Friday 30 December 2011

Nip and tuck over ‘final miles of madness’

After spending Christmas at sea Team Telefónica claimed 24 points for first place in the first of a two-stage, 5,430-nautical-mile race to Abu Dhabi. 

Telefónica stole the lead from CAMPER, only eight miles from the finish line. 

The last push to the finish was a battle royal, with the lead changing many times. Iker Martínez described the run in as “final miles of madness” as the pair switched the lead repeatedly. In the end Telefónica secured victory by just one minute and 57 seconds.

Cat and mouse
The rest of the fleet finished the leg in similar cat and mouse stile, changing places all the way into the undisclosed safe haven port. 

To reduce the risk of piracy, race organisers implemented a stealth zone in which the positions of the yachts were withheld for the latter part of the leg to mask the identity of the safe haven port.

Telefónica took first place then Camper second, Puma third, Groupama fourth and then a frustrated Abu Dhabi in fifth. They will respectively claim 80 per cent of the leg points for the first part of this leg then 20 per cent for the second.

Day-long sprint
The five boats have now been loaded on to a ship – a risky manoeuvre that has never been done in the race before – and are being transported to a point off the Sharjah coastline in the northern United Arab Emirates, from where the leg will be completed with a day-long sprint to Abu Dhabi.

Team Sanya, the sixth boat in the Volvo Ocean Race fleet, was forced to suspend racing and head for Madagascar after sustaining rigging damage while in the lead on day nine.

Their current focus is on getting the boat in the best shape possible for leg three into their home port of Sanya in China.

Priceless cargo
So a ship laden with the priceless cargo of five Volvo Open 70s is now heading for the northern Emirates.

I look forward to bringing you first-hand comment on how the loading went and the journey north to the hidden location off the Sharjah coast.

Mark Covell

Thursday 22 December 2011

Bold move gives Groupama early lead in second leg



Franck Cammas: prepared to take a gamble, makes a call
via Inmarsat.
Photo: Yan Riou/Groupama/Volvo Ocean Race
Risk management is the backbone of every Volvo Ocean Race team. 

How innovative to be with the boat design, how hard to push the boat and equipment and how adventurous to be when navigating the leg.

At the beginning of leg one, Groupama’s skipper Franck Cammas took a gamble when they took the unconventional route down the east coast of Africa.

French flair
Unfortunately the gamble did not pay off.

When pressed on the matter during his first dockside interview, he put the navigational gamble down to “French Flair”.

Before leg two, Franck went on record saying he didn’t want to make the same mistake again. 

Big gate
And yet, which boat has taken the first flyer in leg two? Yes, Groupama.

This "French Flair" took the team south, breaking away from the fleet in an effort to get round the low and into the trade winds that would catapult them round the head of the fleet and north again.

“We did have some kind of complex after the first leg - we didn't want to go it alone. When we saw that big gate in the south of the front, we went for it but no one else did.” Cammas explained.

No walkover
“We are coming back step by step,” he added as his Groupama sailing team pressed on.

“We are leading at the moment and it is great. There are lots of smiles on faces when the position report comes in now."

However it will not be a walkover.

Bold decision
Ken Read's Puma is hot on their heels pushing hard to catch them.

Ken, currently steering his boat in third place, said he took his hat off to Cammas for making the bold decision to break from the fleet and go south: “I give the French credit. They took matters into their own hands.

"They stuck to their guns and went for it and it looks like it’s going to pay off for them, at least for now.”

Risky business
Risk is everything in this game.

It looks like the French are happy to up the risk and do something different.

As this race goes on, we will see the stakes getting higher, together with the amount that the teams are willing to risk.

Monday 19 December 2011

Low pressure torments the fleet

Like a bully in a schoolyard, holding off a small kid’s punches that never connect, a massive low pressure has been tormenting the fleet.

Each boat tried again and again to push through, but was set back into the pack again.

The low is not made up of strong, stable winds that you would expect, but of a light shifting, volatile and unpredictable mismatch of grey cloud and cold rain that makes for a sailor’s nightmare.

Frustrating sailing
From my warm dry office in the UK, it’s hard to work out what’s happening as the teams flick back and forth almost randomly with no set pattern.

I’d hazard a guess that they’ve collectively made more sail changes in this leg already than for the whole of the last one.

Team Telefónica’s navigator Andrew Cape - who is one of the most experienced sailors in this year’s edition with five previous Volvo Ocean Races appearances - said the hold-ups, plus the fluctuating winds and confused seas, have made for frustrating racing.

Stop dead
“I’m not even going to put a time on when we might get through the front,” he said.

“When you approach the front you physically stop dead in the water, and because the front’s moving at about 10-15 knots it jumps back over the top of you and you’re forever stuck in it.

“It should have been any time in the last three days but could be another two. It’s pretty frustrating, but I’ve been in these situations before and know the way it works. It’s one of those things.”

Sail round
The patience of the fleet finally snapped when Team Groupama headed south to seek her fortune while Team Sanya almost doubled back on herself to try to sail round the low to the north.

However, just as it looked like Team Sanya had made the race-winning manoeuvre, early this morning they discovered a broken shroud - and have just announced that they have retired from leg 2.  Desperately disappointed they are limping to the island of Madagascar.

The lines of communication once again kick into place as the laborious logistical task begins of getting the crew and boat safely to Abu Dhabi for the start of leg 3.
Mark Covell

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Careful what you wish for

Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing's Rob Greenhalgh at the helm  
Photo: 
Nick Dana/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race 
For the last few days the fleet have been struggling to make gains along the South African coast.
The stop/start routine was becoming very familiar, with the sea breeze forming further offshore during the day and then the night breeze overriding it nearer the land. 
This split the fleet on the first night - leaving Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing stuck in a windless hole while the others sailed away. 
Lack of wind
Luckily for the trailing fleet, the frontrunners didn’t find the going that easy. Without the low pressure to form a solid wind system, all the boats suffered both with lack of wind and the adverse Agulhas current. 
Reading the team blogs and news that filter out from the crews, they were all wishing for more wind. 
Well finally last night they got what they wished for. Winds up to 28 knots blowing against the current resulted in 4.5-metre (14.8-ft) waves.
Sickening crash
Travelling at over 20 knots, the boats have taking off over these waves, often landing with a sickening crash. 
Darkness did not make the situation any easier for the crews.
Puma caught a fishing net round the keel. They did well to work back to second place this morning, 20 nautical miles behind new leader Ian Walker’s Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing.
Tense night
Abu Dhabi’s more northerly route close to the coast - avoiding the worst of the current for now - had paid dividends, but the night had been a tense one, Walker said.
“After making big gains on the fleet by hugging the coast we have been running hard all night in 20–30 knots with our big spinnaker,” he reported.
“Starboard tack was almost unsailable due to the head seas but port tack was fine – the only problem was we kept coming up against the land and having to gybe on to starboard!
Dangerous waters
“We made it through without breakages by slowing down and nursing the boat – we are now threading our way north-east between the land and the Agulhas current which we must soon cross.
“These are infamously dangerous waters and nobody really knows how bad the next 24 hours may or not be as anybody with any sense stays well clear of here.”
Mark Covell




Monday 12 December 2011

You don’t always get what you want

Team Sanya during leg two, from Cape Town to Abu Dhabi
(Andrés Soriano/Team Sanya/VOR).
As if to remind all the crews that Cape Town is perched on the edge of two oceans, and that the weather can change in a shake of an umbrella, race day started cold windy and raining.

By the time the fleet docked out and said their good-byes to Cape Town the sun was shining bright and a light breeze was blowing down the coast into Table Bay.

The excited spectator fleet jostled round the 3pm start. For two of the boats this was time to re-join the race again and show their potential to the rest of the fleet after missing leg one.

Overall leader
Ironically, the overall leader Team Telefonica stalled on the line and didn’t get going for almost two minutes.

It was Abu Dhabi who blasted down the reaching leg to win the race start.

The forecast was for a baptism of fire for the fleet as they headed out into strong winds, possibly up to 30 knots. The other curve ball waiting for the fleet was the Agulhas current flowing against them.

Doing battle
This is the Indian Ocean’s version of the Gulfstream, one of the largest and strongest currents in the world.

Given what happened on the first night of leg one, none of the teams were looking forward to doing battle with huge standing waves and boat-breaking conditions.

As I awoke this morning and eagerly switched on the race tracker I could see that they had had a very quiet night indeed. Presently they are short tacking up the coast in winds only averaging one knot.

No wind
Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, said: “We made a great exit from Table Bay and built a nice lead before getting swallowed up by the fleet as we sat in no wind further up the coast.

“We have only managed to sail 0.6 nautical miles in the last two hours and have been sitting bobbing up and down looking at the notorious Cape of Good Hope for about 10 hours.”

This must be hugely frustrating for them. To make matters worse, the adverse current is sometimes washing them closer to the rocky shore and dangerous outcrops.

Sluiced backwards
So light were the conditions that Team Telefónica were forced to put down their anchor to avoid being sluiced backwards.

If you expect sun you get rain - expect wind and you get drifting conditions. I guess this is what the Volvo Ocean Race is all about - “life at the extreme”.

Mark Covell

Friday 9 December 2011

Praise where praise is due

Frank Coles, president, Inmarsat Maritime presents
Hamish Hooper with the award (Paul Todd/VOR)
The time has come to look back on the last leg and give praise where praise is due.

As we know, the winner of leg 1 was Team Telefónica. After the prize-giving hosted at the V&A waterfront, the Spanish skipper and Olympic gold medalist Iker Martínez said: “Obviously we’re very happy to have won. It’s always very nice to win, and the first leg is the most important.”

His reference to the importance of winning the first leg is that history has proved that time and time again, the winner of the first leg often wins the overall event.

Media award
It will be interesting to see if the same thing is true of the Inmarsat Media Award.

The nominees shortlisted for this years Leg 1 award were Groupama sailing team’s Yann Riou, Amory Ross of PUMA Ocean Racing and Hamish Hooper from CAMPER.

As the three MCMs gathered on the stage, the audience was shown a selection of the footage that the MCMs had shot.

High standard
Frank Coles, president of Inmarsat Maritime was on hand to present the award. Mr Coles gave praise to all the MCMs and the standard of the media. He was even more impressed with how they all work from such a small and uncomfortable space, tucked under the dark decks.

The award was finally given to Hamish Hooper of CAMPER. He had captured crashing waves, on-board injuries and even a dive to free rope from the keel.

Among the highlights of Hooper’s coverage was the mid-sea surgery to bowman Mike Pammenter, who lost his front tooth and split his lip after being washed into the rigging by a wave.

Front teeth
“I guess I should thank Mike for losing his front teeth - I was there to film it,” Mike said.

Congratulations to Hamish as we look forward to more great footage from all the MCMs on Leg 2

Mark Covell

Tuesday 6 December 2011

It's a shore thing

Piggyback: Puma rides to Cape Town on the carrier Bremen

Photo - Amory Ross / Volvo Ocean Race
For all the shore team managers, the fact that only 50 per cent  of the fleet made the finish line on leg one will be preying on their minds. 

If you were in the unlucky half to have had an issue, it’s about finding out what caused the problem and somehow making sure it doesn’t happen again.

In a strange way these teams have an easier job as they’ve already found their Achilles heel and are rejoining the race with even more passion - and a point to prove.

Eternal question
But the teams that got to Cape Town in one piece face the eternal question: what to check over? The answer has to be, everything. Every rig terminal, every fitting, every square inch of carbon will have been pushed, pulled, tapped and tested before the re-start next weekend. 

Out of the three boats that retired from leg one, two dropped their rigs. So, the reason for mounting the satellite communication gear at the back of the boat is clear: masts fall down and when they fall they normally fall sideways or over the bow. 

And when they do fall, what’s the first thing a team needs to do after they have checked all the crew are safe? Commence safety operations. 

Robust systems
It’s at that point they thank Inmarsat for the robust systems. A FleetBroadband FB500 andFB 250 are there, standing by for essential communications with the outside world, not only for safety, but for logistics, crew comms and even media usage too. 

For more than three weeks now, Puma Ocean Racing have been battling to get back to Cape Town after dropping their rig. They’ve been travelling piggyback on the 350-foot multi-purpose carrier ship that came to their rescue. They are still transmitting from the boat’s comms. 

As I sign off this blog the Puma MCM, Amory Ross, has sent out his blog for the day. He is still working hard, as his media duties don’t finish until he steps ashore in Cape Town.  

You can feel his pain, of the never-ending leg and how much they want to get back into this race.

Mark Covell