Volvo Ocean Race: Through the Doldrums for the last time

by Compiled by Richard Gladwell, Sail-World.com/nz 1 May 2018 02:15 PDT 1 May 2018

Images and musings from the OBR's and crew on Leg 8 of the Volvo Ocean Race as they cross the Equator for the final time and seek out the cool of the Tradewinds.

They are crossing through the Sargasso Sea - with water temperatures at a very tepid 29C

May 1, 2018: Latest blog from OBR Brian Carlin onboard team AkzoNobel:

We have met the doldrums!

It started on a positive note early morning, nice moody sky, the crew all having a laugh at my expense for sleeping, the usual standard banter I've come to respect!

It wasn't long before Emily gabbed the bottle of rum from the triangle bags! We we once and finally crossing the equator for the last time this race.

We have no newbies onboard for the crossing so the crew followed tradition, poured there offering for Neptune and swigged one back for themselves.

Regrettably as the afternoon went off so did the wind! Chris thinks we should have drank more rum and the offering wasn't enough! we currently sit her at 18.30 UTC with a full main and J1 up in zero wind! Well I mean we are making about 1.4knts through the water! Simon is standing on the book looking out to see where the breeze is going to be coming from, Jules moves between nav desk, radar screen and deck, increasingly frustrated as are the rest of the crew.

The forecast was to 5-8knts but that's not living up to predictions, everyone on deck stares to the horizon, it's like waiting for a bus on a bank holiday!! It's just not arriving!

The team is hoping that the 19:00 sched reveals a similar fortune for our competitors, not long to go!

On a personal front, I had a genuine interesting story to tell today, one about seaweed! I know, how can you imagine such a topic can excite but having been out here for a relative subdued 8 days it was interesting! I've also discovered that Emily Nagel is quite the knowledgeable person, she knows way more about bio diversity and environmental issues than most sitting on the UN council!

Anyway, that's about all to report for now, I have a feeling tonight might see some rain and cloud activity again!!!! Just a feeling..

Another 30hrs maybe before we hit a solid north east trade-wind which puts us in the right direction and speed for Newport! Please make it happens... ShareDiscussionsLikes1 Volvo Ocean Race

May 1, 2018: Easing back into it on Dongfeng - latest from Stu Bannatyne onboard Dongfeng Race Team:

Well, it has been exactly seven days since the starting gun fired off Itajai signifying the start of leg 8 to Newport and my own return to the DFRT after last jumping off the boat in Melbourne. It seems like a long time ago and I have followed closely the exploits, the ups and downs of the team since then. All was well of course as we lead the overall standings - if only narrowly!

I have to admit the first day or so back on board I really had to think hard about everything I did to make sure I was not making any silly mistakes after being away for so long. But quickly I slipped back into the regular routine and after a few days I could relax a bit more and enjoy the sailing.

Except there was not much chance for any relaxing. As usual the fleet was basically tethered together for the first few days - tacking on every shift in unison as we beat upwind advancing towards Cabo Frio. A couple of exceptionally tricky nights made regular sleep an impossibility as we battled huge rain clouds, squalls and wildly variable wind directions.

It’s hard to believe, but at one stage a squall (at night in the pitch black of course) moved on us so quickly, with such a rapid change of wind direction, that we barely had time to tack the boat and keep on our course before we were heading back to Itajai. Thankfully we made it but had zero chance to move any stack (think ALL the sails, food, equipment and spares we carry on board) let only drain the water ballast. So there we were sailing upwind on port tack somewhat northwards (which was a relief at least) while all the gear and water ballast was set up for sailing on the other tack. What to do now? Fight gravity and move everything to windward? Or tough it out and wait for the next shift back which HOPEFULLY would come soon. We chose the latter option and about 20 or 30 minutes later we were able to tack back onto starboard once that particular rain squall was done with us.

Many more rain clouds followed over the subsequent days and it was a game of finesse to thread your way through trying to avoid a disaster - a little bit of good luck always goes a long way too.

These conditions are always tough on the crew both physically and mentally, I would say even toughest for Charles and Pascal. They have to make decisions that strike the right balance between taking every possible windshift or other opportunity and avoid physically (and/or mentally?) breaking the crew. It is very easy to say ‘right - let's change sails or let's tack now or gybe now and take a quick gain,’ but this has to be balanced against giving the crew some rest and also the often harder decision - will the sail change, tack or gybe actually be worth it?

So many times during these races we wait for the regulation "cup of tea" time to pass before committing to a decision to change sails - only for the wind to almost immediately change again requiring a change back to the same sail. This can be frustrating and even infuriating for all of us and especially when it happens multiple times in a short space of time. It is at times like these that we have to remember we are all in this together and no one is purposefully trying to make us do unnecessary changes. We are all good sailors and no one ever gets it right all the time.

We are lucky to have a great mix of experience to have good discussions about these calls. Stress levels rise even more as fatigue becomes a factor and for sure three days into this leg EVERYONE was suffering from a lack of sleep. Fortunately the breeze then settled and we could ease gradually back into a more regular watch system.

I am going to sign off now as I need to catch up on some sleep again after another very busy day with lots of gybing as we passed the corner of Brazil and started the sprint to Newport. I say sprint although the finish is still around 8 or 9 days away because we treat every four-hour watch as a mini-race within a race and put everything into extracting the best possible speed for each session on deck.

That said we have to make time for some light relief and yesterday Jeremie produced a Rubik’s Cube circa 1980 with a request for someone to solve it for his OBR story. No volunteers appeared although I did manage to complete two layers after dredging up some long lost moves from my time as a 10 year old cubist - is that even a word? If anyone can please send me instructions on how to complete the last layer I might even be able to get it done in the slowest time this year before we reach Newport.

Until Newport,

Kind Regards, Stu Bannatyne

May 1, 2018: Latest from skipper Bouwe Bekking onboard Team Brunel:

It has been another intense 24 hours, sailing on our "slow" starboard tack. Since day one we have gotten the boat 7 years ago the boat is never feeling so good as on the other tack, always lacking 1 to 2% speed. But on a high note, we are performing better than we ever have, able to hang in, trimming and adjusting everything continuously stays the key to go fast. A good mind lesson is that the position reports are not everything anymore, we all have learned that a bad report shouldn't influence our minds, a point were we have been working hard on with Anje-Marijcke, our "spindocter". I have said it before but having her is gold worth and the good thing is the guys and girls now can see all the benefits she is bringing. There should be a job opportunity for her with a certain Formula 1 team, won't say the name, but it will help solve certain problems for sure :-)

Just crossed the equator, Nina very excited as she was on watch, expecting King Neptune's appearance every minute, but no show yet. Pretty sure he will join us at a moment where Nina gets caught by surprise. The best shows are always when the first timer crossers getting woken up when full asleep. That way they behave like lambs being brought to the slaughterbank. It is not getting that bad I promise you. We let Abby run the show, so that we are guys don't get accused of doing anything wrong, just a bit self protection. But Abby says that her first equator crossing, she was treated worse by female crewmembers, than ever she seen any of the guys doing their first crossing, so maybe we are in for a surprise. Who doesn't remember the little telltale hair flock Peter Burling had in the middle of his forehead, while the rest was shaven :-)

Our OBR will send you the evidence what is going to happen.

cheers, Bouwe