Volvo Ocean Race- In-port reflections and Delta Lloyd still sailing

by Various Volvo OR competitors/Sail-World on 23 Dec 2008
Latest news from the Volvo Ocean Race. All of the fleet, except the injured Delta Lloyd are now in port at Singapore. Delta Lloyd battles on, determined to finish this leg - sailing.

TELEFÓNICA BLACK LEG THREE DAY 10 QFB: received 22.12.08 2013 GMT

We saw this leg as a good opportunity to get a podium place as we did not expect any hard running conditions, our known ‘Achilles heel’. We had ‘no excuse to lose’ as Dennis Conner used to say. In front of us we had a long upwind struggle in NE trade winds, which should do us, fine we thought…

The first night we did fine and found ourselves in the leading group next morning. But, someone up there did not like us, as the light breeze seemed to turn only us in a bad direction. But, we fought back during the reach across to the first waypoint SW of Sri Lanka. As we stayed low in the NE fading breeze, we caught up and rounded close behind Ericsson 4, Telefónica Blue and Puma.

Like everybody else, we had to fight an unknown enemy along the southern part of Sri Lanka. It was not the Tasmal Tigers but instead a very, at least for us, unknown current. Like the Gulf Stream it was rushing, often at 3 knots in the middle of the ocean! We going east, current going west…

Going upwind in light air against a current of that force is like walking in deep mud, you are going forward very slowly. Still we managed for a while being second behind our so-successful teammates on Telefónica Blue who made a brave move going east from Sri Lanka instead of the more ‘normal’ Northerly route, which the rest of us took.

All looked well until we really got stuck in a bad cloud and the before so-unlucky Ericsson 3 could pass by and Puma came uncomfortably close after they both had been a fair bit behind us. Things did not become easier when just before reaching our northern turning point, we broke our fractional halyard and had to sail with Jib 4 instead of the bigger Jib 2 for 13 hours. When daylight came, we could sort out the problem, but by then Ericsson 3 had passed and so had Puma in a very frustrating way.

Puma is the boat we have come really close to a couple of times during this race. This time she came from behind and just sailed by, 100 metres to windward, on a tight reach. Us with our too-small headsail and them with the right gear up. That was enough to face the situation. We had to go downwind and fix the halyard in the fresh breeze and saw Puma disappearing in the morning mist.

As we approached the gate at Pulau We, we should have tacked North a bit earlier behind Puma, but the greedy navigator wanted to split tacks with Puma to see if we could pass her. Instead, we nearly lost Green Dragon, but managed, just in time, to take the necessary, badly unfavoured, tack to the north for two hours, just to get in the same pressure as Dragon. That tack helped us to keep Dragon behind as the gate approached.

We passed the gate at Pulau We and had another frustrating 24 hours, when we often did not know which tack to be on or which sail to have up. Finally, we settled down on a long port fresh reach towards the shore of Malaysia. The leading pack had a better timing to hug the shore in the dying NE trade before the sea breeze set in. To our surprise Ericsson 4 did not push to the shore in time and allowed their great lead to be destroyed in hours, sitting in light air offshore and just seeing three boats, tight on the beach, passing by. I can just imagine how they must have felt.

We managed to get into land in time and picked up the last hours of sea breeze and also welcomed the sudden onset of land breeze last night just before Kuala Lumpur, Port Klang.

Along the shore we went last night, zig zagging between fishing boats and coastal shipping. Luckily, we never got stuck in any nets and also understood that the risks for pirates had been, at least in my mind, slightly exaggerated!

This morning a light WNW breeze took over from the land breeze and suddenly someone called out. 'Looks like two VOR boats in front…! We are catching them...!'

We just got closer and closer until I could read the logos in the sails of Puma and Ericsson 4….Then all of the sudden the compression effect we had enjoyed turned into our face and we could just helplessly watch all the four boats in sight catching a new breeze and sail away from us…Our fifth place was a fact, but we were at least happy to have out sailed the Green Dragon the last 24 hours.

Christmas is waiting and then a new much longer uphill fight to China…When we will complain about the cold, not the heat…

Roger Nilson - navigator
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PUMA LEG THREE DAY 10 QFB: received 22.10.08 1817 GMT

We just finished the leg to Singapore. I have to be simple with my thoughts because I am too tired to get really in-depth. We finished second on this leg and hats off to the Telefónica Blue team for their leg win.

And I can officially say that it was one of the most stressful seconds in my sailing career.

Let’s just take the last 24 hours:

The lead changed hands amongst the top four boats more times than I can imagine. We anchored twice. We were solidly fourth several times. We were winning several times. We were picked off by a tug and barge at the most critical time of the leg (about 15 miles from the finish trying to keep both Ericsson boats from rolling us). We saw more fishing boats and ships than any of us had ever seen before. We just missed massive logs and hunks of rope and other debris on many occasions. We had to dive on the keel to get a tree off it. No one on the boat really remembers the last time they slept or ate. Let’s see - anything else I have forgotten? Sounds glamorous eh?

We are powering in from the finish now and our entire team is relieved as well as anxious when we think about what was and what could have been. The team effort on this boat was nothing short of spectacular. The intensity that has to take place 24 hours a day is like nothing that I have ever experienced. A good group of guys, who I believe are proud of what they did over the past 10 days. Even if we did get nipped out by one other boat in the end. That battle amongst the top four was ridiculous.

So, time soon to see the families and friends on the dock. Always an emotional experience. Many of the guys are flying home soon to be with their families over the holidays and I know that all look forward too that.

PUMA Ocean Racing wishes all a wonderful holiday. And please let me know how it goes because I think I may be sleeping all of Christmas day!

Kenny Read - skipper

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GREEN DRAGON LEG THREE DAY 10 QFB: received 22.12.08 1434 GMT

All the talk on the Malacca Straits was of pirates, fishing nets, shipping and obstacles but it was the wind shifts and tide that we should have been focusing on.

It has been a frustrating 24 hours on the Green Dragon. We gained many miles back on the leaders yesterday and then were stuck in a similar place to Ericsson 4 with no wind and lots of tide against us. For five hours we sat and were washed backwards into the old wind and we couldn't get into the westerly that carried the leaders away.

It was infuriating, as we knew this was likely to be our one shot at getting back into the race. We licked our wounds and made gains back overnight, but today we again were stuck at the narrowing of the straits in no wind and foul tide. This was simply bad luck on our timing. As we struggled to turn the corner, the Russians reached up behind us in good wind from 24 miles astern! They are now about 3 miles behind us, which will ensure close racing until the end.

This leg has simply not gone our way and I look with envy at the close racing amongst the top four. It might seem strange, but on balance, I think we have sailed the best on this leg that we have so far in th