Earthrace battles Monsoon and Indian Bureaucracy

by Devann Yata on 17 May 2007 Since leaving Singapore just on a week ago, the 78 foot power trimaran Earthrace found itself engulfed in the Bay or Bengal's first monsoon of the season. According to Earthrace captain, New Zealander Pete Bethune, on leaving Singapore, the forecast was for moderate winds only, but within 24 hours this had all changed to a full monsoon.

As Earthrace rounded Banda Aceh, on the tip of Indonesia, it found itself head on into big seas and strong winds, and these continued for three days, all the way to Cochin, India, where the boat is now docked. On arrival all crew were exhausted from sleep deprivation.

Through the voyage, Earthrace suffered a number of mechanical failures, the most serious being three broken mounts on the starboard engine. This left just a single mount holding the engine down, and it forced Earthrace to complete the last day of the voyage, not for the first time, on one engine at reduced speed.

Within a day of arriving in Cochin, crew and the local Cummins Mercruiser dealer had repaired the mounts. All that remained was the delivery of biodiesel fuel, which was coming from Hyderabad, some 1000km away.

Bethune says that the ongoing saga of fuel delivery has been extremely frustrating. 'We were assured it would be here a week before our arrival, and then when the ground crew arrived to prepare for Earthrace, it became evident the fuel had not even left Hyderabad.

After days of frustrating phone calls, delivery was again promised, and the truck left Hyderabad. It was then, for various reasons, refused passage through customs into Cochin province. By now Earthrace was arriving in port and waiting on fuel.

At 2am this morning, some three days later, delivery of the biodiesel was finally made, however it was of such poor quality that crew were forced to reject it.

This is despite the fuel apparently coming with paperwork indicating it meets quality standards. The crew is currently searching for a supplier of standard diesel to allow them to leave India, but even delivery of that is proving difficult to negotiate with local officialdom in Cochin.

To compound things, three team members, including the Captain, have become ill, suffering a series of symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting, muscle aches and lethargy. Or Delhi belly as it is more commonly known.

Earthrace is hopeful of refuelling later today, then leaving Cochin, but until the fuel is loaded, who knows?

In 1998 the British boat Cable & Wireless set the present record having made the 24,500 nautical mile journey in 75 days.

Earthrace began its world record attempt on March 10, 2007 from Barbados, and headed west. However, Earthrace had a tough start to the race. On its first leg from Barbados to Panama, its new state of the art carbon fiber propellers partially disintegrated causing Earthrace to lose two days in the process of replacing them.

Then on route from Panama to Acapulco, Earthrace was involved in a night time collision with a fishing skiff off the coast of Guatemala and was detained for 10 days by the Guatemalan Authorities whilst they investigated the accident (Earthrace was cleared of any wrong doing). And then after a good run from Guatemala to San Diego, Earthrace was forced to remain in San Diego for 6 days as mechanical problems came to light - most likely as a result of the accident.

After a great run across the Pacific, Earthrace developed problems in its starboard engine just east of Palau causing the port stop to take 8 days for repair – this was primarily due to the remoteness of Palau and the difficulty of getting parts and technicians. This latest delay effectively ended any chance Earthrace had of finishing the record attempt in Barbados inside 75 days.

Earthrace Crew has therefore decided to attempt to beat the record by finishing the record attempt in San Diego (which will negate the delays it had in Panama, Guatemala and San Diego - a total of 18 days).

Earthrace is able to do this because it took an official start time when leaving San Diego in case it was needed - which it is now. Earthrace left San Diego on April 7 and so if it is to beat the record of 75 days it must finish in San Diego by 21 June.

Skipper of Earthrace, Pete Bethune, said 'This is quite achievable if the boat has a good run from here'.

This 'good run' did not include a monsoon, bad fuel and Indiam Customs delays.