Volvo Ocean Race- Team SCA - first for over a decade to round the Horn

by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com NZL on 1 Apr 2015 Within the next 24 hours, God willing, Team SCA will become the first women's crew to round Cape Horn in almost 15 years.

Sail-World spoke to 2012 British Olympic representative Annie Lush a few hours ago. She says they have had snow and plenty of hail in the last 24 hours, and the Chill factor on deck is minus five degrees

“The wind is blowing 30-35kts with big waves, and we have hopefully just made our last gybe for the Horn,” she reported at 0815 UTC on March 31. “We’re 300 nm from the Horn, and we’re sailing at about 15-25kts depending on the waves. We have quite small sails up at the moment”, she added.

“The waves are pretty big and it is very black – so we’re on our small sail plan.”

Team SCA have been sailing in winds of up to 45 kts ahead of a series of fronts which are expected to pass through the Southern Ocean on the approaches to Cape Horn. Lush said that the sea state was their main problem with big waves, and because of their sail combinations they were forced to sail at an awkward angle to the seas, making for a very wet and uncomfortable ride.

Team SCA also lost all their electronics today and were sailing on visual indicators only in the windy conditions. Fortunately, their electronics have now been fixed before darkness fell, and they were into a Southern Ocean night.

It has been a leg of highs and lows for Team SCA. In the early stages of the leg they were holding the men's crews, with only a 20nm trailing margin. But it all fell apart a week ago, when they Chinese Gybed, and were one of four boats to do so on the same night.

Team SCA emerged the worse for wear from the incident when their Fractional Zero (FR0) shredded, then dropped over the side and pulled the Volvo 65 into an involuntary gybe.

“The wind had dropped a lot, but it was squally,” she recalls.

“We could see the next squall coming, but it arrived more quickly than we expected. We’d had problems with our electronics. It was night and dark – and all the numbers froze as well. We wound up reaching on starboard tack with the FR0 flapping.”

“Then the squall hit at 25 knots and the Fr0 split down the luff from the top. It went in the water was like a sea anchor to leeward. It slowed us down and then pulled the boat into a gybe.”

“We were near-capsized for quite a while as we tried to get sheets off and then get the boat back up again.”

“The motor wasn’t turned on, so we didn’t have any way of reversing the keel. We had to get the runner back. We had to climb up the boat to do anything which was very hard.

“But we got it sorted eventually. Once we got the boat upright, we retrieved the FR0. Then we had to reef the mainsail – as we’d been sailing with a full main. As we did that we noticed that two of the battens had broken and gone through the sail.

“That is what took us so long to get going again. Fortunately the wind died off a bit, when we came to get the FR0 back on board.



“We tried to glue a patch on the mainsail, but it wouldn’t stick. And we also ripped the J3 (jib) – so we had to get that below too. We were also worried about getting sheets wrapped around the rudder.

“In the end I think we were stopped for about five hours. It was very tiring trying to sort everything out.”

‘We could have come out of it a lot worse. We could have lost a rudder and possibly the rig.”

“Since then we have had to back off a lot and it hasn’t been fun sailing the boat like that.”

Lush says they have really missed not having the FR0 as part of their sail options. 'Ideally in the last few days we would have been on the FR0 downwind as the waves are too big to handle on the A3 – it has been painful doing it just on a jib.

'We have had the Zero up a couple of time, but we can’t risk ripping it, as then we will have nothing to use from the Horn back up the South American coast.

She says they do have a sewing machine on board but elected not to try and repair the FR0 as it was so badly damaged, and will wait for a professional repair from the VOR Support Team in Itajai.

“We just have to make sure we don’t break anything ahead of the next Leg,” she adds.

Team SCA are expecting big winds for the next few days 30-45kts, but Lush points out that it is more the sea-state that is making it difficult, making it hard to drive, as they charge down a wave at 30kts. They are hoping to be sailing downwind once they get past the Horn, which Lush says will make a pleasant change.

“We’ve had to spend a lot of time on starboard and on that angle the waves really smack you from the side. It is hard to manage them – particularly at night when you can’t see them coming, as it is really black at the moment. The drivers can’t see anything,’ she adds.

“We’ve had to back off a lot, and it has been a painful few days.’

'I'm looking forward to getting to the Horn and then sailing properly again,' she laughs. 'Even with one sail missing.'

Below decks, Annie Lush says it is like a rainforest. 'There is a lot of condensation, a lot of water. We are bailing all the time. Everything is very wet.'

'We do have some very good sleeping bags, and that is what is saving us, as when you get into one of those, you are finally warm.

'But it is hard for the OBR and Navigator, as they just have to sit below where it is particularly cold. In the last couple of days the temperature has really dropped. It is hard to stay on deck for four hours, so we are spelling people down below - even when they are on watch to let them warm up. It's freezing.'

'On deck the Chill Factor is minus five degrees. It was snowing today, and quite a lot of hail.'

'But in the last few days we have also had a lot of blue sky, which is good in the Southern Ocean.'

Annie Lush hasn't had a lot of opportunity to wear her prescription Kaenon sunglasses this week, but has been wearing the clear version. 'There's a lot of spray flying around, I definitely need them to stop my eyes getting pelted.'

'We've seen a lot of albatrosses this leg. It makes me think that our coach (the late) Magnus Ohlsson is watching us.

'Everyone is good, Everyone is well. There are no injuries, and the boat is holding together well. Unfortunately, it is just slow progress.

(The last womens crew to round Cape Horn were the Lisa MacDonald led Amer Sports Too in the 2001/02 Volvo Ocean Race.)