Telefónica takes a battering far from home

Team Telefonica heading colder and rougher conditions.

Credit: Diego Fructuoso/Team Telefonica/Volvo Ocean Race

Draw a line on Google Earth from Auckland to Cape Horn and you get a straight line distance of 4,515.80 nautical miles. The front runners in the fleet are now past the central ice waypoint set by race management to keep them away from icebergs. That means the fleet is now over half way across the South Pacific Ocean.

And the freezing cold conditions, gale force winds and mountainous waves continue to take their toll. Telefónica is the latest victim, forced to come off the pace after a taking a real beating.

Groupama and Puma are left battling for first place, with Abu Dhabi an unexpected third almost 1,000nm behind the two survivors.

Full punishment

It is a chilling thought that the battered crews sailing their little 70-foot racing yachts are now closer to the astronauts orbiting the Earth on the International Space Station than any other body of human beings - a thought that can make even the toughest men feel isolated, vulnerable, lonely and exposed.

I read on the official Nasa website that the space station orbits at a height of 350kms or 220 miles up. So spare a thought for the sailors out there next time you look up to the sky or out to sea.

To understand fully the punishment being meted out to the Volvo crews just take a look at the scary footage beamed back by Team Telefónica.  You can see them being slammed by two monster waves in over 40 knots of wind.

Out of control

Both incidents were captured by Telefónica’s media crew member (MCM) Diego Fructuoso on one of the boat’s four fixed video cameras.

The amazing footage shot from the stern camera shows the entire on-deck crew, including the helmsman, twice knocked off their feet by the force of the almost 10-metre (30-foot) waves.

Seconds before the first wave hits, helmsman Jordi Calafat can be seen urgently trying to steer the boat away from the impact before a wall of water slams into the boat engulfing the cockpit and leaving Calafat swinging in mid-air as the boat lurches out of control.

The idea that you could be taken out by monster waves, thousands of miles out to sea and there be no one to rescue you but your competitors on the other race boats clearly demonstrates very what makes this leg by far the most dangerous.

See the amazing footage here.


Mark Covell

Team Sanya’s setback in the Southern Ocean

Sanya's rudderstock, broken after sustaining damage.
Credit: Andres Soriano/Team Sanya/Volvo Ocean Race).

Mike Sanderson's Team Sanya has had the door slammed in its face again. The team, which was leading leg five from Auckland to Itajaí in Brazil, reported the damage to race control in Alicante at 0800hrs after the rudderstock sheared off.

Speaking on his Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro, Sanderson first reported that all the crew were safe and that the breakage happened as they were travelling at high speed.

Huge forces were put on the two rudders as the helm weaved through the ocean swell like an out of control rollercoaster.

Sheared off
The starboard rudderstock sheared off inside the hull. Sanya was immediately sent spinning into a crash gybe, pinning them down on one side with sails in the water - a manoeuvre that I'm all too familiar with.

Have a look at the footage I filmed during the last race in the Southern Ocean when we crash gybed on board Team Russia - it's called "Team Russia Chinese Gybe - Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09" on YouTube.

The next thing that happens when you break a rudder is that you now have a large hole in the back of the boat. Water pours into the aft compartment.

Urgent priority
Still weighing up his team's immediate options, Sanderson said the most urgent priority had been to plug the hole torn in the aft of the boat when the rudderstock snapped.

"We've been in preservation mode for the past few hours," he said. "We had to save the boat.

"The rudder snapped between the boat and the deck, which is just the worst thing that can happen because then it just leverages itself off the boat and leaves a pretty messy trail.

Stacked aft
"The thing is we had all the sails stacked aft on deck, and we had the aft ballast tank and all the gear stacked downstairs in the back of the boat," Sanderson said.

"So as soon as we stopped water just started rushing in. It is the second time we've heard water coming into the boat at that sort of pace, so it is pretty scary.

"The whole aft compartment was full of water - about three to four tonnes.

Impressive result
"This setback is all the more difficult to stomach after their impressive result against the new addition boats."

Sanderson proudly remarked: "We won the pro-am race, we were placed fourth in the in-port race and we led the fleet out of Auckland," he said.

"We were really pleased we were in the lead and in a really nice spot to extend it.

Nice conditions
"We were sailing along pretty fast, between 20-30 knots in nice conditions with winds gutting up to 30 knots, when these boats are at their fastest," he said.

"We're just gutted. It hasn't even quite sunk in for sure. But first and foremost is to ensure everyone is safe and well.

"The guys have just finished fixing the hole, which has taken a couple of hours and we've fitted the emergency steering.

"But we're not out of the woods yet - we've got a temporary repair on the back of the boat and we have plenty of work ahead of us," said Mike.

Mark Covell

These are crazy times here in Auckland!

The fleet of Volvo Open 70's head out at the start of leg five 

from Auckland. (Credit: Paul Todd/Volvo Ocean Race).

I had a fantastic time yesterday, commentating on the live TV feed for both the in-port race and the leg five start.

The sun was out and the wind blew to give thousands of Kiwi onlookers a rare spectacle as these predators of the ocean shot round the tiny Auckland harbour like caged animals at feeding time.

Local boy skipper Mike Sanderson with Team Sanya took Saturday's in-port race win.

Great shape 
Then on Sunday, having seen the fleet off in such great shape, it was chilling to hear that at around 9pm last night, Abu Dhabi suspended racing just off Great Barrier Island. They reported damage to their J4 bulkhead. This is a ring frame in the bow that beefs up a fitting above deck for the J4 sail.

It’s the second time they have had an issue. Ian Walker speaking on the Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro clarified the situation.

His voice was very cool, very calm, but obviously disappointed as he explained the difficult decision to return the 40nm to Auckland to effect repairs.

Men possessed 
The shore crew worked like men possessed to insure a rapid turnaround. It’s amazing to see how professional each element of the team is when called upon to up their game.

I also spoke to skipper Ian on the morning of the race. All his answers kept referring to the safety of crew on such a dangerous leg. As skipper you need to know when to push your crew and when to back off.

The environment the teams were heading out into included boat-breaking conditions. It must be one of the hardest parts of this race knowing when to nurse the yacht and when to put the hammer down.

Experienced sailors 
As the teams mustered on the docks to say their goodbyes, the younger members of the teams didn’t get much confidence from the older and wiser, experienced sailors. They were walking around looking as anxious too, which didn’t help to settle nerves! 


It was just past midday when they headed out again. Like a cruel joke, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It was now blowing even harder at 40 to 50 knots and driving rain.

As I got into my taxi for the airport to fly back to the UK I couldn’t stop thinking what the crew must be feeling. Over a day behind the fleet with 6,700nm to catch them up in some of the worst conditions they will encounter. All the time they will be thinking, “can we trust the rig and the boat to hold together?” That’s quite a stone in the heel of their shoe to walk all those miles on.

60-knot nightmare
As I post this blog Abu Dhabi are still sheltering in the lee of Great Barrier Island, hauled up and stormbound, hesitant to poke their nose out into a 60-knot nightmare. 


Ian Walker described the violent storm conditions as “a meteorological kick in the guts”.

“All we needed was a break from the weather to get us back in the race,” he said. “The other boats are only 200 miles away after all, but sadly we have exactly the opposite.”

Mark Covell

Auckland welcomes the race fleet – big time!

Auckland welcomes the Volvo Ocean Race fleet.

I’m very excited to report that I feel as close as I can to being an onboard media crew member since I took part in the last race.

I’m bringing this blog to you from the sea itself. I am commentating from onboard the VOR TV boat where they asked me to be the expert pundit for the live TV coverage for this weekend’s in-port and leg five race start.

As I type we are drifting around on hold as there’s very little wind. I hope we will be racing soon. Tomorrow, on the other hand, we have a good breeze forecasted. Tune into the Volvo site to catch all the action.

Passion and love
This Auckland stopover has been so busy, partly due to the passion and love for the sport of sailing in this country. The welcome fleet was one of biggest Auckland has ever seen and tomorrow’s in-port race will be huge. They don’t call it the “City of Sails” for nothing.

Camper with Team New Zealand opened the doors of their team base. Hundreds of children, little Kiwi next-generation Volvo Ocean Race crew, together with avid fans, queued out of the base, down the road and around the corner.

Posters were signed; they met the race crew and looked around the sail loft and base.

Supporting public
The poor boat swarmed with the supporting public. I pity the shore crew who had to clean and put the thing back to race form.

There was one man who wasn’t quite so comfortable with the thousands jumping on board the team’s Volvo Open 70. Shore team manager Neil Cox only put the boat back in the water a few hours earlier.

“At times it’s a bit hard to watch," Neil said. "I’m not sure what the state of the boat will be by the time it has finished. There’s an endless amount of child activity going on. If we’ve got two steering wheels left at the end of it we’ll have done OK. But if it can’t get through this then we’ll struggle in the Southern Ocean.”

St Patrick's Day
Each day has been themed around each participating country. This Saturday will represent Team Sanya’s Irish sponsor and the fact this race is just a prelude to the biggest party Galway has seen since the last time the Volvo came to town. St Patrick’s day will be well supported here in Sunny Auckland.

I'm really looking forward to the in-port race and getting the chance to impart some very cool Inmarsat factoids ! Like the data off the boats goes 36,000km up and 36,000km back to VOR HQ - that's about one fifth the way to the moon!

Stick with me, there's a lot more where that came from....

Next time I put pen to paper (or fingertip to keyboard) the fleet will be firing headlong into the Southern Ocean with a terrible forecast of 30 knot winds on the first night.

They will be “loving it” as they pin their ears back and head for Cape Horn.

Mark Covell

Rough ride south puts battered sea legs to the test

Just part of the boat: the Inmarsat / Thrane & Thrane kit on Abu Dhabi 

Credit: Nick Dana/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing/Volvo Ocean Race

Groupama romped home on Saturday night with a healthy lead over the chasing pack. The French are the first to beat the Spanish to the top slot. 

It’s a difficult call to start rating the legs as each one brings its own challenges. But seeing the drawn faces of the crews as they pulled into the dock told a story of its own. And when I asked them directly how the leg was, I got a similar tale from all. Too long and hard was the consensus. 

This was by no means a straightforward leg, one where they could just leave dock and head directly for the next port of call, Auckland. 

Raging gale

A raging gale in the South China Sea threw up a dangerously confused wave state in its shallow waters, so Volvo race management took the unprecedented decision to let the fleet start on time with a short coastal race, but then suspend sailing and have the teams dock back into Sanya until the storm abated.  

Due to tricky offshore conditions Puma fell into a light wind zone behind a headland and ended up 45 minute behind the fleet.  That meant restarting the leg that much behind the pack. How frustrating was that?!

Steep seas

Once on the way, teams complained of a horrendous wave state, made worse by having to sail upwind into the steep seas. 

It was like constantly driving too fast over speed bumps in a sports car for days on end. 

The crews were battered from the outset. Many suffered from seasickness for the first time in their lives, such was the testing conditions.   

Trade winds

Simply turning south towards Auckland was not option. The trade winds they were looking to carry them to New Zealand were blowing a lot further east than expected. 

This resulted in a week-long drag race east. They knew that the faster and further they sailed east, the more wind and better angle they’d have on the sleigh-ride south - like swimming away from the riverbank to get into the faster flowing water in the middle. The teams realised early on that they’d have to ration their food for a longer leg then expected.

The only joker in the pack was Puma. Due to their late start out of Sanya they trailed the fleet through the South China Sea and the Strait of Luzon. When you’re behind and see little gain from just following the pack you start to look for alternative routes. 

Opposite direction

And when I say alternative routes I don’t generally mean the opposite direction - but Puma literally turned north. This radical move meant sailing hundreds of miles further then the other teams.  

The great thing about this fairy tale story is that you only need a little more wind to go a lot faster. This was the formula that rocketed Puma from dead last to second just behind Groupama. A position they held until the finish. 

The exceptional demands of this leg required the fleet to weigh some difficult decisions. The Solomon Islands forced half the fleet to cut the corner and sail headlong through the archipelago in the pitch black, dodging reefs and wrecks.

Tightly bunched

You’d have thought that by the end, after 6,000 nm and so many obstacles the boats would’ve been scattered across hundreds of miles. But apart from Groupama, they were tightly bunched. 

Puma clinched second, which was a nice prize after her poor start. And Telefonica and local team Camper had a fight to the finish with only 93 seconds between them. It was amazing to see them all sail in so close together. It only shows how evenly matched they are.

The ability to sail fast and hook into better winds was the key to this last leg, which according to Ian Walker, skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, called for immense focus and dogged perseverance.

Look at computer
"If you know you've got legs on everyone else it's pretty easy - you just stay near them and you chip away and you gain miles, and every time you look at the computer you've gained on the opposition and you keep the stress down. 

“It's a bit harder if you're leaking miles. That forces you to take risks, which is not something you want to do because you're sailing against the best in the world and inevitably you come unstuck. 

“You don't what to go spearing around taking risks because then you're just gambling and that's not what we're about. 

Keep it tight
“It's tough to keep it tight, keep battling away and wait for opportunities, but that's what I thought we did on this leg."
 

Ian’s insight sheds some light on how the teams have come to rely on satellite communications. The FleetBroadband 150 and 500 deliver all their weather data, position reporting and crew comms. The crews now just treat the kit as part of the boat, almost as blasé as the hotel phone on the bedside table. 

The six boats now have only a few days before they are back racing. The next leg will see them sail headlong into the Southern Pacific and onwards to Cape Horn. It’s already getting late in the season to be sailing that route. We will see yet more testing conditions and the first really cold sailing. 

Mark Covell

Faster, faster…. the human race always demands more

Casey Smith brings the mainsheet to the stern on Puma.
Credit: Amory Ross/Puma/Volvo Ocean Race)

As technology marches on, the human race seams to happily devour its capabilities and then nonchalantly demand more.

Fast food is never fast enough. A fast train can always be faster and we are never satisfied with our internet access speed.

Always asking for more describes a Volvo Ocean Race crew member perfectly. It goes without saying that each one works tirelessly to get the most out of the boat, but they only find out their reward every three hours when the “sched” report is sent to all boats.

Day races
Puma’s skipper Ken Read says: “Nothing is more longed for and feared than the next ‘sched’. I have said a million times that this isn't a distance race, but a series of three-hour day races. A really long series!”

While the teams grapple their way around the world in three-hour milestones, we get to watch the race on the VOR tracker, also updated every three hours.

That is, until VOR decided to increase the update rate to every 60 seconds, which is now virtually live!

Real-time positioning
For the last 24 hours we have been able to see real-time positioning. The Inmarsat FleetBroadband 150 sits quietly at the back of each race boat, efficiently transmitting a mere 80 bytes per second to deliver its position with pinpoint accuracy.

Those positions are now being watched ever more closely by thousands of eager Kiwis who are willing the fleet on with even more interest. I can safely say “the fleet” because there is a New Zealander on five of the six boats.

It is Team New Zealand’s Camper that they are really routing for though, currently in fourth position.

Finish line
The leader, Groupama, is now only 300nm away from the finish in Auckland, with the rest of the fleet only 100nm behind. The French have continued to hold a solid lead, with the chasing pack probably more concerned with fighting for their finishing positions rather than catching the Gallic green boat.

Squalls and unstable weather fronts will provide more taxing conditions in these closing stages.

“Groupama are in the worst of the weather,” Volvo Ocean Race chief meteorologist Gonzalo Infante said.

Tough weather
“The winds are gusting up to 38 knots and the seas are around seven metres - incredibly tough weather for the end of a leg.

“The middle three boats, Puma, Telefónica and Camper, will also have to face the winds and waves, but it is decreasing.”

Infante said a compression of the fleet was likely as they entered the final few hundred miles to Auckland.

Direct course
“Abu Dhabi and Sanya are sailing a much more direct course to Auckland and will catch up a lot on the boats in front. The race is very much open for the five boats behind Groupama.

“It is going to be a very close finish, that’s for sure,” said Infante.

Whatever happens we have that little FB150 to thank for bringing us all the action. I bet it never thought that it would play such an important part.

No one is demanding it works harder or transmits faster. They just want the boats to sail quicker and arrive safely at this city of sails.

Mark Covell

Around it, over it, under it, or through it?

Volvo Ocean Race positional data

As a kid, I remember a book about a bear hunt and how the family on the hunt for an imaginary bear had to decide how they would pass various obstacles.

They would go around them, over them, under them, through them, and all set to a little rhyme.

I now grin to myself as I imagine the tough offshore navigators singing the little ditty as they approached the Solomon Islands.

Pitch black
I joke, but the call to fire headlong through the island chain in the pitch black of night, dodging the shallow reefs and ship wrecks, must have made them consider the “go around it” option.

Well 50% of the fleet did exactly that.

Telefonica, Camper and Sanya all ran the complicated gauntlet on the west route and Groupama, Puma and Abu Dhabi took the east. As it shaped up, the group of three to the west realised that they weren't going to get around, so did the next best thing, they found a gap and went “through it” - right through the middle of the island chain.

East-west split
To the east, Kenny Read, the skipper of Puma said: “I can't remember a race where I have been so unsure of the outcome. The huge east-west split opens up room for the three boats to leeward to sweep around the high pressure possibly better than us.

“But, we do have a lot of leverage in a port tack race south. I don't know what is going to happen.

“It is strange because usually we have a pretty good idea how things are going to work out in the big game of chess long before it actually does happen. Or at least I hope we usually know their move.”

Radically different
All in all, about as even as two radically different approaches could be.

The fleet is split, but the weather data that beams to the boats as regular and reliable as a Swiss train is telling them that they could all hit a light wind wall 200nm off New Zealand.

This leg has been defined by how the fleet uses the data they get sent. Big calls and gutsy game plays have been rewarded.

So once again it’s all to play for on this big bear hunt on the sea.

Mark Covell

Preparing for the Doldrums again

Richard Mason at the helm onboard Team Sanya.
Credit: Andres Soriano/Team Sanya/Volvo Ocean Race)

If any of the sailors wanted to join the gumball rally and tear madly across a continent in overpowered speed machines, they would be well suited for the job.

Right now the yachts are just flat out, reaching for the south.

The long race east is now over, and the rewards are being handed out for their progress. Groupama was top of the class followed by best improver, Puma.

Class detention
Camper narrowly avoided class detention for not defending and covering the fleet when they headed north. They are now being punished by fate, as they have broken their J2 Jib and are suffering without it.

I can remember what it is like to be in a drag race without the right sail. You just know you’re losing out on every mile.

The pressure on the poor sail maker below decks, sewing franticly is immense. It may be that gear failure is the big decider in this sprint to the equator.

Doldrums lottery
It’s not all over yet for the back of the fleet either - we still have the lottery of the Doldrums.

The windless Doldrums chewed up and spat out the French team during Leg 1 and Leg 2 and they’ve not forgotten that bitter experience, according to navigator Jean-Luc Nélias.

Nélias has been sweating for days ahead of Saturday’s expected Doldrums’ crossing.

First boat
“All the traps promised in the brochure are waiting for the first boat and our friends behind us. Even though they are quite far away, they know these traps are there,” Nélias said.

This leg has been all about trading more wind against the additional distance sailed. The forecasts the fleet receive are the lifeblood and backbone of every tactical call they make. It’s imperative that good communications are maintained.

The Volvo Ocean Race can be a cruel and uncomfortable experience, but right now don’t feel too sorry for them.

They are tearing across the ocean at speeds approaching 30 knots and covering 500nm a day - and all enjoying Champagne conditions … but without the Champagne.

Mark Covell