Volvo Teams pass scoring gate, Ericsson Team leads

by Ericsson Racing Team and Various Volvo competitors on 20 Dec 2008
Ericsson Racing Team strengthened its overall lead in the Volvo Ocean Race today when Ericsson 4 claimed 4 points for being first boat past the Leg 3 scoring gate north of the island Pulau We.

The International crew, skippered by Brazilian Olympic medalist Torben Grael, passed the gate at 1409:30 GMT. The feat increased their total to 30 points, but it didn't come easily.

'It's taken a while to get here,' said Ericsson 4 media crewman Guy Salter. 'My media desk sounds like a box of Lego every time we go over a wave, but it's still working so I won't open it, just incase it acts like a jack in the box when I get the lid off!'

A couple of hours later, teammate Ericsson 3 cleared the gate in third place. Last night Anders Lewander's Nordic crew consolidated their position by sailing down and in front of Puma, and then covering their every move. Ericsson 3 cleared the gate within sight of Puma.

This past week has illustrated the competitiveness of the fleet. Although this is a circumnavigation race, the close boat-for-boat tactics resemble an inshore race among one-designs.

The fleet is very evenly matched in terms of boatspeed but, more importantly, the skippers and navigators plotting the courses also seem evenly matched.

Ericsson 4 moved into the lead last night when it pulled even with Telefónica Blue in terms of longitude, but was placed about 14 nautical miles to windward.

'Ericsson 4 grabbed the lead over Telefónica Blue in convincing fashion. This has been possible by hard and skilled sailing, superior management of the racecourse geometry and, to be truthful, a little help from the weather gods,' said team meteorologist Chris Bedford.

With the scoring gate behind them, the finish line in Singapore is some 500 nautical miles ahead. But the passage through Malacca Strait won't be easy.

'Although reasonably good moderate east/northeasterly pressure is expected to hold for about 170 nautical miles or so beyond the gate, the wind will eventually ease off and much more variable conditions are expected,' Bedford said.

'Just this morning, there was a nice batch of thunderstorms over the central Malacca Strait. Similar storms are there at some point nearly every day. There is little doubt clouds and squalls will be a randomizing factor on the final approach to the finish. Because the final 300+nm of Leg 3 has the potential of being so very random, it makes the scoring gate points to be won tonight and tomorrow morning even more important,' said the meteorologist.

ERICSSON 4 LEG THREE DAY 7 QFB: received 19.12.08 1430 GMT

We are tacking to the waypoint that is the scoring gate for leg 3. It has taken a while to get here, and has taken its toll on the fleet. My media desk sounds like a box of Lego every time we go over a wave, but its still working so I won’t open it up - just in case it acts like a 'jack in the box' when I get the lid off. As they say in deepest Gurnard – ‘if it ain’t broke don't mess with it’.

The Malacca Straits are the next task, and, from experience, it could be quite a tricky and time-consuming passage. I have been up and down many times and have never known of much wind. The only wind is generated by the often-huge thunderstorms, which brew up during the day on both the Indonesian and Malaysian side.

These clouds can offer some of the most spectacular forked lightening displays I have ever seen - in fact so good that the lights and TV in my hotel rooms have often remained off until the natural light show is over.

There are many islands and great old trading ports on the way down, which I have visited during several regattas and are places I would like to visit again. But the only thing on the minds of Ericsson 4 now is about getting to Singapore ASAP while avoiding the fishermen, their nets, the vast amounts of commercial shipping, the large amount of litter in the water, which ranges from a plastic cup to the odd tree log, the tides, the sandbanks, the storm clouds and associated lightening, the pirates, the sea snakes and the areas of no wind - so not much to worry about!

We did get the lowdown from experience of this area but things change so quickly down here that we couldn’t get the definitive answer to life, the universe and everything, or even the quickest route through the Straits, but we did get many handy tips though.

Other than that, it’s all good on Ericsson 4 and our eyes are wide open

Guy Salter - MCM

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DELTA LLOYD LEG THREE DAY 7 QFB: received 19.12.08 1356 GMT

Hi all,

Today was the day after the night before. Everybody took the chance to get some rest after a busy night. Boat-captain Ed O'Conner and bowman Gerd-Jan Poortman worked all night to stabilise the keel-structure. Today we are still sailing with 10-11 knots with the J4 and a reef in the main. The crew is disappointed but also glad that everybody is safe. We are still racing and we keep a on the keel every 20 minutes to make sure the situation stays stable. It was a scary situation but now everything is under control.

Cheers

Sander Pluijm - MCM

After the initial shock and disappointment set in that we broke our boat, it started to become apparent that we would be able to sail to the Malacca Straits and deliver the boat to Singapore. Even though we would be sailing in a severely crippled state, this was fantastic news.

After the adrenalin rush of our near disaster faded, it dawned on me that my workload of navigating was dramatically reduced to some basic route planning and weather analysis. The logical next step was to take a ‘good night’s sleep’…not just my typical nap. I got up from my desk, brushed my teeth, washed my face with some fresh water and dragged our big masthead spinnaker into a nice corner of the boat. I fell asleep and decided that I wasn’t going to get up until the sun came up. A couple dreams later, I decided to move into an open bunk… on the leeward side…oh yes, the leeward side of the boat. I pressed on in my mission to sleep until dawn.

Once again, I gained a slight bit of consciousness, and realised that I missed the sail bag. It was so comforting during the first segment of my slumber after all… Since I was over indulging myself, I didn’t hesitate, I moved back to the beanbag. A couple hours later, I woke up and the sun was shining down into the companionway hatch.

I did it. Mission complete. I slept for six hours straight. Considering in this entire race I haven’t slept for more than 90 minutes in a row, I claimed victory on my mission to sleep in mad excess. I have felt amazing all day today. I had some breakfast oatmeal, drove for couple hours, casually confirmed that we were still heading east every once in a while, talked to a passing tanker ship on the radio in my best southern American truck driver accent, and now I am writing this blog.

I just might make it two in a row.

Matt out - until the sun comes up.

Matt Gregory - navigator
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TELEFÓNICA BLUE LEG THREE DAY 7 QFB: received 19.12.08 1036 GMT

Grrrr, we haven't been able to hold of Ericsson 4, who always had earlier lifted breeze than we had. This has given them a more favourable angle to sail in...And go faster than us. We did two short tacks last nights, when there where small windshifts, which brought us more directly in front of Ericsson 3 and Puma. We are baking very small cookies right now, no time for big moves. We will try to consolidate our second place to the scoring waypoint, which is still an ok result. But we are not there yet, so nothing guaranteed yet.

For some reason the inside of our boat has become very dirty. It looks like black dust has landed on top of us. Maybe it is a sign we are reaching the normal polluted world again.

Talking about pollution, Gabri Olivo (M