Boat Mail - Day 5 - Pirates; ABN Amro 2; movistar

by Various on 7 Jan 2006 From: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN LEG TWO DAY 5
Sent: 6 January 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER Sent: 06 January 2006 18:02
Today is a good day for eco geek-o.

We have had a great array of wild life flipping by. Today we have had two close ‘fly by’ whale moments. Close calls each time brings home the reality that this is a real threat to both us and them, yet a real treat to have them around. Vigilence is a priority.

Second whale was big, didn't recognize him , couldn't see his face, but his back had a nice dorsal type fin and he looked well fed, he must have been 25ft/7+Mtrs long. He was heading west at about 4kts, against our East-ish heading at `twenny`, makes a collision at 25 most uncomfortable for us both!!

Bird life has seen a good blend and mix of Albatross, really beautiful gliders of a variety of species, Wanderer, GreyBeard (I think), and Sooty, all hanging out together. Pretty much and even mix of each species. Absolutely beautiful creatures, it’s no exageration. The warm conditions maybe giving them different glide path over the waves.

Born to fly effortlessly and silently for hours....as opposed to a helicopter say, which is a noisy, smelly highly intense flying machine, which can barely stay in the air for four hours before it has to rattle back to land in a sweat, for more fuel. It needs service every 500 hours, overhaul at 1000 hours, and full strip and assemble at 2000hrs. Albatross can disappear for months to sea, never see land or hardly a living soul, and be happy and content, and self sufficient. That is an impressive strength and character we could all learn from.

Throw a few petrels into the mix and they are a happy flock.

The water is slowly getting cooler, HOWEVER the game is still HOT out here.

Bigger breeze coming for the next few days....hook in and hang on.

Paul Cayard - skipper




From: ABN AMRO ONE LEG TWO DAY 5
Sent: 6 January 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER Sent: 06 January 2006 18:39
Two weeks ago I was not expecting to see a penguin today, or an albatross, or a dolphin - not in the wild, and not from the helm of a Volvo 70 doing 18 knots! I had expected some quiet family time after Christmas with my wife and baby daughter, getting around to tax returns and sorting out the house. But when Moose called me just before Xmas and asked me to come out to Cape Town, I did not take any persuading..

This is the first time I have had the chance to do a leg of the Volvo, and this is one of the best legs, crossing the Indian Ocean to Melbourne. So far the race has been fantastic, with a bit of everything - light airs, upwind boat breaking weather and wild downwind rides through the night with the big spinnaker, classic VOR stuff, and we are not even a quarter of the way there yet!

It has been such close racing, up to this morning we have been in visual sight of a competitor, often our sistership ABN AMRO TWO - 'the young ones' and Pirates of the Caribbean, and we are now in a bunch heading east in close formation.

Last night was amazing, pitch black, no moon and we were running under full main and masthead spinnaker in 26 knots of wind. We were traveling at the same speed as the wind and half under water at times. One man is holding the spinnaker sheet trying to make out the shape of the sail out of the gloom and two others are manning the handles, trimming the sheet when needed. As you plunge through the waves the water rushes back across the deck, it seems in slow motion, but when it hits you are knocked off your feet.. Harnesses are essential dress code..

After a couple of hours of grinding and trimming, it was time for my 2 hour driving stint, ok here goes, better be on max concentration here, any mistake and it could be all over. Brad Jackson had been driving before and his advice was, 'steer a course between 105 and 115, and don't go any higher'. So a quick changeover and I was up on the helming platform. The boat was fully powered up, able to veer off at high speed in all directions, it was an exhilarating ride keeping the boat under control and keeping fast for the 2 hours. That was worth coming all the way over to Cape Town for.

Once dawn came, the conditions improved and now we are reaching at 18 knots in flat water, there are albatross all around and Justin has been busy trying to capture them on the camera. It’s not on the edge, it’s now champagne sailing, making miles straight at the next waypoint.

More good news is that Brad has found my missing Musto boot and I can get out of my sandals, its been fine up to now, but seeing a penguin an hour ago, shows that we are moving into colder waters.. That leaves just Moose in sandals...

Brian Thompson

For media information on the Volvo



Sent: 6 January 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER
FROM: ABN AMRO TWO
Sent: 06 January 2006 15:38 Received via Sat C @ 1532GMT
Hi There,

It has been a slightly frustrating 24 hours for us on board ABN AMRO TWO
as we have seen Pirates of the Caribbean and ABN AMRO ONE extend on us
slightly each sched. My suspicions are that they have had slightly better
wind than us today being slightly to the south of us and just quietly I've
been berating myself for it all morning! However, no doubt being in close
quarters with each other they are pushing each other pretty damn hard.
The plan of action now is to work out how to catch them back up and with
any luck the freshening breeze that will come with the big low pressure
that is chasing us down will give us the opportunity to do so.

While we are waiting for the low to come and get us however things
couldn't be more tropical! Blue skies, sunshine, flat water... Right now
we stand more of a risk of sunburn than frost bite! Bicey (Nick Bice) was
forced to bite his lip this morning when speaking to a radio station in
Melbourne describing 40 knot gales and freezing temperatures as all the
while Junior was upstairs driving the boat with no shirt on!!

I guess we should enjoy it while we can though and patiently wait for this
low to catch us up although as sods law would have it with the latest lot
of weather data we discovered that it had slowed down so we have to wait a
little bit longer for the real fun to begin!!

Until tomorrow.

Si Fi Simon Fisher - navigator

From: ABN AMRO TWO LEG TWO DAY 4
Sent: 5 January 2006
To: DUTY OFFICER 05 January 2006 16:36
Subject: Crew Log 05/01/06

Hello!

Having battled through the ridge of high pressure most of yesterday afternoon and through the night we finally reached the Southern Ocean proper today. The wind was steadily building all morning, as was the sea state as the wind slowly whipped up the waves. Things are pretty temperate still as we are up at 43S but it is good to finally reach the big westerlies that this part of the world is so famous for. Whether I'll still be saying that when we are beam reaching in thirty knots in a few days at the wettest angle imaginable I'm not so sure but for now we are enjoying being back in the old routine of fast downwind sailing.

We have had plenty of contact with the rest of the fleet as well, racing proving as close as ever, we have spotted our sister ship several times in the last 24 hours and our encounter with the Black Pearl this morning was straight out of the movie. She may not have black sails and be crewed by the damned and I'm pretty sure Paul Cayard isn't so evil that hell itself spat him back out (I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean more than a few times!!) but it was still a pretty menacing sight as the skull and cross bones came over the horizon in a building breeze. We both had our masthead spinnakers on and the breeze was getting up and it seemed like it was developing into one of those situations where you end up pushing too hard on the big gear. Luckily though before we had to start throwing barrels and goats over the side to save ourselves and Kiera Knightly (we all wish!) they gybed away ending that little encounter!

W