Volvo Ocean Race – Leg 5 start – A wild race across the Southern Ocean

by Team Brunel - Robbert-Jan Metselaar on 18 Mar 2015 Volvo Ocean Race – After a three day delay due to the tropical cyclone Pam, Auckland saw the start of the fifth leg at 20.00 UTC Tuesday evening. At that point the race village had already been taken down because of the high wind. But there was still a good crowd seeing the six teams off on their 6,776 nautical mile journey across the Southern Ocean which, in a little over 20 days, will take them to the Brazilian port of Itajai.

'This will be my eighth stab at the Southern Ocean,' says Bouwe Bekking. 'These are great waters to sail, although the weather can be pretty extreme, with severe cold, strong winds and very high seas. And there is also the danger of whales, especially at night, when they are sleeping on the surface. Hopefully our boat, cruising at high speed, will be loud enough to wake them. Another hazard is the ice – large packs of ice floating just beneath the surface. Race management has set up so-called icegates, limiting south-bound courses, but there is no guarantee that the waters north of these gates will be free of ice. The best we can do is keep our eyes open and closely monitor water temperatures. A sharp, sudden drop in temperature is a definitive ice alert.'

It will also be Bekking's eighth time round Cape Horn, but the prospect, even under the tough conditions that are to be expected, does not daunt this particular Horn veteran. 'I'm not afraid. But I do have great respect for the southernmost tip of South America, where the weather can change at the drop of a hat. You can find yourself in the middle of a storm, with winds of over 50 knots, in a matter of minutes.'

Rokas Milevicius, on the other hand, is in for his first time round the Horn. 'I'm thrilled at the prospect of sailing round the Cape. I'm hoping for clear weather, so we can take some nice pictures. And they tell me that going round the Horn means whisky and cigars. It will be a defining moment, for sure, but all in all it’s just one small part of this leg. At the end of the day, it's all about crossing the Southern Ocean safe and sound and getting to Itajai as fast as humanly possible.'

Team Brunel Director and former Whitbread Round the World Race skipper Gideon Messink knows what the teams are facing on this leg. 'In the Southern Ocean you have to stay focused all the time. Which also means that you have to look after your clothing, because if your body loses too much warmth, you lose focus and coordination as well. And with everybody dressed in multiple layers of clothing, changing stations takes longer than during the warmer stages of the race. This is one leg that will cost a lot of energy. Which is why we are taking extra food.'

For Dirk de Ridder, experienced ocean sailor, veteran of the Whitbread Round the World Race and two-time participant in the Volvo Ocean Race, the Southern Ocean is familiar ground. And he agrees with skipper Bouwe Bekking that the world's southernmost ocean is a place to take very seriously indeed.

'The first days of this leg will be all about bad weather. The cyclone has lost some of its force, but we are still talking gales with high wind speeds. We'll be outpacing the storm, which is following the same course we will be sailing, so we are bound to catch up with it. We will try to go around it in the north. The closer we'd get to the eye of the storm, the more wind we'd be facing, while keeping distances shorter. Which sounds perfect, because you'll be picking up speed and cutting miles. Except you can't sail in winds of over 50 knots. Everything would break. We'll be sailing at very high speeds anyway during the first week of this fifth leg. We want to keep the crew safe and the boat in one piece. That is the balance we'll be looking for.'

It has only been one week since De Ridder was told he was part of Team Brunel on this journey, replacing the injured Laurent Pagès. His family is very aware of the risks. 'My wife knows exactly what the Volvo Ocean Race means and my children follow the event on the internet. It’s their favourite subject for show and tell sessions in school.'

The twelfth edition of what used to be known as the Whitbread Round the World Race consists of ten legs and one 24 hour 'pitstop' in the Dutch port of Scheveningen. The fleat of seven VO65 boats will finish late June, after approximately 38,739 nautical miles (68,500 kilometers), in Göteborg, Sweden.