Volvo Ocean Race- Leg 3 a test of skill and patience

by Kate Laven on 26 Dec 2008
The inaugural Volvo Ocean Race leg from Cochin to Singapore proved to be a greater test of skill and patience than any of the skippers, crews and navigators anticipated.

Some loved the challenges posed by the windshifts, upwind discomfort and the eye boggling numbers of ships, tankers and fishing boats with all their associated detritus. The tales of near misses matched the headlining story which, predictably, focussed on an extraordinarily close competition.

'We almost took out an enormous 200 foot barge by about ten feet,' said Chris Nicholson on PUMA

'He altered at the last minute to avoid Ericsson so went between us and the Ericsson boats in an emergency move...and we missed her by inches. I have never seen that before.'

'It was also an interesting experience to see the amount of shipping needed for the world here to function. It all comes through here but you don't often see it,' he added looking out over the world's busiest port.

'It all adds a bit to your sailing CV because this route poses different challenges but for me, it adds more to your life CV because it is an experience you are glad you have had.'

Neal McDonald of Green Dragon, a veteran of several round the world races was also intrigued by what he saw.

'The biggest experience for me was the Straits. They were unbelievable. Coming into Singapore, I could not believe how many ships there were moored up there. It was spectacular and came as a complete shock.

'It didn't cause any difficulty and we were lucky because when there was the greatest density of ships, we had a bit of breeze. It would become almost unsafe if there was no wind and you couldn't get out of the way but we had enough breeze that we could weave in an out of the way which was good.'

Said Roberto Bermudez, skipper of Delta Lloyd: 'For the people like me, it was a brand new experience. We know more countries now and more seas and that is good for us as sailors and for the race.'

Other crewmembers inevitably were not so convinced yet all claimed it was a leg they would never forget. On Ericsson 4, navigator Jules Salter described it as ‘quite messy' at the end and ‘not a great place to race yachts'. But bits of it were 'interesting,' he said with 'lots of tricky aspects to it'.

Nick Bubb on Team Russia: 'The Straits were challenging. We were doing 20 knots in a big squall and missed a 40 foot fishing boat by about three metres. I was on the helm and it was a bit alarming.'

And Simon Fisher, navigator on the winning boat Telefonica Blue said the contrast to the more traditional race tracks was both intriguing and exhausting.

'It was relentless. There was always something going on so there was no time to relax. In the bigger ocean legs, you settle down and then you are on your track and that's you in a groove for a few days.

'But getting away from the coast in India and going round Sri Lanka was pretty hard work then the big beat across the Bay of Bengal was pretty eventful as well because we were always tacking.

'Then the Malacca Straits posed a different challenge altogether. Not keen to do that again in a hurry. I can definitely wait a while before I go down there again.'

www.volvooceanrace.org