his first Cape Horn.

Black got his smile again when he woke up and I handed him a completely new oilskins top. Yesterday he tore the waterproof collar of his Musto top. Since yesterday he’s been sailing with his spare top, but that one doesn’t have a hood. A detail when you are in the tropics, a real crisis in the south!'

Parallel to what Charles has sent from the boat Wolf also dropped us a note to let us know he’s feeling like a Hobbit, the sea sickness has passed and he knows now that there’s no turning back.

I did get seasick in the first few days, actually it didn’t affect me as much when I was working on deck. But I was silly and spent 20 minutes below deck and then I got seasick and I couldn’t help myself. Fortunately the wind got lighter afterwards. They say you’re supposed to look at the horizon more, so I took the medicine, and managed to adjust myself in the end. Everyone got a nice break in yesterday afternoon. It was such torture for us before, Black and I had only five meals in total in the past few days, Black had two meals and I had three. We didn’t have the energy to eat, it was tough. That’s what seasickness does to you.

To be honest, this leg surprised me, it has been easier than I anticipated. We are taking the path sailing towards the east, there’s no big change in the temperature and it’s all acceptable. For now…

I remember the day I was suffering from seasickness, when I put my head out of the cabin, I saw a huge wave behind us. I’ve never seen such a huge wave in my life! I wasn’t scared, but you still feel something. After all, you’ve never seen something like this before.

I’ve been having a certain daydream recently, I feel like I’m a hobbit. I’m leaving a normal ordinary life – I meet with friends, we eat and drink together. And all of the sudden I ‘win the lottery’, (and the prize is that) I’m going for an expedition. Instead of the characters (in the computer games) that fight all the time, the hobbits love peace and not ready for the battle at all. But once you ‘win the prize’, you have to be ready to pack your bag and go fighting. For me, the most difficult thing is not the situation I’m facing right now, like all the other movies, the most difficult moment is (before you start to fight in the battle) you have the feeling that it’s going to be tough. But since the moment when you step onboard it means you can’t turn back anymore, you have to put your fear aside when you step on the boat.

There’s no turning back.'

You can follow our story and interact with the team on all social media channels and our official website:

Facebook: Click here ?
Twitter: Click here
Instagram: Click here
Weibo: Click here
WeChat: Click here
Youtube: Click here
YouKu: Click here
Official website: Click here