Repairs for Puma, Delta Lloyd's surprise - VOR

by Volvo Ocean Race media on 10 Nov 2008
Their job list might not be huge, but PUMA Ocean Racing’s general manager Kimo Worthington is keeping his staff busy until the fleet departs for Cochin, India on November 15.

The American and his shore manager, Neil Cox, have hired five locals to their team in an effort to get il mostro 'as close to 100% as possible' ahead of the restart.

Their motivation is obvious. 'If we and the other boats do not get our repairs done here, the chances are we won’t catch up,' Worthington says. 'History shows this is a critical stop.

'You either get it fixed or you don’t, especially as the first leg traditionally brings a lot of damage because guys are racing for the first time.'

His sense of urgency is enhanced by the change of race course and schedule. Traditionally he would be preparing a boat for a charge east to Australia. This time the fleet will be reaching their way north to Cochin in India. Traditionally, the fleet would have in the region of 30 to 33 days here to repair and prepare. This time they have 12.

It is a pattern that is replicated throughout the early stages of this race. Once in Australia, shore crews in the last race had roughly three weeks. The class of 2008 have 10 once they get to India.

Thereafter they travel to Singapore for a 26-day stop through Christmas, but only 15 days of work are likely to be crammed into the Qingdao visit before the fleet starts a 12,300 nautical mile trip to Brazil.

'It’s hard going,' Worthington said. 'The stopovers are so short. If we pick up damage on one of these legs it is going to be hard to get the boat right again. Endurance is really important.'

But it is also easier said than done. One of the biggest challenges facing a fleet of boats laden with foils is the risk of collisions that require extensive reparation time on land – time they no longer have.

'The biggest concern the fleet has is hitting stuff,' Worthington said. 'With these boats we have carbon foils in all different directions and they are all targets. We have all this stuff in the water and we are hitting it.

'The stopovers are short and these days we are more likely to have to take the boats out of the water because of damage to a foil. In a perfect world we would all like to leave the boat in the water, but these boats are machines and the foils are delicate.

'Look at the last leg. Two boats: one got hit (Green Dragon) and the other (Telefonica Black, who now believe they hit an object) got a rudder hit.'

Once the boats do reach port on the new route, Worthington and his counterparts from the other seven boats, must overcome a lack of familiarity.

'We’re used to Cape Town,' said Worthington. 'The race comes here every time, we know the set-up, who to go to for whatever. These new ports aren’t as well known and we have less experience dealing in those areas.'

For the time being, PUMA’s shore team are working between 12 and 15 hours a day to get the boat as healthy as possible. Their job list, which among other items features repairs to their water maker and a ripped kite, is not as extensive as some of their rivals’, but their base is crawling with busy workmen.

'We don’t have as many big repairs,' Worthington said. 'But we have to do jobs on just about all the boat. Paint came off the keel, we have a couple of things with the mast, stuff with the keel, a couple of bits of hardware. Our big one is keeping the graphics on the sail; they are actually getting blown off the sail. It has been a huge undertaking to keep it on the sail.'

In all, Worthington hopes to get the boat back on the water on Tuesday but, as he says, 'it’ll take a lot more repairs to get these boats around the world'.

Team Delta Lloyd shore manager Jeff Condell admitted he was surprised by the lack of damage sustained by his boat during the first leg.

Ger O’Rourke’s crew were the only team sailing a first generation Volvo Open 70 on the 6,500-nautical mile track from Alicante to Cape Town, but whereas some of their newer rivals suffered a variety of ailments the Dutch boat arrived in 'good nick'.

'Considering what we have heard from the other boats, we got away very lightly thanks very much,' Condell said. 'We have a few things to sort but everything is in surprisingly good nick.'

The bulk of work done at the Delta Lloyd base has centred around the team’s engine swap and reparations to a jumper, which was damaged in the first week when the halyard got stuck behind the masthead starboard spreader.

Condell added: 'The jumper has been replaced. We did an ultrasound on the rig and found there was a little bit of delamination which wasn’t related to the jumper incident. It is related to an old accident when the boat was owned by Ericsson (who bought the boat - formerly ABN AMRO ONE - after the last race) which we knew about.'

Plans are currently being discussed to replace the mast in Singapore, but in the meantime the majority of work has taken place inside the boat.

'The engine changeover is also complete, the new propeller arrived Friday and that was the final step,' Condell said. 'The hydraulic systems have been completely overhauled.

'Outside of that it is just the usual stuff that needs doing: better ways of stacking stuff and checking the deck gear and winches and systems to make sure they are as good as can be.'

Condell now expects the boat to return to the water by Tuesday.

'We are nearly good to go. Just a bit more work and she’ll be alright,' he said. 'Just the usual, maintenance to sails and bits and pieces.' The team has just two old sails in its 24-slot inventory.

Delta Lloyd finished seventh place in the first leg and now sit seventh overall with four points, 10 fewer than leader Ericsson 4.

Overall Standings
POS TEAM POINTS

1 Ericsson 4 14.0
2 PUMA Ocean Racing 13.0
3 Green Dragon 11.0
4 Telefonica Blue 10.0
5 Telefonica Black 7.0
6 Ericsson 3 5.0
7 Delta Lloyd 4.0
8 Team Russia 4.0

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